How do you answer that question when asked?

Do you say negative things?  Do you say "it sucks?"  Do you say unbelievable?  What do you say?

Over the past year and a half I have asked many agents how they would answer this question .  Do you ever answer about things that have to do with the market, including statistics and links to your blog which talks about the real estate market.

Before you answer the question "what do you say" think about what you know.

Knowing the market is so much more than what houses are on the market.

Check out this video and let me know what you think:

http://realestatemarbles.com/century21convention/2011/06/01/are-you-a-hyper-local-expert-i-hope-so/       

Also, to get a real idea as to what is going on in the market in Bergen County click this link:

http://northjerseyre.blogspot.com/2011/06/bergen-county-real-estate-and-what-is.html

Here in Bergen County New Jersey, we find a situation where the market, on average, has been stable. This is simply because we have such a broad price range in Bergen County real estate from lows of $50,000 a unit to highs of millions. We find that people with money are spending it for the higher priced homes and other people with money, a job and good credit are buying in the mid range. This doesn't mean that the "stable" word is a good thing.


The word I use-stable- is simply the average is stable. There are towns doing well and there are towns doing poorly, which averages out to stable on the whole. Confused? Most are!

While we can not utilize many of the market statistics this writer usually uses to determine what is happening in the Bergen County real estate market, we can look at the overall factors. The reason for this is the great debacle known as the tax credit the government gave the country last year which ended on April 30 of 2010. This was a debacle simply because it did absolutely nothing for the housing market or the economy. All it did was accelerate the buyer's decisions to buy sooner, than later in the year to get that 8 grand! It is then possible to look at the usual statistics to make a statement on the state of the market.

Core Logic says that January, 2011 was the 6th month in a row that showed a year over year decline in prices. Remember, Robert Shiller of Case/Shiller came out a couple of months ago and said he wouldn't be surprised if prices dropped 25% this year. Enough of this guy!

Here are some true facts:

· 23% of American homeowners owe more on their homes than the mortgage amount;

· 11.1 million properties were in a negative equity position;

· 2.5 miilion homeowners have less than 55 equity in their homes.

So here it is. Home loans get harder to get because of tightening of funds and tightening of qualification rules. Inventory is up due to foreclosures and short sales. And the most important factor is that the equity position of homeowners, has limited the mobility of some because they simply can't sell their homes and move up, down or laterally to a new home. The equity they had, they ain't got no more.

These facts are no different in Bergen County as they are in the rest of the country. The bright side is coming. Jobs growth is happening and unemployment is down a little. While we need to beware of the shadow inventory(distressed properties yet on the market), we also need to be confident that things are happening in a positive direction.

If you are in one of these equity poor positions and need to do something or you need to avoid foreclosure or short sale, please make sure you utilize an expert that has been trained and has experience!

Somne info taken from "DS News" April, 2011

Over the second quarter of 2010 (April, May & June), there was no terrific spike in home sales in Bergen County.  Yes there were more in April 2010 then in 2009.   In April of 2009, things just started getting back to a little normal in the real estate market.  Normal, that's the word people haven't heard in a long time when it was used in reference to the real estate market.  When you look at the numbers of the year through June 2009 and compare it to the year through June, 2010, you see an 35% increase in home sales.  Significant?  Yes. Is it due to the tax credit?  No. What we have seen in these time periods in Bergen County New Jersey is that the median price home has increased by 1%.  It has taken between 90 and 120 days to sell a house.  This is normal!

 Taking a look at several towns in central and southern Bergen County in towns like Hasbrouck Heights and Wood-Ridge, where the price point has made the market saleable once again.  Wood-Ridge New Jersey through the first 7 months of 2010 has shown a marked increase in sales of 63% with the price of homes has remained the same from the same period in 2009.  Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey actually showed a decrease of 11% in sales with an insignificant drop in price of 3%.  Both Wood-Ridge and Hasbrouck Heights showed a relative non-change in the time it took to sell homes of between 80 and 100 days.

Carlstadt and Lodi showed 7 to 10 % increase in sales respectively,  but with larger losses in average price.

