Has Your Market Slowed to A Crawl or Died?

Gary Woltal - REALTOR® Dallas Ft. Worth (Keller Williams Realty) I think slower than a crawl here.

Its still boppin here in vegas jim. more outta country calls and east coast people moving here.

Hang in there jim, nobody sells atlanta better then you!

Steve Harless "Your Las Vegas Real Estate Connection" (REALTY WORLD LUXURY HOMES - 702.217.1680)   Thanks Steve.

In Searcy AR we are saved by gas exploration.  New folks are everwhere and some buy.  But it does seem slower this month.

Internet leads have slowed down about 50% last month. Thank goodness for referrals. ~Rita

Barbara S. Duncan ABR, CRS, GRI, e-PRO Searcy AR (RE/MAX Advantage) Well in the past few weeks we have been without gas in Atlanta.  You really need to get around with a car here.  Another item is that DPA were very big in Atlanta in the last few years.  Without the 100% no money down programs, and Down Payment assistant programs... Atlanta had a major chunk of buyers totally evaporate!

Jim,

I thought things picked up a month or so ago.  I actually had some bidding wars over three properties and my customers lost.  But the fact that New York City (I am in a suburb one hour out of Manhattan) has slowed a bit, scares me.  Our benefit is that we are bedroom community within one hour of downtown New York City. 

I cannot understand it.  The "Bail Out" (I like to call it a loan) should encourage those buyers sitting on the fence.  The mortgage rates are low and prices are low, what are they thinking of.  The rich are buying because they know that real estate will come back, it historically always does.  The best place to put your money is in real estate, and that is what our government just did.  They will buy up the foreclosures to ease the money crunch on the banks so that they can get back into the business of lending money.  When the market rebounds those properties that the government owns will be sold. They will realize a profit and between the pay back and the profit we should be back in good shape. I don't know if I am dreaming, but that is what should happen.  You would think that the general public would take the hint.  If the rich are still buying real estate you would think that the rest of the buying poplulation would follow the lead.  I hope they do...and soon.

Kenna & Co. Highlands Ranch Luxury Homes  The Internet rferrals have allowed us to survive.  We recently closed 3 good deals, and had a half dozen referrals!  They have saved the year.

Carol Kope (Keller Williams Realty)  It will be interesting.  Credit has been so way over extended I do not know what will occur!

I'm a little less than a hour west of NYC right on the rail line.  I've noticed prices dropping but there's been plenty of buyers out there looking ang buying.  I've had 4 offers on one of my listings.

My area has not had the same "new construction" boom which may have glutted the market in some area.  

this month I moved offices, went on a week vacation, and spent 2 days at convention.  I thought I was having a slow month since I was pre occupied with all that....but another agent said her phones were very quiet this past 2 weeks, and others mentioned the same....Now that the credit crisis is hitting main street, EVERYONE is taking note, and stepping back to assess before making any major moves....Hopefully with the bill passed, things will look brighter from Wall street down to Main Street!

Jim, I thought it was Ike but yes my leads and phone are eery quiet.  We had a double whammy down here.  I was so bummed that I wasn't getting cable but then when I got it 2 weeks later I realized that maybe I was better off in hurricane mode.  Well not really I do want to know what's going on in the world but a lot changed during my hiatus with Ike. 

It's slow, but sellers in MD have finally gotten the message about price.

It "feels" slow, but we lost a week when Hurricane Ike's winds blew through and many here were without electricty for days and cleaning up downed trees and fixing roofs. Then we were recouping from that when the banks started failing. Have had very few showings since the hurricane. I had put 3 homes in-contract before it hit, so those are closing this week. So I'll live a few more months. ;-)

My sales are up over 40% but I'm not taking anything for granted - I'm just working extra hard. My WP blog has helped immensely this year and it's why my volume is up.

Peter Di Eduardo (ReMax Properties Unlimited)  Thank you.  That is what I like to hear!

