David's Blog

Recovery will require more than most people think

David Sobotta (Bluewater GMAC Real Estate) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:08:54 -0600

I have been fortunate to be involved in a number of endeavors over the years which have taught me some lessons that I will never forget.

One things that I have learned is that when you are in a tough spot, you often have to invent new ways to achieve success. The tougher the spot the more likely it will require significant innovation before you can recover and move forward.

I am completely convinced real estate is in a very challenging period in Carteret County. However, I am also convinced that our challenges are not necessarily the challenges faced by other areas in the country.

For example we have relatively few foreclosures in our market. With the disruption that these few foreclosures cause, I can only imagine how tough it is in areas where foreclosures are the rule rather than exception.

I actually think the problems facing Carteret County are more challenging than foreclosures. Foreclosures eventually get purchased and go away.

For years our market has depended on people coming here to vacation and eventually deciding to retire here or purchase a second home in the area.

Not surprisingly the retirement and second home market is changing. The retirement market is changing because retirment is changing. Many people are less willing to put a large chunk of their retirement money into housing. They are more willing to buy smaller homes, but this market has shown them that they can get a lot of value for their dollar.

Consequently these folks are looking for smaller homes with better designs for retirement living. Just any old house plan will not do these days. I have visited a retirement community near Chapel Hill recently and have been impressed with some of the unique home features designed to attract retirees. It is up to builders to be smart and figure out plans that match the market sooner rather than later. The ones that do not will be punished by the market.

Secondly many of these new retirees are looking for places to live where they can have part time jobs during their retirement. Much of the retirement thinking now is that staying busy is better for your mind and certainly any dollars earned protect your retirement savings.

On top of all this many retirement areas are actively trying to attract retirees. Here in Carteret County we do a really good job getting the word out to people who might want to vacation in the area. However, I have not seen a coordinated push to attract retirees.

The days of word of mouth being enough to promote an area are gone. People search the Internet for everything. If an area is serious about attracting new people especially retirees, they need to go after that market in a professional manner with a long term plan.

In addition to working to attract jobs which might interest retirees, our governments, and real estate companies need to do more have a coordinated voice that can be heard on the Internet.

I have dedicated a lot of hours to a website that talks about what a great place Carteret County is to live. Unfortunately real estate agents are so fearful of losing an advantage by cooperating with other agents that they often cannot see a real opportunity even when it is staring them in the face.

I would like to see the city and county governments work together with interested parties to address any area shortcomings and to put together a strong marketing plan to establish Carteret County as one of the premier retirement communities on the east coast.

I certain think it qualifies as one of the best places to live, but I think relatively few people think of the area as a great retirment location. If we just sit back and wait for the real estate slump to end, we might be very surprised at how much the market has changed and aggressive other areas have become at recruiting retirees.

Today world is far different from the world of 2005 when everything was great in the world of real estate. Thinking that we can get back to those days without coming up with some new ideas that can entice new buyers to the area is just wishful thinking.

We will have to work together to attract buyers and make certain we have what today's buyers want. That includes the right houses, the right job and business climate, the right services, and a reputation that will attract buyers with enough money to buy homes in the area.

Much of our reputation for being a good place to retire has been based on recreational opportunities like fishing. Yet the government ignores the devastation being done by gill nets. Yesterday I heard someone questioning the worth of buying a fishing license. He had fished all morning, caught nothing, and watched as a net was pulled to shore by a tractor. After collecting their catch the "fishermen" threw back in the smaller fish which by that time were dead.

In this new world which values green living, not figuring out how to have a sustainable recreational fishery along side a healthy commercial one could be devastating. Who will want to live in an area where recreational fishing is declining?

We live in a great area, but we need to promote it with one unified voice, protect it, and to make certain the area becomes an even more attractive a place to live.

There are certainly plenty of great reasons to live here.

The wrong way to establish property value

David Sobotta (Bluewater GMAC Real Estate) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:53:15 -0600

The idea that because you have X number of dollars, that your favorite home is worth X number of dollars just does not work.

I have been on both sides of this wrong headed approach to deciding the value of a home. That is I have had buyers insisting on making an offer that I know will go nowhere because it ignores the value of the home, and I have represented sellers who are receiving offers that are not even worth putting on paper.

Most of us try very hard to show clients property in their price range. I work at making sure buyers have seen enough property that is on the market along with some recently closed properties to give them an idea of what a property is worth. I also typically put together a spreadsheet in an effort to establish a value range for a property. That is all done before an offer is made.

Sometimes best efforts do not work. Clients take the money they have and assume that it will cover the property they want.

I have seen two cases recently where people have made the assumption that just because a property is on market, the owner must be willing to lose tens of thousands of dollars just so the buyer can get their favorite property to fit their budget.

Now if you are in situation where the buyer is desperate to sell, then maybe you will be lucky and make that work. More likely if your agent tells you that they want to do a verbal offer, you have a pretty good clue that the agent expects the offer to be rejected and is not worth doing the paperwork.

If a property is in foreclosure, and you want to make a really low offer, more power to you and good luck.

However, if you and your agent have figured out that my client has a small mortgage on a property and is in no rush to sell, then why make an offer on a property at 40% off of the tax value and way below the asking price?

Sometimes tax value means nothing, but in this particular case I had worked hard to get my client to price their property right. It was well below tax value, but it certainly was not 40% below tax value.

When you get one of these lowball offers, I am perfectly happy for my clients to present their best price as a take or leave it option.

In this particular case, the buyer wanted some specific features that I know are not available in our area at the price that was offered. I know they could not buy a lot, build, and come anywhere near the price that they offered.

Actually I figure the buyer looked at some foreclosure prices that were in a particular subdivision a few miles away and added some dollars for the location of my client's home.

The problem with this kind of math is that all those foreclosures are long gone and under contract. To buy a home in that subdivision where the foreclosures are would now cost more than the buyer offered for my client's house. Then there is still the location and feature differential.

In the end we all know there are plenty of properties around that are over-priced. They do not sell and most of them do not get offers.

Why people have decided to low ball reasonably priced homes is beyond me? It just ticks off the seller.