There is nothing in the numbers to even remotely suggest in Bergen County, New Jersey, that the tax credit has helped the real estate market.  One more tidbit for you:  Business in February and March was not good at all...throughout the country.  If the tax credit was so wonderful, why was there a 70% drop in mortgage applications during this time period.  The reason is simple.  Check out the weather throughout the country-cold, snow, torrential rains and flooding.  The entire country had bad weather.  In June of this year, for our company, CENTURY 21 Eudan Realty in Hasbrouck Heights and Wood-Ridge, New Jersey was excellent.  July, not so good.  Why?  Weather, not the economy.  Massive heat waves hit the entire country for the majority of July. There is a new factor that must be brought into the economic indicators-weather!Current Bergen County market statistics available

The politicians and media are telling everyone how the tax credit has helped boost the economy, here in Bergen County and the rest of New Jersey and country.  They are literally patting themselves on the back for this great thing they did for the American economy.  If one looks at all of the statistics, especially in Bergen County New Jersey, it's easy to see these politicians and media moguls should actually just shut up!

Their opinions are based on statistics.  Okay, so let's look at them.  The National Association of Realtors® told us that in the first quarter of 2010, there was an increase in home sales in the Northeast in the first quarter of 35% over that of the first quarter of 2009.  That is true with the same increase in Bergen County and towns like Hasbrouck Heights.  What they don't tell you, from a real estate market perspective is that the real estate market in the first quarter of 2009 was so bad, that if there wasn't an increase, the suicide rate for real estate agents would be the highest of any profession.

Here is what this great tax credit did for us:  It took people that would normally have bought a home and accelerated their decision time in order to get the offer or contract accepted by April 30, 2010.  What it also did is give the future politicians-attorneys- the opportunity to put others off because they were "so busy" that they couldn't return phone calls or do any other business so they could get these transactions completed by June 30, 2010, which was the originally date transactions had to be completed.  (This deadline has since been extended to September 30, 2010, so we await more no return phone calls from attorneys around the last week in September).  See part 2 where I examine local Bergen County Markets.

This Ramsey New Jersey, Bergen County home is a stately colonial farmhouse on wooded dead end street. The 1st flr has a cozy livingroom next to the formal dining which leads into the kitchen and a great family room with access to the huge rear yard.  The 2nd flr contains 3 bedrooms including a good sized master bedroom suite with a vaulted ceiling.  The area where this home is located is great for commuting to anywhere including new York City, the great shopping of the Paramus route 17 corridor  and it is close to mass transit including trains and buses.  Don't miss out on this great home in Ramsey, NJ

Check out the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KflUJ4aEhvQ

Buying and selling residential real estate in Bergen County can be looked at as a contact sport.  At our company, it is all about CONTACT!

Every real estate company and every real estate agent have many tools at their fingertips to utilize to help their clients.  Our question at CENTURY 21 Eudan is: Why don't they use them?  It's simple.  They either don't know about them, don't have the patience to learn about them or they just don't want to spend the money to represent their clients in the utmost and best manner.

CENTURY 21 Eudan utilizes many tools that no other company or agent uses in Bergen County and I would say most of the State of New Jersey.

We use: 24 Hour On Demand Marketing with our hotline extensions for every listing.  We use specific web sites for each of our listings.  We enhance our listings by showcasing them on Realtor.com. We make videos of our listings and upload them to You Tube and 30 to 40 other sites to attract attention and eyeballs.  Our website is the quickest website in the East, by having our visitors only clicking once to see homes available in the town they want!

All in all, these tools get us more leads for our buyers and our agents.  What else does the consumer need....Just us!

As real estate agents, we learn how to do a Comparative Market Analysis, a CMA, when we want to get a listing. That is to get business. Do we ever do a CMA on us, our businesses, the company we work for? For the most part, the answer is no.

As owner of CENTURY 21 Eudan Realty, a 3 office real estate sales organization in Bergen County New Jersey, with offices in Hasbrouck Heights NJ, Washington Twp NJ, and Wood-Ridge NJ, I perform this "look in the mirror' frequently. This is done to make sure the company has the utmost in competitive advantages for all of our agents to succeed. It is then up to our agents to take the tools and systems and use them in their own real estate businesses to succeed.

