Finishing the first quarter of the year many who think the market will turn around may just be dreaming.

The hardest part of this dream, are agents whom are busier then ever with buyers, feel like they have never worked harder. And for most this is absolutely true.

First thing you notice in this Current Market is the huge number of sellers who are "Selling Short" meaning they are asking the bank who has their mortgage to allow them to sell even though they are short on Equity and the resulting sale will Mean a huge loss for the bank. Although with most banks this is a cheaper and more controlled way of getting some money back, instead of foreclosing on a Home that is worth less than what is owed the bank.

Foreclosures by banks are expensive and messy items to deal with.

Banks do not win when they have Real Estate Owned or (REO'S) so many are agreeing to the short sale process when the Mortgage is beginning to get delinquent.

But for Broker and Agents these are hard, hard, work and they are never in control when they sell them to buyers.

The REO market is now controlled by a few organized agents who paid the price through the years to land these accounts. Doing years of Broker Price Opinions and making contacts with Banks who had lots of loans going bad. The hard part of selling these to your buyers is, there are lots of offers, and many times offers above full asking price. SO many buyers get mad their offer was not considered and the dialogue with banks is often done simply over a computer screen. And worse the selection of the best offer by the bank offends many first time buyers. Bidding on these properties with buyers should not be for the faint of heart.

On top of this mountain of great opportunities for agents are the facts that sellers, are waiting when they have equity, waiting for the Market to improve. Worse are they thinking it might happen soon?  They quote "we should soon begin to feel the stimulus spending.benifits"; the warmer weather will bring out the expensive buyers", many millions of owners who think it unwise to try to sell if they are unable to get their price.

This is best evidenced by a sharp drop in the number of Americans moving from one home to another -- today about one-third below the numbers in the '80s and '90s.

What we all need to face now is this economy is on life support.

Selling one's home should be done or buying ones home should be done, because of one reason, its your lifestyle asset and you need to move on to another "lifestyle". Trying to time this market will never work today.

The economy is too crazy to predict anything; the government is embroiled in secrecy and is shading how deep our problems are. Here is a recent report from PMI. A leading insurer of Home Mortgages perhaps after Reading it you may realize that as agents we will be working very hard making the American Dream come true. As there is no easy way and perhaps no bottom forming in today's market place of Real Estate.

Run Agents....RUN!

It's 2009. It's also March, which signals the beginning of spring and hence, the best six months of the year for real estate sales in New England. I am so thankful that we are in the middle of March NOW. That doesn't mean that I'm glad we made it to March. Rather, it means that after all this time of enduring the challenges of our struggling economy, I am so very glad and thankful that we are in March at this point in our economy versus being in, say, October, and looking forward to the lean Winter months of November, December, January and February. I'm glad those months are behind us and the great weather, the emotional excitement and an all-but-certain increase in home sales is about to be upon us.

If the next five or six months could be some of the toughest months of our economy, I wouldn't want them to come during any other time of the year! March, April, May, June, July and August are the wheelhouse months of the real estate industry in our Market. They are the best batters in the line-up.

For those of us in real estate, now is the time to CHARGE! The next six months are the most opportunistic months we may ever see in our careers. Deliberate, focused, intense, consistent lead generating action will not only improve our individual business results, but will also create the end of tough times for our entire local market. The next six months should generate more sales than the last six months. Increased sales mean more activity than the last six months. Increased activity means increased competition over the last six months. Increased sales, activity and competition may even bring us some positive reports from the media (or at least positive statistics for US to report!). And if, by some chance, average sales prices start to move up as a result of all of this activity, then we may indeed be approaching the point of no return - and that's a great thing!

Here's what I'm urging you to do: RUN! Run faster, run harder, run longer. Stop walking and stop jogging and start sprinting towards the beginning of what may be the most important shift in momentum in your career. If you've been making calls, make more. If you've been knocking on doors, knock on more. If you've been holding Open Houses, hold more of them. If you've been sending emails, send more. If your energy matches the opportunities of the market in the next six months, you will create momentum that will propel you through the next six years.

Run towards this opportunity!

