Real Estate Market
The 2006 Real Estate
Bubble - Two-thirds of lenders nationwide believe a
real estate bubble currently exists in the United States -
and half of them believe it has already begun to burst or
will burst in the next six months, according to the
results of this quarter's Phoenix Management "Lending
Climate in America" When asked to select from a list of
six issues that had the most potential to hurt the U.S.
economy, 38 percent of lenders named the federal budget
deficit. That was followed by the war in Iraq (18%), the
trade deficit (14%), the sluggish job market (12%), low
household savings rate (9%) and the real estate bubble
(9%).
What questions to ask
a real estate sales agent during selection process.
The real estate sales agent environment has become
extremely competitive and complex, it involves various
formats to choose from. From your traditional full service
agent to your 3% sales commission internet format. Below
are a few questions to ask.
1) What percent of your company's listings have
sold in the last 6 months? Home sellers will want to work
with sales associates with high percentage of completed
home sales transactions within your local market.
2) Ask about the average amount of time it took to
sell their listed homes? Compare the marketing times
between real estate agents / company will provide the
consumer with an indication of how well that company and
sales associate sells / market thier homes.
3) What was the average sales price? Look for a
figure that is close to what you would like to receive for
your home.
4) Their company's list-price to sale-price ratio?
Significant differences between original listing prices
and ultimate sale prices can be an indication that the
list prices quoted at the outset were unrealistic.
Negotiating and
Setting a Real Estate Selling Price is a very
difficult task to handle. Most real estate agents get
caught between the market price and what the customer
asking price is. In most cases, sellers base their pricing
on what a neighbor sold their home for a few months ago.
Perhaps the neighbor's home was sold six months ago, with
perhaps less home inventory and lower interest rates.
Selling an Overpriced
Home
Overpricing is the number
one mistake home sellers make when listing their homes,
according to a new national e-mail survey conducted by
House-Hunt, Inc. The margin was nearly three-to-one over
the second choice.
Survey respondents said their next biggest mistake was
“dealing with the same real estate agent who represented
the buyer,” thereby setting up a possible conflict of
interest and possibly a perception that the buyer was
getting a better deal.
Third biggest mistake was “failure to disclose known
defects or problems.” Virtually tied for fourth place
were: “under pricing their properties” and “not utilizing
Internet technology to market their properties.”
Real Estate Points
Rising mortgage rates,
surge in home listings, slow home sales in some areas are
changing the ways in which buyers and sellers approach the
housing market.
Real estate practitioners are placing a great deal of
emphasis on pricing, with buyers who use the Web to
conduct home searches steering clear of properties that
appear to be overpriced.
Sellers also are urged to undertake repairs to attract
buyers at a time when they have plenty of homes to choose
from and plenty of time to make purchase decisions.
First-time buyers are encouraged to stay within their
budgets because slower home-price appreciation means that
there will not be a great deal of equity to bail them out
in the event of a financial crisis.