My advice to buyers is to pay attention to the local market and stick within your budget. Do not assume that everyone who has their home on the market has to sell their property like it is a foreclosure. If you want to buy a property, you have to find someone willing to take your offer.

If you are shopping for unique features or locations and find a property that fits, it is likely the seller realizes he has those features and other properties do not. There is value to those features. The seller paid for them and likely wants some compensation for them.

In the end a property is only worth what the seller is willing to take and a buyer is willing to pay. That changes over time, but unless the property has been on the market a long time and the seller is desperate, a low ball offer that just happens to match your budget might not be your best way to get your dream property.

As I like to say "Sparkling waters have value."

Getting caught up in too many choices

David Sobotta (Bluewater GMAC Real Estate) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:54:20 -0500

While I am generally pretty trusting of clients that I have dealt with over an extended period of time, I might have to get back to some rules that served me well when we saw more potential clients.

I have been very lenient about taking my online customers on a neighborhood tour of our area in the hopes that they could make a quick decision as to whether we are the right area for them or not. In general it has worked well. Most like what they see and end up buying in our area.

Recently I had a visit from a couple with whom I had been working for over eighteen months. There was a fair amount of communication that went back and forth over that time. I was well informed when the closing for their home got postponed.

When they finally stored their stuff and made the long drive down from the northeast, they were good about getting in touch with me. They ended up staying in another village about 45 minues from our area. They apparently had relatives in the village.

I agreed to show them our area one afternoon. One of the first questions I asked was why they were not locating close to their relatives. I was told that there was no way they would locate there because there was nothing to do there, and their son would be terribly bored.

So I took them on a trip of a few hours through our area. I showed them enough neighborhoods to get an idea what they liked, and at the end I showed them one unoccupied house so they could be familiar with a typical home in the area. It seemed like we had got along well, and I did not sense any problems. They appeared in no rush. They told me they wanted to be careful since this might be their last home.

I was pretty busying working on two closings so when they called to see some homes, I quickly agreed without my normal "if I am going to spend this much time with you, we need to have an agency agreement speech.

They got real serious about what they wanted and over the space of a couple of days, I found them two homes which they really liked. They liked them enough to get the name of a banker from me and get pre-qualified. They wanted to do some serious thinking before making an offer so we agreed to talk the first of the next week.

My wife and I were going to be out of town for the weekend so I made arrangements with the two sellers' agents in our company who had the listings to show the homes if my buyers had any questions or wanted to see them again. I was a little surprised they did not take me up on the offer.

I called to check on them during the weekend, and I was told that things were still on track, and they were just trying to decide which house.

One of the homes is a particular favorite of mine and the other is just across the street from where I live.

When I got back in town, I called to see if a decision had been made. I was told that neighter home excited them now, and they were considering a job in another state. I was certainly surprised, but this is real estate and anything can happen with today's buyers.

They asked me to call them back in a week or two, and what they were doing might be a little clearer.

The fact that they all of sudden stopped loving these two homes smelled like a red herring to me. I was very suspicious as to what was happening.

When I called back in a week, I missed them. The wife called back and said they had decided to buy a home down the street from their relatives, and they were taking a job out of state. It would work well for them.

I was happy to have the honesty from them, but it was a good reminder that I should never put someone in the car for serious looking unless they have signed an exclusive buyer agency agreement with me.

The reality is that when yoiu smell a red herring, something is likely rotten.

I would rather Carpe beach diem than waste my time with someone who is going to buy in another area.

Feeling like the "valley of humility between two mountains of conceit"

David Sobotta (Bluewater GMAC Real Estate) — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 15:19:35 -0500

If you are from North Carolina like my wife and I are, you have likely heard the old description of North Carolina as "the valley of humility between two mountains of conceit." The two mountains of conceit are Virginia and South Carolina. North Carolina developed a little later because its well-protected coast line was harder for ships to penetrate. Until the last century North Carolina was considered a backwoods area by its neighbors.

Sometimes dealing with buyers and sellers, I often see people who think they really know the real estate market. Their only reason for using a real estate agent is to get some marketing support or some help getting into the houses that they have already picked.

Conceit according to dictionary.com means- "an excessively favorable opinion of one's own ability." It is rare to find a seller who can separate their emotion from the decision of what to price their property. Most will listen to your pricing suggestions, and then go with their own number anyway. I have even taken people to see homes that have sold quickly so that they can get an idea of what features and prices are important to buyers. While that helps, I have seen people pretend to not like just the features that are selling homes today. It seems that the only cure for sellers who want to overprice their homes and lots is for the property to sit on the market forever.

When it comes to buyers, one of the great challenges is getting over their assumption that the dollars they want to spend will get them exactly what they want. Our biggest problem is that buyers assume that the three or four hundred thousand dollars they have budgeted for their waterfront home will actually get them a waterfront home.

Even after seeing the challenges of waterfront properties in those price ranges, they continue with the thought that the next foreclosure or short sale might be just the ticket.

Actually of the two groups, buyers usually end up figuring it out first. Eventually when time after time they see homes that do not meet their standards, they figure out they are either going to have to pay more money or settle for less.

Back in the spring I took a listing that was overpriced. It was against my better judgment, but the family seemed to eager to work with me, and made a commitment to lower their price should the house not move. The husband was one of the strangest sellers that I have met. Eventually he convinced himself the property was not in MLS in spite of there being MLS flyers in a box in his front yard.

I suspect they were very puzzled as to why I was so happy when getting them to sign a cacellation of their listing agreeement, nine months early. When another seller dropped his lawn service and turned off his air conditioning. I started working towards cancelling the listing.

Buyers are hard enough to find without getting them into a house with grass that is 12-18 inches high.

Perhaps it is just the market that causes the weird behavior. While buyers can certainly be excused for thinking they might find a deal in this market, sellers should know better.

Sellers have to be hiding under a rock to not know that real estate is down in price a lot. As we have seen homes go for 25 to 30 percent less than asking price, some sellers have figured ii out and are putting their homes on the market at recommended prices. Those homes are now moving quickly.

As the market stabilizes I am hoping our two mountains of conceit become molehills that are a little easier to help.

I am fortunate to have worked with great buyers and sellers over the last few months. Having a great experience with someone makes it a lot easier to take the tough ones.