Pat Tasker (Shorewest Realtors  I hope so.  They still did not tell us what all of a sudden triggered the bailout.  Testimony the week before in front of Congress, they were saying there was a chance of recession.

Marchel Peterson Spring TX Real Estate E-Pro ABR (Results Realty)  I can understand the hurricane!  Are you getitng the help down there?  Remember the government told us no more treatment like "Katrina!"

Craig W. Barrett - Hughesville MD Real Estate (RE/MAX 100)  Good, I will take you up on it.  I will be in Hughesville next week to look around

Elaine Reese, REALTOR® in central Ohio (Real Living HER, Worthington Ohio)  We had 3 closing the week before this all occured and 5 referral checks.  Then it died!

Jim,

The bailout stuff has caused everyone to stall and adopt a 'wait and see' attitude!!! Let's get back to work!!! Thanks,   Fran

Fran 'The Title Man' Gaspari Title Insurance-PA & NJ (Patriot Land Transfer, Inc.) I need buyers and homes I can sell first.

The good news in Lafayette Square is that inventory is declining, median prices are up, highest prices are up, etc.  The only bad news is the cumulative days on market are also up slightly.  So, yes, the local market is doing fine overall.  We do have buyers - but the buyers now have a longer buying cycle.

Here in the NC Piedmont Triad area, starting to see a slowdown, buyers are in a "see what happens with economy" mode.

Small Colorado town outside of Colorado Springs - Too much inventory, much of it foreclosures and short sales, very few qualified buyers, even those that should be! Tough way to try to make a living these days....

Debi

Seattle is in crawl mode. We always get hit last and I expect it to remain slow until next Spring at the earliest.

Ryan Shaughnessy (Gilded Age Sales, LLC)  Sounds like your market is doing well.  Way to go!

Brad and Angela Lawrence - NC HomeTeam - Greensboro - Winston Salem - High Point (NC HomeTeam - ERA Premier Realty)  I can understand the buyers.  Rates are great, but nothing to get worked up over.  If we had lower rates right now, and low prices...a lot of this inventory would dissappear overnight.

Woodland Park Real Estate, Colorado - Debi Boucher (Realtor-Prudential Professional REALTORS, ASP REALTOR)  Sounds like here!  Yes it is not easy.

Paul McFadden (Exact Financial Group)  I am not sure when things will pick up here.  New contracts in all classes have fallen off the charts! 

Jim Crawford ~ Atlanta Real Estate-ABR E-PRO (RE/MAX Greater Atlanta)

Thanks for the 'adding the other person's link' idea. Nice touch ;)

Debi

Woodland Park Real Estate, Colorado - Debi Boucher (Realtor-Prudential Professional REALTORS, ASP REALTOR)   Anytime.  That is what I always try to do!  This way you know who I am answering, and other readers can view you.  I think it is a great way to cross reference comments.

Jim, I was talking with several agents in my office the other day discussing the same thing.  It seems like the air was let out of the balloon right after school started.  This was before the national financial crisis and start of our new socialist government.  Who knows where we go from here?

David Slavin, ABR, SRES RE/MAX Grand, Katy, TX (RE/MAX Grand)   This is an election year gimmick.  Nothing sells as good as fear.  In real estate 101 we all know the fundamentals of Block Busting.  It is an easy sale once persons are afraid of possible consequences.  It is illegal, highly immoral and race baiting. A whole neighborhood can change overnight. 

Well this bailout bil is nation busting. Everyone gives in real quick because they believe the government will save them.  Never trust your government.  Persons trusted other big governments and look what happened in Germany!  BTW, when it was happening in Germany, liberals here and abroad said "Trust them!"  Sound familiar?

The sad thing, this isn't ending, it is just starting.  They surrendered America as we knew it yesterday!

You're right!  America has now changed forever.  When other countries want Obama to win should be a huge red flag for us. 

