JL's Columbia SC Real Estate Blog: January 2009

 Lately I and several of my colleagues have notice a significant increase in traffic. Almost everyone I have spoken with in new home communities has said that their traffic is up as well. With great interest rates, a large number of homes for sale on the market, and reasonable prices, more and more buyers are starting to come off of the fence. Investors have also started to return to the market in an effort to soak up a few good deals before the rates adjust and they lose out on that good deal.

 But then that's the point, no one wants to miss out on a good deal, and there are quite a few to be had. Competition over those great deals is starting to heat up. The past two contracts that I have written were multiple offer situations. If you are unfamiliar with what that means, it is exactly what it sounds like. There was more than one offer in on both of the last two homes for sale that I wrote an offer on for my clients. What does that mean to you? Well, that means that the opportunity to walk into a situation and make an offer unopposed is starting to diminish.

 I will not call it a market turn around, I feel it is way too early to make that claim. We still have a higher than normal days on the market for listings. There is still a great deal of competition between bank foreclosures and individual sellers for the buyers who are out there trying to purchase a home. But, I can say that I have seen an increase in business here lately and it is very early in the year. Usually our big time of the year is the Summer, but the great deals have started to draw out many buyers that are no longer waiting on the market to completely pick up. I for one see this as a good idea, but of course I am a little biased.

 However, if you think about it logically, when the market does come screaming back, a lot is going to change. Interest rates will rise to a more normal level rather than the low rates we have at present. The number of days on the market is going to go back down. More and more people are going to flock back to the market creating much more competition for anyone who wants to purchase a home. And chances are, home prices will once again rise.

 That means that the people who are out looking to buy a home now, will get the best of all worlds. Lower interest rates that will translate to a lower mortgage payment in most cases. Less competition, so they will not have to feel so rushed and they can take more time making a decision. Still not too much time mind you, as I said I have run into two situations within a week where multiple offers were made on the same home. So, if you see a home you really want, making an offer before it's gone is still a really good idea. And last but not least, the current buyers also get the advantage of lowered home prices for both new homes and resales. There are a lot of great reasons to buy a home now, but in the end the choice is yours. But, if you are thinking of buying a home soon, you should give some serious thought on getting your head in the game, before others cash in and you wait too late.

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 I doubt that anyone, myself included, will argue with the power of the Internet. Millions of websites on every topic that you can imagine and quite a few topics that I'm sure we can't imagine. All that information right at your fingertips and all you have to do is type in a word or phrase on Google and bam, more than you will ever want to know on the subject. The same is true when it comes to any service industry such as real estate.

 We are constantly fighting for position on all the top search engines in an effort to edge out our competition and reach the consumers first. Internet marketing and research has become so popular these days that the vast majority of buyers and sellers start their research on line prior to ever contacting a Realtor or any other industry professional. With so many options out there and everybody and their brother throwing their hat in the race for Internet dominance, there is plenty of information available to these buyers and sellers as they do their research.

 When buyers finally do decide to do some serious looking at what they can purchase, still on line mind you, they usually fill out a contact form on one website or another. Well, let's be honest, they fill out about 20 or 30 contact forms and then they wait for the first one to call them back. There's no guarantee that the even filled out a form for an actual professional or if they just filled out a form on a lead capture website that uses Realtor listings in order to create leads that they then just sell back to Realtors. There's no guarantee that the buyers or sellers have contacted anyone that actually help them with their hopes to buy a home or sell their current house.

 But, I am starting to wonder if these same buyers and sellers even care whether or not they are contacting someone that can provide them with quality service. Most buyers historically tend to go with who ever contacts them first. That would mean that these days with everyone having a website with some form of lead capture or another, that the Internet is leveling the playing field between the good and bad agents. Once upon a time you just had to go out and create the leads, actually talk to people face to face, and provide good service because word of mouth travels fast. Now, all you have to do is become that first to call, because it may be more about speed and efficiency than quality.

 There's no doubt about the fact that a strong Internet presence is a great thing to have in virtually any business. I do almost all my advertising on the Internet and it's where nearly everyone I work with comes from. But, I always know that at the same time someone is contacting me, they are also contacting several other people and one of us has to be the quickest on the trigger. It reminds me to stay on my toes and constantly watch my email for that next chance to speak with someone. But I wonder if people have really become more concerned with how quickly I reply to an email or how much quality I can put into the service of my clients to meet their needs.

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 With all the websites available to consumers today, it's easy to research most any topic you choose. When it comes time to list a house on the market for sale, there are plenty of options out there for you to take a look at on line. Zillow is one of the more popular as is Realtor.com. However, there is still substitute to good old fashioned professional help.

 When studying the MLS to price a house for the current market, just for the fun of it, I usually check Zillow for their Zestimate of the property. I have yet to see a single Zestimate that is in line with fair market value for the areas that I research. In fact, I have yet to see a single Zestimate that was not below fair market value and in most cases by several thousand dollars. One of the last houses that I listed there was a $10,000 difference in the market value and the Zestimate at the time the market analysis was done.

 Taking this in to account, even if you hire a Realtor to sell your house, you would still make more than you would if you used the Zestimate to price the house. As I said, this is not an uncommon occurance. Most people who decide to sell their home without the aid of a real estate professional either underprice or significantly overprice the house. Also most people do not know how to effectively market the house, there is a lot more to it than throwing a sign in the yard and posting it on a few websites.

 Most Realtors will do a free market analysis on your home, and I am no different. I offer the service to anyone who is interested. At the very least, if you are considering an attempt to sell your house yourself, you should contact a Realtor for proper pricing and any advice that they would be willing to give you. Don't short change yourself by believing every website that you run across in the gospel truth, the sad fact of the matter is that most of them are not. It never hurts to get a professionals opinion on the subject, after all, they are professionals on the subject.

This message brought to you by www.jlboney.com.