As real estate people, we understand the premise of a CMA. It is to compare similar homes in the same market to arrive at a price where we feel the house will sell at...and then sell our services and intelligence to the people selling the home. Let's face it, unless one has a great competitive advantage that outshines all other companies, then it's the charisma of the agent and the price for the home they have come up with, that will get or not get the agent the listing.

CENTURY 21 Eudan Realty has that competitive advantage that allows us to succeed. Yes, for the most part in some of our market areas we are new. That is why we are like that rental car company that says "We Try Harder." We not only try, we perform.

Let's compare us with everyone else. OR here are some facts that one should use when doing a CMA on their very own real estate office or company:

Does management compete with you for business?

Is there support staff? Do they help with input of listings? Make sure that you have at least 10 pictures to upload to the many sites...that work?

Does your manager insist on business planning with frequent review and help to make it really work or is this just an exercise you go through?

Do you use the tools that are available? Does your company provide the tools or do you have to pay for them? Would you use them anyway?

Does your company promote you first? Does your company always look for an extra competitive advantage to help its agents?

If you have the right answers for above stop reading this now. If you think your company could do more, you don't know what your missing or want aggressive, do what it takes support email me at dfanale@c21eudan.com

Check this video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m-Hcl-Z7OQ

We have a new President. We have a new feeling in the country. We have a new feeling with the same old frustration and problems we had before January 20, 2009. President Obama calls for all of us to do our part. I, for one, am on board with this directive from our new Commander and Chief.

What will you do?

I will work smarter and harder. As a business owner, I will do whatever it takes, in a responsible and calculated manner to achieve the goals of recovery for the nation and the recovery of the real estate business.

Will I do anything different? Probably not except be more consistent in delivery. Probably not because I and the company have performed our business aggressively and honestly throughout and learned from the mistakes of the past. Probably not simply because my business, CENTURY 21 Eudan Realty, is a service business that has always looked for the cutting edge in technology to give my people, real estate agents, the competitive advantage, the competitive difference to perform their jobs better and more efficiently.

I and my agents do this with responsible honesty, diligence and positive aggressive actions to be successful.

Our culture at CENTURY 21 Eudan Realty is simple: Do what's right for the customer, the community and the company by following our 3 point compass:

1- From the clients point of view, are we treating the customer with the utmost respect?

2- From the client's point of view, am I exceeding the client's expectations?

3- Is what we are doing, in the best long term interest of our businesses and the company?

As a Broker/Owner of a 3 office real estate company in Bergen County, New Jersey, I support my agents' efforts in working with their customers. I read this "compass" over and over again to make sure my agent-my customer is being treated properly, efficiently and profitably by our staff.

As, President Obama stated more than once and I reiterate: I will do whatever it takes to be a part of our country's rejuvenation as well as the ever growing economy of our company. These challenges "will be met."

I wake up every morning, pour my cup of coffee and turn on the TV as I get ready to work out. As the news intrudes in the peace I hope to attain on my treadmill, I feel like why bother. Stories headlining the news are all about "Economy in Crisis." I want to go back to bed. It's a wonder suicides haven't increased just because of the media and all of the negativity we have to deal with on a day to day basis.

Pick a day, any day and what do you hear, read and see: Negativity from the news media. If there is something positive, it's most likely spun to the negative. I don't care if it's CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, CNN, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal or local papers like here in Bergen County, New Jersey, The Record. Listening, reading and watching, what do we have to live for?

Let's face it, as they say in marketing: Sex Sells! This is their sexy version of condemning our lives because they want to make money. Nothing wrong with that at all. But just once, how about a positive spin on the economy? How about a positive spin on a bad story.

I never used to read the newspaper or watch the news because it was all about death and destruction, because that's all they had to was to bring negativity into our lives. Over the past few years it has all changed to bad news about all of our financial lives. I am willing to bet (and I do not gamble) that if the collective news media took my suggestion of taking positive spins on everything for a week, the economy would rebound and we would all be ok. BUT, why would they do that? Will it sell? Will they lose their advertisers? Of course it will sell, of course they would not lose advertisers. They would probably gain some.