David Slavin, ABR, SRES RE/MAX Grand, Katy, TX (RE/MAX Grand)   Endorsed by Al Jazeera!  It is really true, they want him to be president!  What does that tell you?   I have a friend of mine that is from Iran, and he told me the governement wants him in office, because they know they will have 8 years that they can do whatever they want.  How come Americans don't get it?

You are right Jim. I am not getting leads from my website like I use to. People are just scared to do anything right now. Only God knows what's going to happen next. Great post.

Hi Jim, things are still moving here in Albuquerque but starting to slow.  We still have the tire kickers, not that many foreclosures, some short sales.  Unfortunately, I'm getting pretty burned out, not so much about the market per se, but with all the contention in the financial markets.  I think it's really taken a toll on me.  I tend to absorb other people's anxieties.  But in my heart of hearts, I KNOW that buying real estate, esp. now, is the smartest thing someone with solid credit and money to put down can do.  I've kind of lost my spark and am trying to figure out how to get it back at this point.  After things have blown over is when it hits me.  Can't imagine how you are coping with this.  At least we have gas and our weather is gorgeous.  Tomorrow is going to be better I just know it.

Jim - it has slowed here, even the FSBO's are disappearing, down to about 20% of what they were in May. However, the September around here is showing it close to flat with August in a couple of the counties.

But, I agree, each bailout has appeared to have the opposite effect of what they were intended to have.

Lanre Folayan "Buy Washington DC Real Estate" (Exit Premier Realty") Thanks for sharing. I am heading towards DC this week to take a look around.  It is so dead here, I can take a week off without worry.

Alyce Martin (Keller Williams Realty)  I guess it is no consolation that don't worry, it isn't just you.  It is hard staying positive and that is why there are no buyers.  The news and media are beating us down in every story.

Mike Saunders (Keller Williams Realty - Greater Athens) FMLS statistics for August sales here were under the year 2000 levels with detached single family homes not even more than 4000 sales.  Compared to August in previous years, it is a free fall.  Condos and town homes were only at 550 for almost 24 counties.  I think September is going to be a major drop from that.

I do agree that each bailout, each fix to the economy took more business out of the equation.

Jim - we don't use FMLS here, just GAMLS and AAAR MLS. Using the AAAR MLS (which has just been upgraded to Navica within the last year so data older than that is suspect and incomplete) where most of the sales are tracked in Clarke/Oconee/Oglethorpe & Madison counties, the downward curve has been flattenning. Now, does that mean it will continue? I have a feeling that the curve will steepen out here for the next couple of months, at least until people figure out what the heck all this bailout really means.

Jim, a couple of weeks ago, our Sunday paper interviewed some octogenerians about the Great Depression (intimating that that's where our economy was going...)and they were talking about eating beans, taping their shoes together and wearing gunny sacks and how people now just aren't going to be able to make it because we're too soft.  WELL, IF THAT DOESN'T PUT THE FEAR OF GOD INTO YOU, NOTHING WILL!!! Hey, want to buy a house? I guess I can hand out my cards at the soup lines.  Sheeeeeeesh.   Just how is this helpful? 

Mike Saunders (Keller Williams Realty - Greater Athens)  I agree.  We need to step back for a bit and see what is happening.

Alyce Martin (Keller Williams Realty)  LOL!  It is funny, but sobering.  The reality can be very scary.   This is not a normal recession.  Sorry folks, I am not pessimistic, I am realistic.  I get calls form agents and brokers around the country.  They all have not seen anything like this.  That tells me something.  As far as recessions go, I've lived through a few of them, but this is different.  The magnitude of this is much greater.  The best way to describe it....is sort of like living in a 100 year flood plain and getting that 100 year flood.

The past 2 weeks have been slow. We are working with a handful of buyers but they are very cautious.

Pensacola is holding, actives are starting to come down, a few more pendings but we have been a 2004 and holding. I look for another 18% drop in prices and by 2010  Feburary we should start leveling and see icreases by June 2010. As long as congress will stay in recess till then.