Think of these words as those of your personal trainer, "Give me one more set, one more rep, one more lap, one more, one more, one more! You can do it! Don't give up now! Push through and earn your reward!" I'm not kidding.

 I believe that the months ahead represent the Period of Champions.

Extra effort started and sustained will create and reveal the champions among us. Can you do it? Of course you can! The better question is, "Will you?"

The good news is that being at Keller Williams is a lot like being with Verizon in that we have a HUGE network of associates that is always behind us.

 We are never alone.

With every call we make, every presentation we give, every house we hold open and every closing we attend, we have the wisdom of more peers supporting us and cheering us on to victory. "It's the network." And there's no better network than ours at Keller Williams.

When he wrote "The Dip," I wonder if Seth Godin knew how well-timed that book would prove to be? I seriously doubt that he had any idea of the magnitude of The Dip we were entering. I am entirely confident that the end of the dip is near. I can feel it. I can almost see it up ahead. However, by saying that, I don't mean that things will soon be "the way they used to be." The end of the dip will represent small and consistent improvements over time that will provide relief and rewards to those who have been faithfully preparing to take full advantage of a positive shift in the market.

The natural improvements that we should see over the next six months, combined with our extra (lead generation) effort will allow us to obtain our unfair share of the market and secure the future destiny of our businesses and careers.

Let's sprint to the finish line and beyond...together!

Your #1 Fan,

Barry Papagno OP

One thing that is true in today's buyers market , and that is just what we have today A Buyers Market. However it is a fact that  Sellers are still selling homes.

Buyers are plentiful, however they are only bidding on the best of the best values in housing. 

We as Realtors, are still facing an almost 8 months supply of inventory. That fact makes this a Real Buyers Market. This , combined with falling and low interest rates, does take out any  urgency for buyers.

There are lessons being learned for sure by the buyers. The most important lesson, is the homes for sale are not coming off an assembly line. Each home is unique, location, southern exposure to the sun, neighborhood mix, and layout and floor plan, not to mention nearness to transportation, schools, or friends.

Buyers must decide if they are buying a home for an Investment or for a lifestyle asset.

Truly if it's a purchase that will be a lifestyle Asset to the buyer, than a falling price should not be considered a risk.

For them it's the settling in factor, hanging a mailbox in a neighborhood as their permanent place to raise family, or enjoy life in their own home. We buy a car because we have a need, you buy your home for  the same reason. Buyers need to stop treating home purchases as a stock purchase. Only offering what they think the value will be 3 years down the road, if all in the ecomnomy goes terrible. Why is that? Sellers will not sell.

One fact is true, about 70% of the listings being offered buyers are overpriced and not listed at fair market value. Excluding those, the other 25% offered have very good value and very defensible prices on them. And they are selling, and selling to the more educated buyers who have become competitive and anxious to settle into a good home at a fair market value.

In January and we expect in February, we at Keller Williams in Easton,  anticipate  too continue to close on about 80 homes with sellers and buyers.

 How we do this month after month is simple.

 We find our buyers the best of the best homes for sale, and we consult our sellers to price their homes competitively, and allow us to use all our Top Agent Networking abilities, our Internet buyer attraction tools, and National Referral systems and our Marketing Abilities to attract the RIGHT buyer to our Sellers.

Folks, with about 12% of homes now having no or negative equity, the buyers fears are brought on by the past buyers mistakes who bought at the peak of the market, that perceived fear is stopping buyers from making a home buying decision in many cases. Those 12% of owners, bought high and got caught in the tail end of the rising market.

Across the Nation we still   have 82% of the USA homeowners safe , secure and with much equity in their homes.

In conclusion, it is a slower market, but it has become a priced right market. And it is always a good time to buy well located real estate for a lifestyle asset and to make one a home. 

 Barry Papagno Realtor Keller WIlliams, Barrypapagno@kw.com subject seller or buyer

Location 574 Washington Street Easton Ma.  On Route 138 in easton exit  17 off Route The 2nd floor  public Training room. Realtors are invited, This is a Realtor only event. Send an Email so we know you will attend and I will have my Assistant Prepare your Training Materials to have in Class.

Send Email to acharvi@aol.com, yes I am attending, no other Info is required.

