BELLINGHAM, WASHINGTON!  According to Bert Sperling in an article posted in the New York Times. 

 The number 3 spot went to Portland, Oregon, and the coveted number 1 spot went to: Gainesville, Florida.

Anyone remember what happened to the town of Dante's Peak right after it was ranked number 2?  :)

Being young and in real estate brings with it its challenges.  Establishing your validity right out of the starting becomes routine as it virtually always expected.  I am often asked, "How old are you?" from skeptical prospective clients, and that's my cue to convince them that I may be young, but I'm not stupid.  Of course, I don't try to convince people of my competency by spouting off my resume, but by telling them what they want to know about real estate.  Staying continually informed on things like market stats has become invaluable, because people don't argue with numbers.  Dressing professionally has also become a necessity.  Even on "casual Friday" because you never know who you're going to be meeting.  And when you're young, there often really isn't such thing as a second impression.  

Being on the defensive is never very fun, but there are ways to make people think that being young is actually to their benefit.  First off-you're hungry, meaning you'll do whatever it takes to satisfy their needs because you don't have the luxury (yet) of sitting back and cherry picking from a referral box.  Perhaps our biggest advantage, however, is being of the "technology generation."  The fact that we are capable of navigating the Internet to take advantage of programs that make everyone's life easier, puts us a cut above the "old-timers" who haven't yet mastered the double-click maneuver (there's nothing like making your point with a gross exaggeration.)

When it comes to listing someone's property, we encounter a lot of objections as to why the seller feels it's not in their best interest to do so.  One of the most common objections I hear, especially in our buyer's market, is the owner wanting to FSBO their property.  Here's a sample script that I've used and have had success with:

   I can appreciate the idea of selling a home by owner.  Your biggest objection is probably paying the commission.  I like to save money too, so let me impress on you some facts from the National Association of Realtors. Just a little background on the NAR first. They poll hundreds of thousands of people every year and are known for having very accurate and non-biased polls. They found that 84% of all FSBO's eventually list with a Realtor. That's a success rate of a mere 16%. Also, on average, FSBO's get between 8 and 12% less than they would if they listed with a realtor, so even though we charge a 6% commission, according to these stats you would still earn more from your sale by around 4%. And, I'm not trying to scare you, but it is a fact that 80% of all real estate related court battles include a FSBO party. So, even if you are part of the rare 16% who successfully sell your home by yourself, you will likely make less money and have a dramatically higher chance of being involved in a law suit. If you do decide to sell on your own, it would be wise to obtain errors and omissions insurance and better yet if you were to hire a real estate attorney to handle the paperwork for you. I also want you to consider the fact that most buyers work with an agent, and buyer's agents aren't going to work for free. So unless you're willing to pay a selling commission to a buyer ‘s agent, you're basically excluding 85% of your buyers. So, for all the risks and stats do you still think it's worth it to sell on your own?

Pricing property properly, is also often an issue of contention. Sellers often want to list their home above fair market value.  It's easy enough to agree to their price with the understanding that if there isn't any action within the first few weeks, a price reduction will be introduced, but then you lose a lot of the activity that is prevelent within the first couple weeks after a home hits the market.  I like to say something along the following:

   By listing at the price you suggest, we are not listing merely at a higher price, but at an overpriced priced. Believe me, I want to sell your home for as much as possible, but to do that, we must price it accurately. Buyers are going to be comparing your home constantly to others they've seen. We can't fool them. If we overprice your home they are going to use it as justification for putting in an offer on your neighbor's home. When we first list a property is when we see the most activity and then it will drop off and plateau after a couple weeks. When there is a high level of activity we are more likely to recieve an offer. We want to capitalize on the first couple weeks of activity by pricing it right and sticking firm to our price. Also, this can cause multiple offers, and create a bidding-war environment. I'm not guaranteeing that this will happen, but your chances of having it so are much more likely with an aggressively priced property.

It's empowering to be prepared with with scripts like these. Once you internalize them it keeps you from floundering for answers when faced with tough questions and observations.   Any more ideas?

Situation:  With my buyer's closing date a scant 9 days away, they suddenly inform me that their lender was unable to get their loan approved through the bank he had them pre-approved through.  He thought he would try a different program through another bank to see if he could salvage the deal.  I tried to contact him to get more details, but he must have been too busy to answer or return any of my phone calls.  Instead, I received a call from the LISTING agent, who was completely frantic because my buyer's lender had called him and told him that my buyers were looking shaky!  For him to taint the seller's opinion of my buyers was completely unnecessary.  It is not the job of the lender to inform the listing agent the current status of the loan.  Is this clearly outlined in a code of ethics anywhere?

                                                          RESIDENTIAL (Homes only)

     MONTH        ACTIVE LISTINGS     AVG DOM     Min Price        Max Price        Avg Price        Med Price

       May                  50                       27          199,000        1,989,000        463,102         369,900

       April                  31                      55          159,900          699,900         394,179         389,000

      March                 23                      84          182,450          889,000         398,630         369,900

Please visit our Bellingham Real Estate site for more stats!