Jim,

Thanks for the post. Finally, my market is picking up. The height of the season is over and I am now seeing increased traffic. I stepped outside of the box and distributed flyers on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning for a Saturday open house (traditionally held on Sunday's). I got over fifteen families and should close out my development this week. That's amazing for this area in this market!

Jim, you know me well enough by now to know that I love a good laugh. It was hard for me to even break a smile in my office today. One of the agents came over to me and said, "David, you've got to see this to believe it". I walked over to his desk and, on his computer, he had pulled up some CMA's and starting point prices in the MLS. He also had notes to compare on the same properties which were examined just a couple of days ago. The changes caused my heart to sink. The losses in value are staggering beyond comprehension, with many exceeding 40% below the property assessors values, administered for the city and county tax bases. He looked up at me, almost with tears in his eyes, and said, "David, how can we survive? The country is in a depression, David." He began, in almost insane fashion, to pull up listing after listing after listing, moderately priced homes to seven figures, to show me how the prices were plummeting like bricks falling from a skyscraper. One after another, and he kept shouting, "My God, look David, look David, look at this one, look at this one, look at this one, look at this one", and on and on until I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't say anything. I got in my car and drove away. My friend has been an agent for thirty-five years.

I was looking at the Garn-St Germain act of 1982, Jim. Review it when you have the time. I hope you'll have a fine week ahead.                 

We actually had a phenomenal September for sales in my office (I am the broker/owner), but October looks to be quite slow.  We are still getting a good number of leads, but at least half of them want to wait to act until the spring.  Just my two cents from Austin, Texas.

Hi Jim,

I work with agents and brokers all over the country.  This is the most unusual market most of them have ever seen.  There are pockets of strong home sales activity and, at the same time, there are markets where agents are being financially forced to take second jobs.  Earlier this week I talked with an agent in North Atlanta who sold 18 houses last month!  He contacted me because he wants even MORE internet buyers.  As I'm sure you know, that's where NAR says most of the action is now.

Respectfully,

Bruce

Mont. County, MD, my primary market is 60% of the SOLDs in 2000.

It's everywhere.

Jim,

It is pretty quiet in Metro Detroit.  Homes are still selling but it seems the showing calls have slowed down.

Jim

I can't speak for others but here in Central Florida, Ithings are definitely picking up!  More cash buyers, and clean deals.

This will be one the best year out of the last three- since we were the first to suffer from the bursting bubble, perhaps we are the first to see signs of life emerging from the ashes.  Ihope so for everyone out there.

Good luck and sell well

Jim,

The month of September was the slowest I've ever seen here.  I ran the stats for my areas of practice but don't think I even want to write about them.  My internet leads have slowed considerably.  Atlanta is a huge feeder market for Hilton Head so I guess we shouldn't expect to see many folks relocating here if they can't sell their Atlanta homes.

Hi Jim

Charlotte is crawing right now.

Relatively new to AR and learning all the time, can I ask you where and how do you compose your AR blog, looks very professional.

Thanks
Rich

Charlotte NC

I guess we have to go back to the mantra "all real estate is local".  I seem to have a good selection of buyers who are making decisions.  I have written three offers in the past week and am expecting to write a fourth one this week.  The issue for me seems to be getting people to accept the offers.  Sellers are still holding on to the notion that the market is going to come back or that their home is worth more than the one that sold 6 months ago.  I'm not sure listing agents are doing a good job prior to putting a home on the market of making the reality of the market sink in. 

Jim-

I was busy, not crazy busy but busy, until a few weeks ago.  My calls & internet leads have slowed since the "crisis" a couple of weeks ago.  Agents in my office have said the same thing.  I am hoping once we figure out the REAL impact of the "Bail Out/Recovery Bill" we will have people back in the market.

My internet activity stats show a dramatic decrease over the past several weeks. I attribute it to the instability of the financial market and buyers taking a much understood wait and see what happens attitude. Although I did not favor the bailout bill I think with its passage we will start to see a little more stability and some consumers will regain their confidence.