Maybe the Righteous Brothers top hit, 'You"ve Lost That  Loving Feeling" , gained its roots from working agents in a market like this one.

The prices in Mass. dropped in November 16% to the largest single monthly year over year price decline since accounters began tracking numbers in 1987. Like, 21 years ouch. And sales closed dropped from 3,210, to 2600 . Units closed at a medium of $275,000 from last years same medium price monthly 2007 of $330,000.

SO what drags the Agents down, its called being part of the Bad New Bears Band. Instead of making optimistic music daily. The words we must sing are some what like this,

"the bank wants more information and letters of explaination of why you have not change the oil in your cars for one  year" " I know your putting down 30% but they want to know everything now. Sorry!!

Sorry, the market took that extra $40,000 dollars in equity that you had two years ago. But those boarded up house's next door are bringing your innocent family home down in value. "

" The Ceptic system that served your home for 50 years is now determined by the experts as failed, and the new one will cost about $35,000 to install and approve, and you can not sell without it being done. And it will  not bring you one more dollar in value when selling. "

" My favorite   Sir. "the 11% 2nd mortgage and the 9% first can not be renegotiated, your bank says because of a loss of value in the home, and it is not in default. However they say they sometimes do negotiate with people who unlike you , do not make their payments for 4 to 6 months and are heading into foreclosure. Those are the options according to your bank. Get close to being thrown out and losing the home, and maybe then they will negotiate high , existing killer interest rates?????

Wonder why we working Realtors look so darn Thunderstruck about noon, each day at the office?

Still our agents are getting it done daily. It requires more truth, knowing what the market is, but it gets hard. The silliness ,the overreaction to the crisis wall street made for us all, who work for a living, will linger on.

I still can't figure how it all got so screwed up but from what I understand, Wall Street and Mortgage Companies un-regulated created a mess globally. Think of it this way, they, (WALL STREET) were in the Ice Cream Business and  With their  packing beautiful White fresh Ice cream to sell, they put  in an ounce of Donkey dung with every ounce of white ice cream, and calling it a Three star Ice Cream. It took a while but then it started to taste and look funny. Bingo, it ruined the Housing Market.

As agents in this new year 2009. Our challange is to not add listings that will not sell to the market. Creating an additional illusion of a never ending supply of inventory. To help our Clients achieve their goals, we must know the trends of mortgage requirements , watch our Death dates on contracts, get perfomance dates enforced, get larger Surety of closing after negotiations, "deposit " as you may call it. We need to bullet proof our transactions for our sellers.

And further we need to have listings to  attract buyers. They are going to shop more and more from home, on the web, and at their leisure with less urgency.

Perhaps for the Agent this year the truth may be, for the worker the week may have 7 days, and for the lazy agent the week may have seven tomorrows. Again we are going to have to shift and it will all be in your attitude to see the true opportunities this market can bring agents, who want to take ground they will never surrender once the Market turns.

IT may not feel good, but its gotta be done. And its what we do, better than any one else. Be proud, be strong, and be the best you can be each day. Being a Realtor is such a worthwhile profession and career.Always has been , always will be. Each day we make a valid impact on the economy and the lives of our Clients.

Barry Papagno

Hello and welcome to December 2008. And do not get scroooged this month. Its important that you bear with me and read this little note.

 So many agents feel this is a slow month. I can tell you otherwise.

 It's a buying mood month.

Agents, who sleep in December, die in the first quarter of the New Year. Just see that as a fact.

 I watched in 2007 those agents who were great agents but became spenders instead of making Penders.

Man they got so COLD sales wise. And those who did not work in Nov and Dec paid a terrible price with no closings in Jan and Feb and March.

 Caught without penders and No good listings, most did not have a pay day until May 2008.

 It takes 30 days to break a habit and 30 to make a habit. Do not wait folks !

There are agents who without teams took off the summer or last fall in November and December, paid a terrible price. Further agents who counted on deals before they closed were foolishly led. Agents then stopped lead generating and entered the market cold again. And again , income for those went up and down and away.