Great clients are always a safe harbor when times are tough. I was happy to see the safe harbor of Bluewater Cove pictured at the top of the post. My morning kayaking trip which had started out with calm waters had ended with gusty winds and large swells which are not very reassuring in a kayak.

Just as it was a good thing to get back to Bluewater Cove, I think it will be very positive to get back to a market which reinforces reasonable expections.

A good customer even without a computer

David Sobotta (Bluewater GMAC Real Estate) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 08:59:48 -0500

I came to the real estate world long after computers had infested society. In fact with my twenty years at Apple, I could rightly be accused of helping spread those computers.

So almost all of my real estate clients have been computer users to some degree. I had a buyer last summer who did not use a computer. I ended up printing pictures and sending them to him.

The convenience of email is really hard to argue. It is immediate and more often than not you can accomplish a lot of business using email.

Recently I had another computerless buyer come to me. This one really likes to do old fashioned on the ground neighborhood searches. Yet she is also very appreciative of all the extra homes and information that computers can bring to the table.

It occured to me that perhaps this was the way real estate agents and clients operated before so much real estate information made it to the web.

We have actually worked very well together. By my client bringing me neighborhoods that interest her, I have been able to get a good read on what works for her. As somone with interior design experience, she has been clear during showings about the homes she likes and the ones that do not work.

We are close to finding the right spot for her.

Often when I am working with very computer literate clients who really hang their hats on their online findings, it takes a while to get them back to earth. They are often disappointed when seeing some of their favorite online listings because they have only seen homes online and not in the context of their neighborhoods.

It often takes half a day to get them familiarized with area neighborhoods. Usually then their computer searches are much more effective. It almost seems like without some neighborhood context, computer searches are close to shots in the dark.

Of course as people who live and breath real estate, we agents have known that what you see on the computer is only part of the picture.

Recently I have run into some "potential buyers" who seem so stuck on computer information that they never get to the point of actually seeing neighborhoods or homes. They are the virtual tire kickers of the real estate world, those folks who enjoy looking at automated emails from MLS, but rarely ever get to the point of buying something.

Fortunately they are in the minority of people who contact me.

I have never been afraid of having too much information on the web.

In fact I am a big believer in getting as much information on the web as possible. It helps potential clients, and it helps me. If someone calls, I can go to my website advertising a listing like this new construction in Bluewater Cove and have all the information at my finger tips. It is far easier than trying to pull out a piece of paper.

I still do not see computer search replacing real estate agents, but I do think we have to work to make sure that we add value to the technology. If we are just printing pages off and handing them to the clients, we are not in a sustainable position.

Some certainty in an uncertain market

David Sobotta (Bluewater GMAC Real Estate) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 23:02:12 -0500

Just over three years ago, we concluded four years of searching and made an offer on a home in a small subdivision on the banks of the White Oak River in Western Carteret County near the beaches of Emerald Isle, NC.

We had looked long and hard from Chincoteague to Oak Island. There were a number of reasons that Carteret County met our needs, but the biggest was access to water.

I worked in technology for 25 years and was looking for a change. After having a very good experience buying our home, I decided to try a new career I have been thinking about for a couple of years. I became a Realtor®. Eventually I ended up working in the real estate division of the company who had built our home and actually developed our subdivision.

It probably was not an accident. I have always needed the backing of my own experience before I could sell a product. When I sold Angus bulls that produced fast growing calves which were born easily, I felt comfortable standing behind them because that was the result I had seen over the years from my own herd of cattle. In the same light, when I sold Vermeer round hay balers, I knew that they would do the job because I depended on them myself to put up 600 tons of hay each year.

When I moved on to selling computers, it was natural that I ended up selliing Apple products for over twenty years. I had bought one when I started to work as a marketing specialist after we sold our cattle in 1982. I had personally experienced the productivity gain.

So it is no surprise that I live in Bluewater Cove which was developed by Bluewater Builders who are part of the same company that I work for, Bluewater GMAC Real Estate. No one can say that I am not familiar with the product or the company.

I like it that way. I know the people and the products. It is easy to sell something you believe in yourself and that you use each day.

It has been something of journey since we bought the home and jumped into the world of real estate. There probably could have been no worse time to buy a home or go to work in real estate. Still we are optimistic.

Now that I have seen literally hundreds of homes and dozens of subdivisions, how do I feel about the investment we made in a home in Bluewater Cove? Actually I am still very pleased at what we bought. There have been a couple of homes that were perhaps close to what we found in Bluewater Cove, but none that caused me to jump up and say "Wow, I wished that I had waited for this home."

I like to think that is a function of the uniqueness of our home, the special amenities that come with Bluewater Cove, and our location on a beautiful river between Croatan National Forest and the beaches of the Southern Outer Banks.

When the owners of Bluewater Builders came to me and told me that they had plans to build new homes not far from me, I was actually pleased and excited. First off, new construction in this uncertain market means the developers still have confidence in their product. Secondly, I have not run into a community in the area with the same set of features.

We live on a quiet cove of the White Oak River, just ten minutes by boat from the Intracoastal Waterway. Modern services are less than ten minutes from our home. All the additional shopping that we need is less than twenty minutes away in Morehead City. Our neighborhood is peaceful and safe. We have a pool for swimming and lots of water for kayaking and boating. We have the best ramp on the river. Some of us are lucky enough to have lifts behind our homes so we are in the water with just the push of a switch.

In spite of all these great things, we are in sheltered area. Some larger boats have anchored in our cove during storms. These are people who have lived here many years so I respect their wiisdom.

While I would not want to put my home on the market today, I am confident its value will hold up. You just do not find homes like ours with this kind of water access for the price we paid. If you do find one, it will not be in a great community like ours which is fond of holding neighborhood pool parties.

With all that said, I am somewhat excited to rollout out our new construction at 128 White Heron Lane. It is offered at $329,000 with 3 bedrooms and two baths and 1812 square feet. I think it will be a great home for someone.

The home is walking distance to the pool, boat ramp, and clubhouse. I can even see the house from my front porch.

If you are interested in a wonderful home in a great community with low dues and the lowest property taxes in North Carolina, Bluewater Cove deserves a look.