Jim,

You're right! We need some real estate 'ghostbusters' to put the kabash on this spooked market!!! Thanks,   Fran

Jim...

My Internet leads stopped exactly at the time gasoline became scarce. Coincidence? I think not! -Richard Weisser (My name disappeared for some reason?)

Jim,

Even in our market where there is a lot of turnover and a strong first time homebuyer market, things are definitely slower.  Our listings are getting fewer showings, there are less internet leads we are receiving and our office floor is very slow.   The flip side is that our properly priced listings are still getting traffic and offers though.

My leads this last two weeks on my web site is down 60% and traffic is down 35% so yes it has slowed down here again.

Hi, Jim.  As you know, I've been in real estate for 4 decades, and as recently as early summer I was "on fire."   No more - Internet leads have stopped (is it the market or what I'm writing about?) and my sellers are living in the past.   'Can't say I blame them, because I'd like my property value to be frozen in time 2 years ago, as well.  Our retirement fund, as well.  

We are getting business here but it is slower and I know of agents who have quit altogether or taken part time jobs.

Here in WV things have slowed a bit and I do here more clients asking about foreclosures.  We have started trying to get back to the basics of real esate and prospecting.  The leads are not coming in, we have to go get them!  Good luck!

Patty Carroll, ASP®, SRES® & Scott Carroll - RE/MAX, Vancouver WA (RE/MAX Equity Group)  I think that buyers are correct in being cautious.  There is a lot of news to digest.  I also blame politicians for playing the fear card for elections!

Charles Stallions Real Estate Services Inc  Maybe we can get Congress to stay recessed...  I want to thank you for your market news.

William Collins, Broker Associate (ERA Queen City Realty)  William that is incredible!  Thanks for sharing!

David Saks - Real Estate Broker (The Real Estate Mart of Tennessee, Inc.) I can beleive it.   I sold a home last year, and noticed that the only home sold in that neighborhood since last summer...sold for 140K less.

Jason Crouch, Broker - Austin Texas Real Estate (Austin Texas Homes, LLC)  That still sounds pretty good.  I can understand that a normal buyer would want to step back and wait until a little dust settles before buying.

Is this the calm before the storm...I have heard that the government sent banks letters stating that they have to get rid of all their inventory by the end of the year.....don't know if that is true or not... :)

Jim, For starters, I am glad you have received so many responses. Way to put it out there. In Nashville, Everything has slowed. My business is up only because I am out there askinng for it. My mantra right now is "just one loan".

Inventory high

Sales low

No good news here

Bo

Not Yet Licensed - Thanks!  We had 3 deals and 5 referrals for last month.  The 5 deals are Internet.

Lenn Harley, Homefinders.com, MD & VA Real Estate  I agree Lenn, it is the same per-centage here.

Russ Ravary - Michigan Homes for sale - Michigan Real estate & Mortgage info (Remerica Hometown One)  According to this, you are not alone!  Thanks for sharing.

Allison Stewart REALTOR ®St. Cloud Florida (Florida Pines Realty, Inc)  That sounds very encouraging.  I wonder if age is a factor.  Retirees?  Baby boomers etc?

Diane Bell, Hilton Head Real Estate, Bluffton (Charter 1 Real Estate, Hilton Head, Bluffton, SC)  Sales have slowed tremendously.  Two of the properties I sold this year took over 1 year to sell.

Rich Ferretti (Southern Winds Realty-Mint Hill North Carolina)  Thanks.  I do my blog myself.

The Killeen Fort Hood market is off about 7% for the same period last year, but the last month has been very quiet after a really booming July.  Plenty of time to revamp systems that need updating, to do planning for next year, and to take some time off!    We know we will have troops returning in December and January who will generate sales, and we're hopeful that once the election is over we'll see increasing activity. 

