An interesting turn this past week; the number of available properties is constant, the number of sales is down, and the number of expired listings is down. Now, you might think that this means my ongoing predictions of a market upturn are wrong, however, consider this: at our ‘Your First Home’ seminar last night, the home inspector, Gene Meandro of Lighthouse Inspections, noted that he is doing 3 & 4 inspections a day, 7 days a week. Also, it was noted that turn-around times for mortgages are more like 2 weeks, instead of the typical one week, because the lenders are so busy.
We had a record turnout at the Millionaire Real Estate Investor seminar in Milton tonight!! Here are some comments from a couple of the attendees . . .
No, wait, that’s not it; that’s something completely different.
I wanted to write once more about the changes that are going on in the market, right before our very eyes. In our office, there were an average of 18 couple through the open houses this past weekend – that is huge. Several agents sold properties with multiple offers, and went over list price – that is huge. Numerous buyers have been on the phone and email the last 3 days, saying that now it’s time for them to look at buying.
What does all this mean?
Well, it sure looks like the reliable signs that say the market is turning. Now, sure, I’ve read some of the whiney posts by people on The Star’s bulletin boards about how the optimism is just lies because of how many more people are going to lose their jobs. And I’ve heard those prognostications too. But here’s where it gets interesting . . .
Rent for a small house = $1300 per month / Purchase price of $195,000.
Well, look at that – it’s actually cheaper to buy than it is to pay rent! And, people have to live somewhere, so why not pay off your own mortgage instead of someone else’s?
Oh, the naysayers moan, those numbers aren’t real. What about the downpayment? Well, what about it; for a slightly higher mortgage rate, you can get 97% or 100% financing and still be paying off your own mortgage instead of someone else’s.
Well, I can’t buy – I’m stuck in a lease for the next 9 months! Guess what – I have a solution for that too! Give me a call to set a time for a Buyer Consultation and we can go over all the details and get you into a home before you miss out on one of the best buying markets in history!
Here’s a couple of things I’ve learned of doing this past week:
Get a seller to pay out a Buyer’s lease and the seller gets their home sold and the Buyer gets into the market at a great time. This is particularly timely because there are so many Buyers out there, waiting for their lease to finish. You can even structure it so that the seller doesn’t have to pay out the entire lease – just email me for more info.
Offer to be your client’s negotiator for them. Most people can’t / don’t want to / don’t have the time to negotiate theirmortgage renewal, and end up paying 1 or 2% more than they need to – agents should provide a free negotiation service for their database.
We’re just launching a new program – going to HR people and offering to counsel their employees about keeping their house in this economy.
60% of the private-sector jobs in my town are vanishing – companies hate to do it to their employees – if we can get in front of those people before they get in trouble on their mortgage, maybe we can help them stay in the house, even if they sell it to an investor, rent it back with purchase option for 2 yrs down the road. The employer will look like a hero for it.
The employees will love it, and we will feel good for helping keep people in their homes and maybe build our investor business and maybe grow our business. As an agent, we don’t even have to know how to do the process – just be the middleman for the whole thing and bring in the experts.
