Current Real Estate Market Conditions

What are real estate professionals saying to homebuyers and sellers about current market conditions? The successful brokers and sales associates are talking about the strengths that exist in the market. Below are positive angles that appeared recently in the media and underscore why it is a good time to buy real estate.

NAR: Existing-Home Sales Rise in March Mark Expected “Spring Surge”
Buyers responding to the homebuyer tax credit and favorable affordability conditions boosted existing-home sales in March, marking the beginning of an expected spring surge, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, rose 6.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.35 million units in March from 5.01 million in February, and are 16.1% above the 4.61 million-unit level in March 2009.

According to Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist:

• “Sales have been above year-ago levels for nine straight months, and inventory has trended down from year-ago levels for 20 months running. The homebuyer tax credit has been a resounding success as these underlying trends point to a broad stabilization in home prices.”

• “Foreclosures have been feeding into the inventory pipeline at a fairly steady pace and are being absorbed manageably. In fact, foreclosures are selling quickly, especially in the lower price ranges that are attractive to first-time homebuyers.”

• “With home values stabilizing, a revival in home buying confidence will likely help the housing market get back on its feet even as the tax credit impact disappears.”

-- “Existing-Home Sales Rise on Home Buyer Tax Credit and Favorable Market Conditions,”  National Association of Realtors, April 22, 2010.

dotJenna: What Every Sales Person Should Know About Social Media

Written by dotJenna
Posted with Permission. (c) 2010 dotJenna.com - All Rights Reserved

I talk to sales professionals, entrepreneurs and real estate agents across the country daily about social media sales and marketing. Many folks call to inquire about ways I can help them implement social media for their businesses. These well meaning, successful Americans, naturally want a Quick Fix. Real-time lead machines magically poof-ing prospects at their door for $500 a month. When I tell them that they need to roll-up-their-sleeves and get into the process themselves, they freak. How (shaking my head) can I get them to understand? They think social media wastes time, when it’s more likely to be their ship that has just come in.

Failing to personally embrace social media in your sales process is like writing on cave walls after Gutenberg invented the printing press.

I understand the logic of the die-hard sales people who are so driven they can’t fathom getting online to make “friends.” They’re thinking in terms of the old rules–those of selling to disconnected, uninformed consumers. What these highly successful sales pros don’t see is this: While you’ve been working your butts off to make a buck, technology has changed the world. Welcome to 2010.

You can’t put old wine into new wineskins. (Matt. 9:17)

Consumer minds are now stretched. Power has been redistributed to Everyman.  The world is different now, with industries melting into the Land of the Nerds. Your approach to marketing, advertising and sales will have to change, or risk the fate of the cassette tape. Let’s explore.

• Yellow Pages are dead. The yellow pages no longer work. Where do you go to find business products and services today? The web.
• Newspapers are dead. The publishing industry is struggling. Advertisers aren’t getting the return for the expensive ads they purchase because people aren’t reading the ads anymore.
• TV Commercials are dead. People have options today, and are no longer forced to sit through commercial advertisements.

What am I trying to say?
I’m saying that in the same way traditional marketing tactics are no longer effective, traditional sales tactics alone are no longer adequate. Even the way we generated leads last year is different from today. There are better, faster, easier ways to get the job done and make sales. Social media paves the way for you to make an epic dent in this world. There is no better time in the history of mankind to be hardworking and ambitious!

Armed with all this knowledge–and a lot more that won’t fit in this article–I wince when I hear my favorite people in the whole wide world (Sales Reps, Realtors, Entrepreneurs) discount social media selling with objections like this:

• “I want to focus on selling.”
• “I don’t have enough free time as it is.”
• “I don’t have time to play on the internet.”
• “I am looking to save time, not create more work for myself.”
• “I just want to pay you to get me leads.”
• “I don’t want to learn anything new.”

How can I help you to see?
I’m sure you’re convinced that everything is going online, including your target market. Right? (See, I knew it–convincing you of that is not the problem). The great Eureka! that must take place involves you. The last frontier is helping you see that the “everything and everyone” includes **YOU**.

Yes, you.

You too must change your sales and marketing strategy to embrace the dawn of new media. The same way Facebook has connected you with every high school friend under the sun, it can help you connect with your target market. You must learn to blog. Write. Post. Build an audience. Bond with your prospects online. You must be a rock star and learn to use social media tools to sell yourself in this new world. Sales people everywhere must digitize ourselves and our sales processes to achieve hyper-results in this hyper-connected world.

Sales people must digitize themselves and their sales efforts via social media to achieve maximum visibility in their marketplace.

The key for the sales professional, is getting personally involved in the world of new media, and realizing that doing so will actually increase your effectiveness, not waste your time. You will find that you can do more, reach more people, and achieve your goals faster, and envision your wildest dreams simply by learning to use the free tools all around you.

I’m not saying it’s easy. I’m not saying there’s not a learning curve. It’s not and there is. What I am saying is that you owe it to yourself to explore the ways social media can help you sell more, do more and be more. If you have any questions, comments or issues with this article, I urge you to comment in the area provided below. If you want to learn more about how I help sales peeps “connect the dots” and to become social media super stars, please find me, **dotJenna**, on Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/dotjenna , or my website at http://www.dotjenna.com/ .