Cindy Jones-Northern Virginia Real Estate & Military Relocation Services (RE/MAX Allegiance #1 RE/MAX Company in the World)  Interesting observation.  I do not think the current markets will be coming back to the levels they were at in price and terms. The listing agents need to be more experienced and educate the sellers.

Laura Karambelas-Chicagoland Real Estate (Baird & Warner)  Many agents are telling me the same.  Since the bailout bills, it has progressively slowed.

JoEllen Stranger-Thorsen, Lake County, FL (Catherine Hanson Real Estate, Inc.)   I pray you are right.

Fran 'The Title Man' Gaspari Title Insurance-PA & NJ (Patriot Land Transfer, Inc.)  I think the politicains have spooked the market on purpose.  The timing was uncanny.

Fran 'The Title Man' Gaspari Title Insurance-PA & NJ (Patriot Land Transfer, Inc.)  Gasoline and our water isses have not helped.

After the Spring/Summer rush it always slows a bit. However; I feel that because of the economy, people losing jobs and not sure what "tomorrow" may bring has slowed business every where for the most part.

The good news is that there are always people out there that have to buy or sell. Of course "buyers" would be more favorable right now. Like most have said, this is definately where referrals hopefully will kick in.

Until Next Time;

Adell

Christopher and Stephanie Somers - Realtors - Philadelphia Real Estate (RE/MAX Affiliates)  Homes correctly priced will sell.

The last two weeks were slow, but still getting showings just went to a crawl the last two weeks. Now that the whole fear is off the TV, hopeing it picks up more. But, then we don't have gas lines like you all in Atlanta. Is it getting better?

Laura Jefferson..Lexington's Realtor (Asset Realty)  Thanks.  Your web statisics are similar to mine.

Margaret Woda, Maryland Real Estate (RE/MAX VISION)  Margaret, this is what is gripping everyone.  Life is compounded with loss in stocsk, pensions, SEP IRA's, bank issues, bad press, and persons wondering if they will be paying more taxes next year.  In the mean time it is wait and see.

Shirley Parks San Antonio Real Estate & Luxury Homes (RE/MAX Realty Advantage, San Antonio, TX)  In Atlanta a lot of agents are looking for full time jobs if they can find them.

Jessica Graley (Old Colony, Realtors) Thank you so much for sharing.

Here in South Alabama, sales are pretty slow. In today's newspaper real estate section, one local RE company is advertising an upcoming "Sale" where there will be a list of homes for "up to 10% off" if under $500K and over that will be at least 5% off.  Truth is, most offers are coming in intially at 20-30% off list to open negotiations anyway.

Konnie MAC Northern Virginia Real Estate (Konnie McKee )  It would be scary if they did.  That could create an incredible drop in neighborhod prices.  I could also believe anything these days.

Mary Ann Daniell, Realtor (Fort Hood Texas Real Estate/Coldwell Banker United, Realtors)  That isn't too bad at all.

Here in Denver, we're in reasonably good shape. In fact, I've written three offers this weekend (and it's only Sunday morning) and have been beaten out on two and am probably competing on the third. These are not REO's - they're retail listings. Two of my offers were over full-price on houses that have been on the market for over a month. My own personal residence sold in two weeks, even though the basement was flooded.

So, I'm asking myself - now that I have several ready-to-go buyers --- where'd that Buyer's Market go???

Teresa King, e-PRO Mobile, Daphne & Fairhope,AL (RE/MAX By the Bay)  A sign of the times.   Several real estate companies in Atlanta have been doing company wide open houses.  The problem?  No one  is attending.  Gas was scarce for several weeks, and still high @ $3.89 a gallon.

I have a mix of tire kickers and real buyers. They are not totally spooked, but being more conservative in their purchase and in this buying time, they really need to capatalize on all the others who ARE spooked.

Winter Baserva Realtor Atlanta Homes For Sale (The Good Broker)   I think if there are cash buyers this is is the time to act. Fear is an incredible motivator.   There are some great opportunites out there.