You can check out the home and the community by visiting this real estate portal and clicking on "New Construction 128 White Heron Lane."

Come on down and join us in our little piece of paradise. There is plenty of summer left, and we still can look forward to the fall fishing.

This truly is a great area, and you can explore it with this interactive map.

Old fashioned stand in the sun marketing

David Sobotta (Bluewater GMAC Real Estate) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 10:26:02 -0500

While I depend a lot on my Internet efforts to keep my real estate efforts going, I also try not to neglect more traditional means of marketing.

Yesterday was the Fourth of July. I spent the majority of the day, printing and distributing a flier.

The rental division of our company allows us to hand out information to people checking into their beach houses.

It is agreat opportunity to get in front of a lot of people who already love our area.

I spent a lot of time thinking about what type of flier would have some persistence.

I ended up doing a map with some off island places that people new to the area might miss. I included a list of 21 things to do at the beach, and a list of 18 restaurants that I felt comfortable recommending. I also included links to two of my most popular travel guides to the area, my Emerald Isle one and my Beaufort, NC one.

There was a link to CrystalCoast.us which has a lot of local information and plenty of articles by me. It also has a real estate listing tab. I also gave them a link to my interactive area map which ends up being a good supplement to the print one that I included in the flier.

My only real estate pitch in the brochure itself was an offer to show local beach or water access communities like Bluewater Cove where I live to any one needing a more serious taste of our paradise.

Of course when greeting the clients, I was wearing my tee-shirt that I had mentioned in one of my earlier posts. The tee-shirt, Birkenstocks, straw hat, sunglasses and shorts certainly were the right uniform for a warm beach day. The one lesson learned is that next time I will take two water bottles.

Most people really seemed to enjoy the personal touch of someone welcoming them to the beach, handing them some information, and confirming that after a long drive, they were in the correct spot to get their keys.

Hopefully people will find the information about the our Southern Outer Banks (SOBX) area useful.

We will see how the experiment works. I handed out 250 fliers. I am going to take my remaining 50 to the tourist bureau to see if they might be able to use the maps.

I hope everyone has a great holiday weekend. I missed the area's fireworks so we could stay home and enjoy our subdivision party. We had a great time. It was a perfect evening.

A most interesting job

David Sobotta (Bluewater GMAC Real Estate) — Sat, 30 May 2009 17:21:32 -0500

It is easy to lose sight of things you enjoy about your job when the pressure for success is continuous while the opportunity for success rarely pays a visit.

I got into real estate after a technology sales career of over twenty five years because I wanted to get back to those days when the right solution really made a difference in what people were doing. In the early days of computing, the right computer loaded with the proper tools could let people do what they could not do before.

I saw real estate in a similar light. Often people moving seek to change their lives for the better. I have seen people coming to our area looking to a new home as base for doing things that they could not do before. My own experience taught me that a warm coastal climate could make the out of doors a much bigger part of your life.

Still moving a problem from one location to another will rarely fix it, so part of the job of a Realtor® is to help a client move from the limitless possibilities that might at first appear when looking to move to the realities of an actual move.

As much as I talk about the great coastal climate, it is not a place where you can set the thermostat and the outdoor temperature will respond. We have hot weather and some almost cold weather. A lot depends on your perspective. I try to help people have that perspective.

Yes we have lots of water for boating, but you also have to understand that boating along the shallow waters of the NC coast is not the same as boating in a deep water lake where you can go anywhere you want.

I think we all know there is no perfect home, but there are likely a number of homes that will do perfectly well if people approach them in the right frame of mind. There are always tradeoffs.

When we got our last home, my wife really wanted a backyard. In fact she has wanted a backyard for the last three homes. We ended up settling for a home with a dock as the back yard, but I am positive that is not what she had in mind. She has adjusted, and to me, it is just less to mow.

Even with all the technology available to us, it is hard for people to really get the feel for an area without getting in a car and riding with you. That narrative you spin of the area, its features and even some things you hope will change for the better is a key part of helping clients make informed decisions and moves with their eyes open.

I just wrote a piece on Apple's iPhone and my thoughts are to why it might or might become an indispensable part of my job. In writing the article, it occured to me that I can get a little carried away with what technology might do just as someone might think they are moving to an area where the weather will always be perfect.

Somewhere between what we dare to dream and what we have already realized is the place where happiness can be found if you keep your eyes and mind open to it.

We had a great Memorial Day at the beach, and I had happy to report that things are back to normal with a weekend of stellar weather for those fortunate enough to be on the shore.

Following the trail of success on the web

David Sobotta (Bluewater GMAC Real Estate) — Sun, 17 May 2009 22:21:29 -0500

We all have some funny stories about the web. One of my favorites is the call that I got from a lady who wanted to know why a listed house was only $79,000.

The listing was out of our normal area so I had to pull it from MLS. I had to chuckle when I saw the screen. An agent had posted the picture of a clubhouse as the MLS picture for a lot. While the listing was clear that it was a lot, the picture caused some confusion. The caller had not taken the time to read the listing, they had only looked at the picture and the price.

The good news was that I had gotten a call, the bad news was that it was practically worthless. The potential buyer was only interested in houses under $100,000. Those are in short supply in our area.

A lot of marketing is all about touching a lot of people who are not interested in your product before you get to someone who is. That holds the same for print based media and Internet based advertising. The good news about Internet marketing is that there are some tools that can touch a lot of people without costing a lot as long as you do it yourself.

For a long time, I have used both Flickr and Picasa webalbums to attract people to my websites and to provide images which will attract people looking to live in our area of great scenic beauty.

As web streaming technology has improved along with camera technology, it has become relatively easy to use the web for stunning slide shows and very interesting virtual tours. I recently wrote a post on my Applepeels site about how Apple application intergration made it very easy for me to produce a slide show and add video to the slides to make it a good YouTube virtual tour.

With all of this I was able to enhance a pre-listing post that I had on the Crystal Coast's electronic village. The electronic village site does an automatic feed to Twitter.

My job prior to real estate was all about measuring web traffic so I am not a stranger to the challenge of figuring out whether what you have done is working or not. It is especially difficult when most standard methods are also having a hard time demonstrating value.