Remember the last time we had economic difficulty? The last bad stretch we went through was the late 80's with the Savings & Loan debacle. The news media killed real estate then and never gave real estate any credit. You destroyed us (the real estate industry) then and destroyed us now with what was allowed by the government to happen and the news media. It took real estate and the economy a long time to come back. The media helped us along again in the late 90's and early part of this century when they said the economy and the upswing in the real estate market couldn't last. Way to go media!

Real estate drives every economy. When the real estate market is good, so is everything else. When something is good, the media kills it and is the doomsayer by predicting problems with no basis. It is absolutely not all the fault of the media. They haven't caused greed that has occurred and driven problems throughout the world, they just stoked the fire. We are living the Gordon Gecko reality and what it has done to us. Here, the media actually did some good, but the regulators-our politicians, sat on their collective butts and reaped the benefits and got fat along with the pompous corporate leaders. It turns out they were only the leaders of how much money they could take as bonuses. Think about it: A top executive gets fired and walks away with millions. This isn't a game show with departing gifts instead of what is behind door number one. They got not only what was behind the door, but they got the door for their new house too!


The Bailout is helping everything but the little guy. The media is so excited about being negative on the corporate engines and has forced the hand of the fat cows in Washington to bail them out. Now a bailout of the auto industry. Who's going to bail me out? Who is going to bail out the small business man. Well, they did it for AIG, they are going to do it for GM, but will they come all of the way down the food chain? Earlier I said it was a wonder that suicides haven't increased, but what has increased are the commercials on TV about depression medication.
We don't need medication, we need all of the Howard Beales of the world to stand up, open the window and scream: "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore." (from the movie Network)

It all starts with real estate. Stop helping out these fat slobs in the corporate world and start helping the home owner who was told he could afford a house when he really couldn't and now his life is crumbling around him. Force the banks to take the money and bail out their mortgagors, not line their pockets with some more unregulated funds. By helping out the little guy, you help out the economy. The heck with the desired trickle down affect. It's now time for the trickle up affect. Help the little guy. He in turn is able to spend more money on food, clothing and extras. Then the retailer does better and so on and so on. How about that CNN?

Let's face it, the only place we can get real news is on "Weekend Update" on Saturday nights. If you want to hear someone tell it like it is, go to www.TheKidFromBrooklyn.com.

No media outlet has the guts to make a difference, just help be the cause of the difference. If you say I am wrong, let's go back a couple of years and think about that starring couple of Bill and Monica. Parents during those years had to fight with their teenagers that oral sex wasn't sex. The kids said it was ok because the leader of the free world said so after he got caught with his pants down, literally. The media so loved Clinton that not only did they get him elected, they also kept him in office and say that he is a great man. A great orator yes, a man? You be the judge.
As I digress.

As I said in an earlier blog, the best investment is real estate. As a great man (my father) once said, "Land, they aint makin any more of it" It all starts with real estate.

Being an order taker in Northern New Jersey in the residential real estate world is over. For the past several years, if you had a real estate license, you could make money. Work was a 4 letter word and most agents didn't like that 4 letter word.
More agents are getting out of the business than are getting in. This should be a relief for the agents that actually work and worked hard to get where they got. These hard workers are still working hard and are still making the money they were making before. They are making the money they were making before because they took nothing for granted and kept working their job. The agents that are slow now have stated that business is slow and that they are going to wait for the market to come back.. Simply put: the workers are earning the order takers are yearning.

A part of our training and support regimen at CENTURY 21 Eudan Realty is to set a goal, write it down and make a plan. What a concept. This is what the business world calls a business plan.

I have have spoken with many agents in the past year. Before I meet with them, I review as much of their statistics, their listings and how they market on the whole, as possible. At our meeting, we discuss production in a round about way. We then discuss what they are doing as far as prospecting. Prospecting can be anything from keeping in touch with past customers to anything one can imagine.
The workers say they are doing all of the things they did before. In other words, what made them successful they continue to do. AND they are maintaining their level of success. The order takers aren't doing anything that they may have done before and their transactions have dipped to an all time low or is non-existent.
For workers, this is the best time to be in real estate. Those considering this as a career, NOW is the time. We have a method of getting new agents going quickly as well as a method to restart that order taker and make them profitable.
A great time to get back to basics and be a real estate professional in Bergen County, New Jersey.