Jim,

Karen and I are in our fourth decade as realtors in Northern Virginia,  August sales in PW County were up over 100% of August 2007 because prices had dropped 38%.  Homeowners who don't have to sell aren't listing so the only thing around are short sales and foreclosures.  We have not seen the end of this yet - it will get worse.  That isn't doom and gloom - that's the economist in me speaking.  I'll be watching the LIBOR rate on Monday.  Art

Jim,

Thank you for this post.  I just read every single comment and am depressed. Historically my internet traffic and leads have been off the charts.  The last couple of weeks there has been a dramatic drop in traffic and the leads have been erratic.  The leads are still coming in daily, many we don't even bother with, we know we cannot place them in homes.  Still we are fortunate to have a steady stream. I can't even imagine what agents without our internet advantage are doing for business right now.

I thank God on a regular basis for the social networking that we have access to.  If we didn't have each other to speak to about what is really going on in our markets across the country, I don't know what the hell we would be thinking right now.

I recently added a buyers agent who is new to the area, but strong.  She had to attend a mandatory MLS class at our local board.  One of the board execs came in to speak with them and announced that 65% of the agents currently licensed in our area have not made a sale in over a year.  We are probably down by close to 50% or more (agents) now, which makes that number staggering. 

We are working with buyers, still turning down listings-several a week, and are trying to work with only the most qualified and realistic of buyers. Still, buyers want to shop and see many homes before purchasing, often passing on the very good deal they were seeking because it is too early in their search, only to lose it and not find another that they like as well.  Often we have to walk away from buyers because they get lost in an unrealistic fantasy regarding what their money will actually purchase, and our time has to be allocated elsewhere to survive.  There are only so many of these buyers that we can carry at any one time. I am seeing this more often lately.

Buyers who want a good deal and don't recognize it when it comes along.  It seems to provoke them into believing that there is an even better deal down the road, which isn't always the case. 

We are coming into the winter months which is always a much slower time here.  The last 3 months has seen a strong spike in business here in Long Beach.  Properties began to move, summer is always good here.  Many past years, I made the bulk of my annual earnings over the summer months.  Sales remain strong compared to earlier this year and last year.  Inventory is climbing and a lot of new inventory is now coming onto the market.

Short sales have slowed considerably and the inventory of foreclosed homes has increased dramatically.

Mid range and higher priced neighborhood prices have leveled out over the last 2 or 3 months after an approximate 40% overall decrease; however, neighborhoods plagued by short sales and forclosures are feeling the drag down effect in prices and continue to decline. 

I don't know how many agents will be left standing here by spring, I suspect there will be considerably less that we have now. 

Agents who have historically done well here are surviving - some barely - but we are still selling real estate. 

I spent the night up on the internet doing research.  It is 7:30AM and I need to go to sleep.  Before I do, I will share something with all of you.  Tonight I did a ton of research with the Google Keywords Tool.  The tool shows traffic for specific keywords and suggests other keywords and displays their traffic as well.  It shows the normal (average) traffic for each keyword as well as the last months traffic.

I searched several markets around the country and the results are interesting.  In some markets traffic is up, in some it is down. The consumer is still on the internet, they are still watching.  They may not be jumping in to buy right now, but they are lurking.  Some will continue to drop out of lurking mode and become buyers and sellers.  In every market there are specific keywords that are strong.  We should all be paying very close attention to the search habits of todays consumer.

I suggest that you all use this tool and apply it on your blogs for better positioning.  It has never been more critical to be FRONT AND CENTER in front of the consumer.  If you know where they are searching, you can place yourself directly in their path and route some of that traffic to you.

We are working 10 times as hard to do one tenth of the business we did 3 years ago, but we are surviving.  While traffic is down, the quality of our clients is up.

To any Long Beach Realtor reading this, I am seeking an additional buyers agent, if you are interested in surviving and willing to work your butt off, contact me.