While higher viewing numbers are no guarantee of success, at least they help eliminate efforts which are producing little. I am still a believer in casting a wide net on the web much like a spider. The more entry points into my world of websites the better opportunity I have at least making contact with people who are interested in our area and potentially buying homes.

I still believe we are in the infancy of effective use of the web for reaching buyers and helping sellers make the best use of the web.

There are a lot of tools already available. The mix that works in a self contained market area might be different than what works in an area like ours which often deals with retirees moving in from long distances.

There is no question in my mind that the next wave of buyers will turn more and more to the Internet. I am pleased with the options available in our area for agents.

Two years ago, talk of a company real estate blog was just talk. Today we have a blog in place where potential buyers can get a taste of the area from articles like this one. Peace on the beach.

Blogs, slideshows, maps, and video provide buyers with more information than ever. You can find out more about an area today without leaving your kitchen than you might have found out in the first day visiting an area a few years ago.

If you combine the web with a visit, and a meeting with a local real estate agent, most buyers should have what they need to decide if an area meets their needs.

The Pimento Cheese Lead

David Sobotta (Bluewater GMAC Real Estate) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 12:18:59 -0500

There are people out there that still doubt the power of the Internet to connect people. That does not surprise me any more than a connection between people can come from an Internet pimento cheese recipe, but more on that in a minute.

I still see agents who believe that the only place on the Internet where they need a presence is Realtor.com. We are rapidly moving towards a society where many initial contacts will only happen on the Internet. If I measured the number of contacts that I have from covering the real estate duty desk against those that I have received from writing and having an Internet presence, it would be no contest as to where I would focus my time.

I would give up the duty desk and spend all of my time writing. However, I stay on the duty desk because calls from signs have become a second important source of leads. However, they are well behind the Internet in total numbers for me.

My pimento cheese lead is a good way to show the power of the Internet and to illustrate that you meet people on the Internet through just as many different ways as you do in real life.

If you do a Google search for "Classic southern pimento cheese" my recipe has the number two spot on Google. Recently I got a note from someone several states away thanking me for my pimento cheeese recipe. As I always do, I sent back a note thanking the person for his comments. My email signature block has a link to my Crystal Coast website.

Either from that site or from my blog where the recipe was posted, the person who commented picked up that I might be a Realtor®. Soon I had a couple of more emails and some questions about our area. My potential client is now busily reading posts about our area and deciding whether or not to visit. He and his wife happen to be looking for a new place to live.

I am certain that he is spending some time figuring out if I am a reliable source of information. I actually encourage people to do that. I even wrote a post, How to review the reviewer, on that subject.

In the end the point to take away is that just as recipe exchanged at a church function might lead to someone making the effort to get to know you better, so also can a recipe on the Internet.

If you are ignoring the Internet as a way to make contact with people, you are making a mistake. If you are a buyer looking for a home, you probably already know that the Internet is a good way to find out information about homes. It is also a good way to find out information about Realtors®. You should take advantage of it.

If you are a Realtor® and looking for my advice on where to start as a local expert on something other than real estate, check out this post.

Blizzards are good for business

David Sobotta (Bluewater GMAC Real Estate) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 22:03:43 -0500

Monday night I got a call from someone whose area in South Dakota was in the midst of being whacked by a blizzard. I guess it was the last straw for him. He was ready to start investigating a move the Southern Outer Banks or SOBX as it is locally known. Actually the blizzard was not the real reason for wanting to move, but I covered that in a post on the Crystal Coast Living blog.

His call had come just hours after an email from a potential mountain dwelling client who is already scheduled to visit our area this summer. The same blizzard had just dumped over two feet of snow on her Montana doorstep. She was desperate for a picture of anything that was not white. I sent her a link to some spring flower pictures that I took this weekend.

While I know a few folks who love to be snowed in, most are past that when April is on the horizon.

I can certainly appreciate what our friends in the northern plains are enduring right now. My wife and I lived in Canada for sixteen years. For over ten of those years, we lived on a farm in a tiny settlement about twenty miles north of Fredericton, New Brunswick.

We were in a snowbelt, and I was the farmer with the largest tractor along a tough stretch of road. Many snowy nights someone would knock on our door and asked to be pulled out of the ditch. When living on the farm, helping your neighbors is just a way of life even if it means putting on a snow suit late at night and rescuing someone who had no business being out on the road.

I never really felt threatened by a blizzard, but we were living in Canada where they would not even bother plowing the roads unless it snowed more than six inches. We heated with wood and our water was spring fed. On top of that, it was so cold we could just unplug our freezers for a couple of months in the winter.

Still I can feel sorry for folks who are accidently trapped out in a blizzard. I am sure it happens, but even twenty five years ago on the farm, we had a pretty good idea when a big blow was on the horizon.

Still most people ride out blizzards with little interruption to their daily lives. You take a day or two off, drink some hot chocolate, and sit around the fire. Farmers are among those who do not get the day off. A big blizzard meant hours of snow blowing before I could reach our cattle herd and give them their daily feed. We had storms that dumped over three feet on us at a time, and temperatures as cold as minus forty. Still I managed to make the trip out with a big round bale each day. Fortunately we never had a bad blizzard during calving season.

The seasons have turned, and we are a long way from blizzards here on the Carolina Coast. We did see some snow this year, but it did not even stick to the driveways so my Canadian heritage allowed me to almost ignore it.

When people in blizzards start calling for a warmer place to live, I usually get found through the Internet. One of the things that I do to help make sure that I come up in searches is to do some searches myself and see where I rank. There are often lessons to be learned when you do a search and find someone ranked ahead of you.

I will often look at the page source of a page which is ahead of me. Sometimes I will actually create a new webpage to go head to head with one that is particularly troubling. One of the things that I learned long ago is that you cannot expect one webpage to win all the battles.

It helps to have webpages which are customized to certain search terms. I do really well in Google searches on "SOBX real estate" but not as well on searches for "Cape Carteret real estate."

Today I created a new website to help fix that problem. It is focused on Cape Carteret real estate and has URLs and keywords built to help move me up in the rankings.