So many Agents  stopped mailing, thank you cards, personal notes, then circled the wagons and tried to protect income. They stopped making investments in branding and budget and goal models , sadly they lost big time. Those who stopped making  calls to thier clients and cold, warm leads, stopped bringing ideas and value daily , weekly and monthly to data base lost again.  

In this game you stop and stall, your out. Untill you break the chill and push the rock uphill again. When your hot your hot, and when your not, well you got to, just have to work ceaselessly untill your hot again.

For many in our game , that  consistant work effort has not happened. That needed  resolve has not kicked in.

For our competitors surely It is easier to whine, to make excuses to loved ones, and to go with the headlines that say we are in an awful market. They are going out of business, adopt thier orphans and take that market they did not want. They are quitting rather then to dig deep and find the market portion that is alive and vibrant and loaded with paydays.

 Do not make the mistake that most agents make and ever break your work habits, start making

 good habits today, show homes, view homes, get on listing presentations, fight for market share build your pipeline of pending deals and good listings now, get out of Telephone Terror, network, call people ask for business, talk about hot deals in the market place. Work again, and for those working, sharpen your brand and promotion of yourself.   

Do not enter the 2009 market COLD; you will be broke and old before your time. DO Not do it. It is so anti career minded. A fatal mistake.

It's December start right now and  turn up the heat on yourself.  Be a fire-starter now. You have to Shake off the doldrums and get hot, do not wait until the New Year.

Make your habit now. Improve your market now. Be a tough boss to yourself now. And now you have to " get to getting it on."

Remember this saying "if it's going to be, it's up to ME."

Come January do not be picked up on the Loser Cruiser, the ride is free but it has so many negative people on Board. Stop making the excuses and delays and just go at getting things done inch by inch.

 It's always better to feel uncomfortable doing lead generation, than uncomfortable without any MONEY.

Its so true, "no money no honey, "no Finance , less romance"  Trust me its done inch at a time, and in the end when you work honestly and follow models of work , You will find it easier to get rich  than to continue to make excuses.

.

Respectfully Barry Papagno OP

I just got Back from Germany after a nice 3 week vacation with my family.

I walked into the Keller Williams office in Easton Ma and I noticed something I have not seen in a long time.  "Lot's of our agents working and smiling." Energy was there, agents were in conference rooms with clients signing up offers.

 Agents were huddled together in groups talking about how hard it was to make closings happen on time.

Culture was there, sharing information with each other, agents helping agents, team work,  Calls to bankers and appraisers and clients were being made.

There was a new buzz.

 An acceptance that this down market was going to last and so was the career of these fine agents.

Since January 2006, lots of agents were slain by expectations, sales did not happen easily, and listings did not sell. Money flow was sporadic, closings were delayed and pending deals shattered by new loan criteria.

This will be a hard switch to turn but the majority of our agents have shifted to the current market and with its failings and opportunity's.

Listings are being priced right, buyers are being serviced and negotiations are going longer but ending in more and more closings. I have to admit that I see more business being done by fewer agents, mostly it's a work and lead generation ethic that is prevailing now.

Service before pay as we say. Putting the client first, being client centric and knowledgeable in today's market and banking environments.

Our local agency field is still crowded with the "I SELL ONE HOME A YEAR AGENTS",  And in time I had hoped that the ranks of the 1.2 million real estate agents "roaming the streets" would thin during this downturn, for the most part that hasn't happened yet.

They who are not doing well are not giving up their licenses, but getting part-time jobs, and that is not a good thing for the Business or public perception of professionalism.

Nevertheless, we can feel it in the wind, its there again, acceptance of what type of market we are in, and knowledge on how to deal with it effectively and profitably.

It is rock and roll time again and our good career agents have now fully shifted from surviving to thriving in the current market.

Ok, I am saying it now, we are in a recession, the government goats can wait if they want to make the obvious announcement, but I am not waiting. I do Real Estate for a living. And this market is now holds nothing for agents to fear. Unless they are fearful , timid, and dreaming. Never the less, the ostrich approach will guarantee nothing but career extinction.

We can not run from the USA economy, we can not fear this change, and we have to find the gaps in the market now and work, the heck out of them.