I wish you all the very best of luck.

Laurie

Art Kruschka  I noticed sales were up in PW county over last year, however compared to the peak they still are way off their highs.  I will be in Prince William County this week looking around.

Laurie Manny, Long Beach CA Real Estate (Main Street Realtors Long Beach California) We run the same type of business.  I have run a Internet real estate business for 10 years now.  I am still making money, but the hours are incredible.  Your observations are incredible, and right on the money.

Most agents in real estate today only have a license, they do not buy or sell.

Hopefully the agents that don't work will drop out and the buyers will get better service from those of us that are still in Real Estate!

Very quiet here.  In Eastern CT, number of sales are off about 40% over last year. Unfortunately the number of agents is steady.

 Richard Shuman P.A. (RE/MAX Select)   I agree.  I hope they leave real soon.  In Atlanta we went from 8500 agents in the late 1990's to 46000.  The problem?  We are only selling the same amount of homes as we did then

Linda Davis (RE/MAX Realty Group)  Close to 40% is what I am hearing from many markets.  Yet as you mentioned the number of agents has stayed very high.  It is still over 40000 agents in Atlanta.

Jim,

I have the kind of internet results that people (myself included) have always fantasized about.  Still slammed into the top of the engines - across the board, through several sites, with breakout results for the long, middle and short tail and drop down results for over a dozen large keywords.

About 2 weeks ago I went back 30 pages in Google for the term LONG BEACH REAL ESTATE to see who was left standing.  I was only counting agents in Long Beach Ca.  I still had fingers left when I was done. 

Either dozens of agents who once had some kind of positioning at around pages 5-10 are in the sandbox, or are just gone, because their sites just are not there. 

I found agents who used to be on pages 5-10 starting at page 19. 

Some of the results were for agents in the other Long Beach's around the country, but what I saw was an incredible amount of real estate search sites further attempting to get between us and the consumer, on the rise.  

There's an internet war going on, I wonder how many have noticed and what they are going to do about it. 

Have you noticed that the calls selling leads have stopped and have now become the calls selling referrals?  Same people calling though, new angle to fleece us.

I don't know how anybody is surviving without viable lead generation. I would be terrified to even just have one site.

Laurie

They sky is not falling.

The real estate landscape is just changing.

If you were comfortable in your real estate vehicle for the past 10+ years, now would be the time to trade it in for a more hybrid/land-water/multi-terrain vehicle. (No, I am not talking actual cars.)

...otherwise you are going to become extinct.

Now is the time to gain market share.

Now is the time that TRUE millionaires are made ... in ANY industry.

Be creative.   Watch your numbers.  Shift ahead of the market.  Pray.

Good Luck.

Haven't heard a peep from anyone in about 3 weeks. I work in the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago around Woodfield Mall.  I don't think buyers or sellers know what to think.  I've had one seller just give up this week and will try again in spring.  Mariana has a good outlook on things - which my crystal bal was working!

Slow in RhodeIsland also.  Noticed a big decrease in e-mails. I thought it was me. I think once the jitters are gone things will improve. Considering the market and bank interest rates you would think people would invest in real estate. I hope lending improves.  Seems foreclosures, short sales and lower priced homes in the Providence, Cranston, Warwick area are still moving. Which is a good situation because the neighborhoods should slowly improve.

Slower but then again it is October. More buyers are finally getting the picture and more willing to reduce their asking price a little to compete with the jones'. Properties of over 400k are just not sellling however. Anything below 200k is flying off the shelves.

In the San Jose (Silicon Valley) market area, sales are down overall appx by half of 2000, but that year was a giant spike in traffic. A better number, I think, is to see what the average number of sales has been. I used the stats for August for the last 11 years (since Sept is not yet ready by our MLS and I didn't want to crunch that much data) and our numbers seem to be down between 27% and 39% from the average of the last 11 years. The variation has to do with types of housing (condos are faring wors