While the Internet continues to lead in bringing in long distance customers, it seems that good old fashioned signs are still most effective in pulling in listings. I was happy to pick up a nice reasonably priced waterview cottage and a well priced family home in a quiet but convenient neighborhood in the Cape Carteret area.

Now that I think about it, I wish today's real estate market could just be a blizzard that I waited out around the fireplace. Unfortunately it is not going to be that easy.

Deep Waters

David Sobotta (Bluewater GMAC Real Estate) — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:22:47 -0600

It has been an amazing few weeks in American. Barack Obama is president, Steve Jobs has stepped aside at Apple, my Vista computer has hardly misbehaved, and it snowed at the beach. On top of that I have taken two phone calls on desk duty. One is leading to what looks like a sale, and the other might well develop into something.

As I took this picture of the water behind our home in Bluewater Cove this morning, I wondered if there were any fish swimming beneath the surface this time of year.

Earlier in the week when we had some ice, there were some Mergansers swimming around the the same water. It is a popullar notion that the Mergansers, a diving duck, does a real number on fish populations. I am pretty sure the ducks have much less of an impact than the gill nets in the White Oak River.

I was also thinking about how clear the water has remained in spite of some significant percipitation in recent weeks. I was reminded that at one time this fish nursery behind our home was filled with mud. Because of conservation efforts in the last few years, our water is often very clear.

That makes fishing a great challenge in shallow waters which pretty describes most of the White Oak. Sometimes you are very aware of the brown tint to the water. Other times all you can see is blue water because of the brilliant blue skies that we get. I am just happy the water is clean and clear. I love both colors.

All this got me to thinking about real estate in the next year. Trying to look forward is like trying to read deep and dark waters.

Much of what I could think about real estate comes from what I hear from my colleagues, all of whom are facing some challenges. Just as the ducks have an impact on the fish, I am sure that as my colleagues believe the headlines about foreclosures have an impact on buyers. I suspect that the needs and limitations of the real estate buying population are more important. In spite of a lot of priming of the money pumps at the banks, I have not seen much change in real estate buyers.

What is really happening remains something of a mystery played out in thousands of different locales.

My guess is that like most news, we will not find out the story on 2009 real estate until after the trends are well underway.

In our piece of Coastal NC the real estate market, while showing some signs of life, remains relatively quiet. There are plenty of challenges. The worsening job market is certainly a larger factor today than it was a year ago.

In the end for me personally, it all comes down to this. Listening to doom and gloom is as easy as stopping to chat with someone who has not sold anything in a couple of months. While I can be supportive of other agents facing challenges, I cannot let those conversations define the conversations that I have with the me that keeps me going.

I have to look on the positive side of every situation. The only person that can keep me pumped up and moving forward is me.

With an enumeration of what is headed in the right direction for me, I can keep myself headed in that right direction.

I look at the two properties that I have already sold this year as an indication that 2009 will be better than 2008.

While some have lessened their efforts during the slump, I have continued to increase, enhance, and refine my web presence. There are enough results coming in for me to know that the strategy is working.

My standard marketing efforts have also stayed strong. That includes mailings and strategically placed brochures . Next week I hope to roll out a co-promotion with a popular local restaurant.

I am very pleased with the quality of the content that I have been able to deliver for the Crystal Coast Living Blog which is featured on our company's real estate home page. The electronic village for the Crystal Coast that I have worked on with a friend from Virginia Tech has statted to get some traction. As we refine it in the next year, it will become a great place for potential buyers to find homes and information.

Two of the three small towns in the area are using photos attributed to me, and I am averaging at least two photos per week on the local television station. I continue to get the comment, "So you are the guy who does all the photos?"

When I put my shoes and smile on in the morning, I know that I am headed in the right direction. If I do not have a great year, it will not because I did not give it my absolute best effort. I have promised myself that I will not let myself be talked into a world of doom and gloom. I am ready to acknowledge the challenges, but I will not let them beat me.

Almost all the elements are there waiting for success

David Sobotta (Bluewater GMAC Real Estate) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 22:45:18 -0600

A life in sales prepares you for lots of ups and downs. Since I worked for Apple Computer from 1984 until 2008. I got to see plenty of both. As I survey the real estate markets I see some parallels to Apple's comeback as a computer manufacturer.

If any company has risen from the dead to great success it would be Apple.

Maybe the comparisons jump out more easily if you are new in the real estate industry like I am. Perhaps the comparisons do not work for all areas, but certainly in the spot that I know well, Carteret County, NC, there are some interesting parallels.

Fundamentally what brought Apple back were great products. However, Apple had great products during a long period when business magazines took turns predicting the company's death on the their covers.

One of the keys to Apple selling more computers was for the company's computers to become more competitively priced.

Certainly shedding thirty percent or more in price over the last few years has made our coastal property far more competitively priced. Today you can get a home on or near the water for prices that people did not think they would see again in their lifetimes.

Another key to Apple's success was the web. In my early days with Apple, we would get more literature than it was possible to hand out. Every two or three months, we had to clean our closets of the literature or be overwhelmed.

By the time I left Apple, Apple had completely abandoned paper literature. If a potential Apple customer wanted information, a sales person could print it out or the customer could access it on the web.

Providing high quality information on the web became a way of life at Apple. I can remember a PDF file on security that we wanted to distribute to clients taking a year longer to write than the lines of code in the actual operating system that we were describing.

Obviously with real estate we are moving more and more to the Internet being our best source for information.

The next thing I would credit with helping Apple recover would be their retail stores which provide knowledgeable human help to guide people through a process they often started on the web. Many people are unfamiliar with Apple products other than the Apple ads that they might had seen. The Apple Stores provide needed guidance and trusted advice.

I think the downturn in real estate will drop the number of real estate agents to the point that only the most dedicated and skilled will survive. When a client walks into our real estate office they will hook up with someone willing to spend whatever time necessary to get the client through the process of buying or selling a home successfully.

The next thing that I would see as similar is that a positive buzz turned Apple into a company whose products were desired. We are not there yet in real estate with a positive buzz, but we are positioned for that to happen.

First prices have declined while builders and sellers are working hard to deliver great value to attract buyers. At the same time, other investments such as the stock market have become more risky. At a certain point real estate is going to get its buzz back. With property at prices which will eventually return handsome profits, we will have some investors down the road who will be very happy.