Go on a wild , hard charging, listing war, get all the listings you can, remember they are in a price war and a beauty contest to win the offer of the buyer. You need resolve now, you must bring to the market your seeds of commitment to your career ,not your needs.

Rainmakers, what a great opportunity to build your team. Many agents who can not lead generate will be glad to work on a team that has a proven market leader and can create leads and opportunities for them to stay in the business of real Estate. As so many other companies will be cutting back, you recruit their agents and teach them to be your buyer and listing agents. With this group of agents they need to know how to convert  and cultivate your leads into cash.

Brokers, what a great time to attract talent, there is an old saying in the ownership of a real estate company and it's so true, "IF YOUR NOT GROWING THEN YOU'RE DIEING."

SO many of your competitors will be cutting back on basics, "THINKING THEY CAN SAVE THEIR WAY TO SUCCESS." A FATAL MISTAKE.  Reposition yourself in the best space you can afford  that they have left, and hire the talent that they have dismissed.

All Rainmakers the GOAL NOW IS TO HIRE TALENT ON YOUR TEAM...

In these times get with winners, do not stay with an easy crowd, You will not grow, Go where the expectaions are high and the demands to perform are high . Ask your self constantly "who am I around? What have they got me reading? What do they have me thinking?  Make conclusions about your career and taking it to the next level today.

Stop waiting, stop trying to save your way to success. Self preservation has a tendency to lead to poverty. Take aim at increasing your leading with revenue.

Get leads, get leads, meet sellers meet buyers recruit agents, and work on your branding. When the tide goes out , you can see who has been swimming naked. This is when smart Realtors slowly build and commit to staying no matter what the cost, or risk. Staying in the Wonderful Business of Real Estate as a career.

Screw the recession , don't buy into the headlines, Screw the polls, the studys,  people have dreams want homeownership, want to sell, want to get married , have a family , have their own home, settle an estate, move up and down. Do not ever think there is not a lot of money out there, and it is Chasing individual dreams.

By choosing this time as an opportunity , you have decided to shift and succeed,  just get it on now.

Never forget what Herb Brooks told his players in the "Miracle" (2004)

 Coach Herb Brooks: Address to 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team Before Playing the Soviets

Great moments are born from great opportunity.

 This is your time.                          Their time -- is done. It's over.

I'm sick and tired of hearin' about what a great hockey team the Soviets have.

Screw 'em! This is your time!!- Now go out there and take it!

. The young U.S. team was given no chance against a veteran Soviet squad that had dominated international hockey for years and had routed the Americans 10-3 in an exhibition game at Madison Square Garden the week before the Olympics. A rag tag group of college hockey players fought and They won that night and took the GOLD MEDAL.

Our best ad in remarks in MLS, we have to use that free space much better. It is seen by so many buyers and Agents with Buyers. Here are some tips to improve your awareness of your best ad.

Rule one. Do not leave the same remarks on the listing when it is not selling. You would never repeat an ad in the Newspaper you are paying for that did not pull, month after month. Right?

Two. Write the Ad in the remarks section for the buyer type who will buy that offering, First time buyer, Trade up Buyer, Luxury Buyer, etc. Use first lines as catchy, Great Resale Value, Stop paying rent, Room to grow,

• FOR YOU AND SELLER ads do not sell homes, agents do 79% of time, any ad copy I write will do three things,
• 1. Very clearly promote what would attract the buyer. And Not mention what the seller did on his weekend after visiting Lowes.
• 2 attract the agent with a client for your home, and be assured he or she will  have a good, Creditable showing.
• 3. Bring buyer to want to ride to our offering and peak his or her interest.

When advertising remember: [1] your ads and remarks in MLS and in classified bought ads should have a finger stopping catchy title or first line." Escape the landlord" "For alert buyers only" Ease the squeeze, " Fix and Save BIG "Bigger things are a phone call away" "STOP Repossession and Save " It should be simple and brief with a good verbal vision of the home, "Custom Crafted New York Colonial" Spacious Cape needs nothing but intercom to find family members" " Rare Easton Find." Brick and Copper, European inspired, Spouse saver kitchen, Chefs gourmet dream kitchen, Winding tree -canopied street. A screened porch made for summer dreaming.

