Market Update For Our Sellers

Karen & Todd send our sellers an update on market conditions every two weeks. Here is an excerpt of that e-mail.

Summer is officially here!

In the past I’ve mentioned my real estate coach, Howard Brinton, to my sellers. As a recap, Howard is a top real estate mind who Karen Jolley and I speak with 1-2 times per month. His experience and expertise have been invaluable to our organization. Often times he shares relevant information from top agents throughout the country. This week Howard sent us an article written by an agent in Florida. I thought it was very interesting, so I am summarizing it for you. Denny Grimes and his team are experiencing a challenging market in Ft. Myers, FL. and here’s his take:

Sellers who are trying to sell their home in this market most likely will not be successful. Only those who are committed to moving will sell. Price is the single most important issue a seller must face. To get to the closing table, we need to do what it takes to sell your home. We must forget about what we paid, what we owe, what our re-fi appraisal says, or what Zillow.com reports. In today’s market, none of that matters.

As I was reading Denny’s article, I kept thinking of one of my favorite childhood movies; Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (Now my kids love these movies and I get to watch them again!). My fellow Star Wars geeks will remember the following dialogue between Luke Skywalker and Yoda:

Luke: All right, I'll give it a try.

Yoda: No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try.

I know this is a corny reference but I’ve often thought about this over the years as it relates to anything I am involved with. As Denny mentions in his article, “Sellers must be committed to systematically lowering the price, until showings increase. Showings will lead to a sale.”

And now for the sales statistics...
The May '07 sales stats are in for Livingston County. To summarize, # of sales were down 23.5% as it compares with May ’06 and sales volume was down 34.3%. Thankfully, sales at Buckley Jolley continue to grow and buck the trend in the county.