I do see some differences between Apple and real estate. First, Apple came up with the iPod and then the iPhone, both products which attracted many new customers to the Apple Store and eventually to Apple's computers.

At this point we do not have clients coming into our offices, but we will get there, and I think a lot of our success will be driven by having products that do demonstrate great value to our clients.

Not all areas are going to be winners in this respect.

I think our area will continue with relatively low taxes. I do not see anything that is going to change our mild climate or our wonderful access to the water. Our growth has been slow and relatively manageable. We are not swamped by foreclosures, and our supply is gradually being cut back. Our schools continue to be great, traffic is a non-issue and the variety of services available continues to grow.

I have confidence in our area. I know it will come back. I have no hesitation in recommending the area as a second or retirement home area.

Right now we are suffering from a crisis in confidence. No one is confident what is going to happen tomorrow so most people are frozen.

That will change. I actually think I have seen a slight improvement in the last week. One week is not much of a trend, so we will have to wait and see if the trend continues.

In the meantime, I will keep honing the technology I use and the skills that will differentiate me from other agents.

I have a post, What Sales Is Really All About, which pretty well defines my sales philosophy. I am confident that our new electronic village for the Crystal Coast will eventually define a new way to sell real estate.

With the low mortgage rates we are seeing and the poor return on other investments, it is only a matter of time before some investors start searching out real estate deals.

Searching out those deals will be far easier with all the information that is now on the web. Social networking, lifestyle blogs and area specific blogs will greatly help speed up the process once it gets going.

I plan to be around to for some of the good times just like I was at Apple Computer.

Pictures of our recently very sunny area are availabe at my Picasa Web Albums site.

If you need some peaceful beach sights and sounds to distract you from real estate challenges, try my recent December Beach Day video on YouTube. If you want to read a little about the technology behind the video, check out my Applepeels post.

When things are really tough

David Sobotta (Bluewater GMAC Real Estate) — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 22:36:01 -0600

At least in our area here on the Crystal Coast of North Carolina, the real estate market is very tough right now for sellers and real estate agents since there are very few buyers.

Every business has tough times, and right now many businesses are seeing some of the worst times in memory.

I had the good fortune to be at Apple Computer for nearly twenty years. Those years spanned the glory years, the bad years, and the recovery years.

It was a great learning experience. As is often the case, I learned far more during the tough years than I did in the years that things were easier. I cannot remember any really easy years at Apple.

I did learn that desperation is not a strategy. I also found out that believing in yourself is the key to any success.

Just this summer I thought we were on our way to a modest recovery. My business was going nicely, and I had a steady stream of potential clients. I have worked hard at not only creating an Internet presence but also building my reputation through traditional marketing. I thought it was working according to plan with the exception of a slower than normal market.

Then the bottom fell out with the financial crisis, and most people have become financially paralyzed. I recently had a buyer and seller very close on price on a lot. We ended up with an appraisal that makes no sense mostly because nothing like the property has sold in over a year. The property was rather unique anyway. We might still make the deal work with some owner financing, but it will not be easy and the property is well under $100K.

With even the smallest sale being a challenge, there are a few choices. You can panic and be found curled up in the fetal position under your desk. You can give up on real estate and find something else easier to do like selling power boats in a dead economy or greeting at Walmart.

Or you can resolve to take this time to really focus on the important things in your marketing and sales plans.

While I have curtailed print advertising, I am now doing more small customized mail drops than ever. They are of better quality both visually and from a content perspective. I continue to work on my Internet presence, and with the help of a friend who helped run the original Blacksburg Electronic Village, I am working to build an electronic village for the Crystal Coast. I expect to be successful selling real estate when the market turns and this electronic village is an important part of my strategy.

I am convinced that local information, created locally, and focused locally will be the key to success when buyers come back to the market. There is a lot of information on the web. Sorting through it has become a great challenge. Creating quality information that provides real value for consumers can be the difference between success and failure.

While I participate in a large number of sites that try to suck information up from local sources and reparse it so that consumers can use it, I remained unconvinced that consumers will find me through these sources.

I am betting on creating local Internet information sources. To be of real value, they have to be managed and promoted locally so that they can end up being the gold standard for information in an area. It is not an easy challenge, but now is a good time to focus on it.

We are already experimenting with real estate listings on the backend of the local information. Getting good information into a site takes time and effort, but I would rather have good information than misinformation. Good information will draw people. When is the last time you saw someone thirty or under use a phone book?

While I do not really view this as innovating our way of a crisis, I do consider it staying focused on positive steps that in the end will be rewarded.

There was a time when no one wanted to work for Apple Computer. We often measured an applicant for a job on his willingness to work for a company that many thought was going out of business.

We found people to work for us, and it does not take a leap of the imagination to conclude that those who are willing to work the hardest for the least amount of success will likely be very successful when times improve.

It all comes down to refusing to be beaten down even when everything looks the bleakest. Just like I did before, I will keep treating my clients just as professionally as I always have. I will keep working to improve the way that I can be effective for clients. If I can deliver value, they will remain my clients through bad times and good times.

I will not leave any stone unturned in looking for ways to be successful.

You can count on my smile coming from the knowledge that I will survive.

How things will be different when the market turns

David Sobotta (Bluewater GMAC Real Estate) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 15:02:05 -0600

Just a few days ago my wife and I were in line at the supermarket. The lady in front of us did not have a lot of items since it was an express lane. However, she decided to pay for her groceries with a check. It took longer for her to write the check, than it did to scan and bag her whole order.

I am rarely in a rush so I was not bothered by the lost time. I did occur to me that it had been a very long time since I had seen someone write a check for groceries. Times have changed quickly because using a check is the way I remember paying for groceries for much of my adult life.

What has happened in the last couple of months in the financial world is certainly something unprecedented in my life. The changes which will happen as a result of this are unknown at this point, but they will likely be substantial.

This got me to thinking about how real estate might need to change.

The buyers who resufrace are likely going to different. So much wealth has been lost, that I would not be surprised if a different type of buyer comes calling.

We may have many retirees who have been permanently downsized. They might be looking for much smaller homes. Also I think people are going to be much more careful about where they locate. Stability in an area is going to be a selling feature.