A breathtaking master bedroom, living room with snuggle up fireplace.

HEADLINES< > CHANGE THEM OFTEN WHEN NEEDED.

EASE THE SQUEEZE, Embassy size colonial offers 3000 square feet of modern, bright magnificent living space. 

Stop Foreclosure and walk with ease into Equity.

Let your tenants build your wealth, call today and see what it takes to qualify with this west side unique well maintained Three Family.

Retire in style in this special 3 bedroom affordable and sparkling maintained Ranch. 

Attention Skeptics, don't believe Realtor Ads,, then check this home out for yourself or a family member. You know it is not possible to own a striking modern 3 bedroom Ranch in a top west side subdivision for only $240,000.

Get Muddy shoes and save $25,000, Builder has not landscaped lot, but you could save and be the first to live in this mansion styled colonial with 8 sunny rooms and 4 bedrooms with 2 car garage in large subdivision for $399,000, with over 25,000 in extras. So call today and walk into true Value in this Buyers market. You will be glad you looked today. 

 PUT THIS ON YOUR STOP DOING LIST. NEW pipes, new septic, owner goes to Lowes often and does his own work...... Stop selling Mechanicals in home. And drop the new roof, new furnace, new plumbing, new tile, new paint, new driveway, new shrubs, new wires, new gutters, dead end,  , new 220 plugs, alarm system to control thieves in neighborhood, and all those crazy descriptions that sellers love to mention, sure keep them for your brochure and in your notes but  use words that make your phone ring.

 Really at today's prices I am sure the home should have a newer something like a roof or plumbing that works.

 Great Marketers know that you, "Never sell the steak, sell the sizzle"

 Mouse-k-ters sell the new septic, will put your mind at ease along with new roof, new window, new doorbell, new ,new appliances, new pipe etc . It's hard I know, and it's a Habit, I know, but change your mindset, and start not doing what you have been that is more antique than my Great Grandmas, olive press.

  I beg you also to Please learn to use no major abbreviations, NONE! "Garage w/frog 4bds 2bh, lov ldsc lot with trees and new plumb,rf,famrm,fp inliv rm, ((FROG IS FAMILY ROOM OVER GARAGE))

Stop old habits, the last few years so many silly order taking agents got in the business and with the market moving fast we all suffered from the "DUMBDOWN EFFECT, " Lets go back to basic professionalism .

 A reminder by Barry Papagno OP Keller Wiliams Easton Ma.

Finally it got done, in a lot of ways this whole mess of goofy loans made to "get Americans into Homes", reminds me of why NAR and our Lobby fought so hard for the last 30 years to deny Banks and Wall Street from getting into our Business of Real Estate.

Here are some facts from John OGG on his article the bailout.

Pretty unfair, to consumers and all hurt by the scheming and bundling experts on Wall Street.

 In a few more months many bestsellers will come out with titles like Mortgage Lust, Bank robbery, Ruin a economy by Mortgage , and many more. The sad fact is this could have all been prevented but someone was asleep at the wheel in the Goverment . A crime has been committed that we will all pay for dearly.

USA Per Capita Bailout Costs

The $700 billion financial system bailout has so far stabilized the financial markets.  That part is hard to debate.  The long term effects, the path, and the implications are, of course, up for debate.  The questions in many discussions this weekend were what the real costs would be and whether or not these institutions should be allowed to fail.

So, one issue we wanted to consider, was what exactly does this translate to on a per individual in the U.S.  In 2006, there were more than 133.9 million individual tax returns and the total number of tax returns including corporations, employment taxes, and more came to more than 168.8 million.  We decided to use the larger number of 168.8 million as a representation for the entire tax system rather than just individuals, since the larger number of roughly $2.5 trillion collected was only about half of the total collections from individuals.  After all, we are all in the same soup on bailouts here.

The $700 billion bailout translates to roughly $4,147.00 per filer.  If you wanted to use just the individual tax filings, you would come up with more than $5,200.00.  That is the price of saving Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, Bear Stearns, Lehman, Countrywide, and other failed financial institutions via assisted mergers and other bailouts.  We haven't even gotten to the other failures which are waiting in the wings