Orange County CA Housing Demand

www.namneet.com

"Centex Homes is proud to honor your participation by offering a 5% - 6% broker co-op at the following"

 Just got this email. I take this generosity as a bad sign for the housing market. Not too long  ago new home builders will not even talk to the Realtors, now they are doubling the commissions. When you see the increase incentives to the buyer and now to the the Realtors, you know they want to get rid of these properties.

Here in Orange County CA Real Estate has taken the slowest path, our numbers for pending sales are much lower. As of today there are 17294 listings with only 2613 homes listed as pending.  I think we are heading for even a slower market. How is the market in your area?

A reminder for wise minds.

There is a lot of noise about 70% of buyers looking for the house on the internet, but does that means 70% business comes through the internet. Answer is no. Marketing companies call daily to sell the keywords trying to offer the easy solution to get that business. Realtors spend a lot of time following up with cold leads and not getting anywhere or may be some where after a while. Some may differ in their opinion but the reality is different according to the NAR findings in 2006 listed in their homebuyer and seller profile report.

Referrals by friends and family 45%

Used agent previously to buy/sell a house 13%

Visited open house and met agent 7%

Walked into the office 4%

Internet 7%

Are Realtors spending 45% of their resources on the internet to get this 7% business? Are they spending enough time and energy on their past clients and circle of influence. According to the above report, this is where most of the resources should go.  These are the two largest categories bringing in 58 % of the business. Even in today’s age of technology sticking with the basics does work

Namneet Dhaliwal

http://www.namneet.com

According to my knowledge, Reliberation blog is to be and should be used for professional input by the real estate profassionals to share and learn professional experiences. Lately I have noticed some people using it for advertising their listings and local areas. Any one can blog what ever they want, but it surprises me when I see this approach by well respected professional in the community, when they write only to put their name in the front line. There are other places to advertise the listings and your cities etc.

For some new people in the industry, it might helpful to buy neighborhoods from www.Point2agent.com  and advertise your local area that will help in your website ranking. Sign up with www.ActiveRain.com  and one can advertise there in consumer section.

Now this is my opinion, I would love to hear from other www.Reliberation.com    fellows.

Namneet Dhaliwal

http://www.namneet.com

As sub prime market dies with folding or near folding of some big name mortgage companies, every one is worried about its effects on the real estate market. Opinions vary some what from effect of getting hit by a truck vs. just a blow of wind.

My biggest concern is that we had a rough 2006 with increased inventory and drop in sales even those drops were form the record high sales of 2005. Industry called it a normal market and nodded their heads about it being good for the long term health of our real estate market. Now that norm got hit by another storm of sub prime exclusion that is going to shrink the 1st time buyer's market. It could in turn effect buying capacity of the move up home owners, and infiltrate into the high end homes without considering any other economic windfalls. As there is no appreciation of the property value, refinancing will also be difficult for people who bought in late 2005 or in 2006

Lately, I am seeing a few cancellations of some transactions because buyer's buyer or buyers themselves could not get through their 100% financed loan. There is increase activity as compared to 2006 4^th Q at this time. This sub prime hit definitely going to hurt the industry, how deep these wounds are and how long would it take to cure. Although these are regional effects but I would still like to hear form our group of experts as what is happening in your market. We can present the true picture at a grass root level. 

Just noticed on my Mortgage Center page that now RSS feed from yahoo was showing as pictures along with the news. At the same time my page got flashed as "phishing". The only content I could think of was this feed that was provided though Point2. As I took off that RSS feed the above said flagging went away. Have this happened to any one else with Yahoo or other links to your website?

http://www.namneet.com

Have you lost deals to the listing agent who happens to be the seller?

It is not unusual to find a listing agent to be the owner of the property. Here is a scenario: one day you are showing homes, your client want to see abc home, you pull out your cell phone with MLS information ( for a better service) you make appointment with the listing agent and go with your prospective buyer, listing agent is also there and proudly gives details of the house. In few weeks your buyer wants to go back again and see the same house, you take time out of your busy schedule and give an excellent service. All of sudden your buyer have to go for a trip and wants to put things on hold. Some time during these visits seller agent and buyer talk and make a deal away form you. Even though you do not have a buyer broker agreement but you are the procuring cause. You loose this client to a most unethical and dishonest realtor in the industry in your area. (because an ethical and honest person will not do so).

Other than buyer broker agreement, how would you deal with this issue?

While we are all busy bogging on www.Reliberation.com  Point 2 brings another awesome addition of www.RealTown.com . I was totally astonished to see another marketing tool. Thank you Point2 I know I made a right choice to sign up with you. I will not say too much about it here, just log into your online office you will find all the information.

Commission cutting has become very common, especially with increased number of real estate agent in each community. Sellers think that Realtors make way more than they deserve not knowing what it takes to market the property especially in this market. One can no longer throw a house in the market and get five offers, over bidding each other. Here is some good information from Realtor Magazine Online