The trend away from traditional media for searching for properties is going to accelerate. Newspapers cannot seem to downsize fast enough. Printed catalogs with just homes in them seem a dying way of marketing.

We have already seen buyers flock to the web, but even that might be turned on its head.

The large national sites have gotten even bigger. Yet the amount of warm and fuzzy information that they provide about areas is slim to non-existent. Some are working to attract local experts and comments. They hope to build up some local knowledge so that buyers can find more than square footage and price on their sites.

However, I think that effort to bring local experts to these large sites where their voices might be lost is doomed from the start. There just are not enough local experts who enjoy writing to provide any kind of decent coverage even for the large national sites that are smart enough to know that they need them.

As people continue to learn the web, static webpages will also die a long and painful death. At some point I think the whole equation has to be turned around.

Instead of trying to get people to ever larger sites where they can search among countless properties in a manner that is similar to looking for a needle in a haystack, I think we have to work to get people to sites which are built on local information and happen to have real estate in their mix also.

If you think about it, people looking for homes want to know much more than what might be in a listing. In times past they would visit and try to imagine themselves living in the area. Now people often want to hear from others living in an area before they will even consider visiting. Social networking is now very important.

That changes the equation because now you need fresh, continuously updated local content to even get a shot at the clients. You also need information from people besides yourself.

My thought is the best way to start is to have a site which is an electronic town square. You have events, business listings, blogs, pictures, and real estate listings.

A friend of mine who has been working for years on publicly accessbile wireless network plans for cities and towns has a similar vision and a wife who is a Realtor® like me.

He was director of the Blacksburg Electronic Village for years so the Internet runs through his veins.

Recently he has brought up a site for Carteret County which I think will turn out to be a great resource for the people of the county and for others who might want to be residents. It is also going to be a great place for Realtors® to hang their shingle.

While the Carteret North Carolina site is new and still getting content and listings, I think it offers a glimpse of the future.

Certainly not all of our current world of real estate is going to disappear, but I do think our other sites will have to evolve like my company's website where we now have a blog, Crystal Coast Living, that I am fortunate enough to be writing.

I figure if stock prices keep going down, soon people will turn to something pretty tangible like land to protect their remaining wealth. Waterfront property or nice homes in an area with low cost living might start looking attractive. A piece of land might be something nice to have once again.

If I have my way, that piece of land is going to be here on the Southern Outer Banks in Carteret County where the skies are blue almost all the time and the waters are warm enough for me at least three quarters of the year.

Those special views

David Sobotta (Bluewater GMAC Real Estate) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:25:27 -0500

Few people would be able to define why they are attracted to a certain view. Yet we often know when a view has us hooked.

Some views like the one to the left have broad appeal. I have not seen anyone who did not enjoy seeing this panorama of the White Oak River just a few miles up river from the Intracoastal Waterway.

While we often are unable to become really familiar with a view by seeing it in different light, with today's real estate market, there are some views which we have seen in just about every light.

I have been really fortunate in my life to have a good view at the breakfast table for most of my adult life.

Just after graduating from college, I lived in an old farmhouse on the shores of the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia.

It was actually my first real estate experience, and the beginning of a career that led me to an Angus operation with over 200 head of cattle. When we had our cattle spread, we could sit on the front porch and look across the wooded hillsides north of Fredericton, New Brunswick. In the fall or after a snowstorm, it was a spectacular view.

After we left the farm in 1984 and moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia to work for Apple Computer, we had this great view out our bedroom window of Halifax harbor. My office downtown on Barrington Street was on the sixteenth floor of what was then the Toronto Dominion buidling. The walls of the office were glass with the harbor on one side and the Halifax Citadel on the other side. It was beyond spectacular.

When we moved with Apple back to the states, we first spent two years in Columbia, Md. where we had no view except the tall trees surrounding our home. I have often wondered if the lack of view was why we only lasted for two years in Columbia.

After Columbia, we spent the next twenty years on a side of a mountain overlooking Roanoke, Virginia. It is an amazing spot for a view and for taking pictures. I have a website with many of my best sunrise shots from the years since digital cameras have been available. I could roll out of the bed in our mainfloor master and stagger onto the deck to take those early morning pictures and then slide back into a warm bed.

It was only after the renewal of a lifelong love affair with the North Carolina coast that I came down from our mountain. As many folks know, finding an affordable water view on the coast is a real challenge. It took us almost three years, but the view from our deck (and my upstairs office) is definitely worth it.

Being able to work and look at the river is a real treat. While we do not have a view as spectacular as the one at the beginning of this post, I am pretty happy with where we are in Bluewater Cove. Being ten minutes from the Intracoastal Waterway by boat and across the cul de sac from the community swimming pool has its advantages.

While our view at the coast is not the forty mile view that we have in Roanoke, I can just ride my bike out of the garage to get my morning exercise. Besides being able to drop the skiff into the water at the push of a button, I can also slide my kayak into the water from my own yard. Those are advantages that are hard to beat.

We have a pretty special home on the coast, but everytime I show the house which has the view above, I wonder if the view could have seduced me if the house had been available when we were looking. It's a much smaller home, and there is no swimming pool at my doorstep, but that view is almost intoxicating. It was probably the view that hooked me on our Roanoke home so I have to conclude that I am susceptible.

I was up at the house with a view the other day taking some pictures in preparation for the Crystal Coast Showcase of Homes which takes place this weekend. I think there are 300 homes scheduled for to be open for tours.

I will be doing my part by spending six hours on Sunday hosting an open house at the house with a view. If nothing else, perhaps I will get my fill of the view and some more great pictures. I am hoping to have a special setting to write a few posts for the Crystal Coast Living Blog that I am doing for our company.

The changing needs of retirees coming to the Carolina coast

David Sobotta (Bluewater GMAC Real Estate) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 20:36:52 -0500

While it is probably a little early to make a complete judgment, I think the great wave of retiring baby boomers might be re-evaluating their needs.

I am working with an average of about three couples a month planning to either move to the coast or retire to the Carolina coast.

Some things that I am seeing are not surprising if you are a baby boomer yourself.

First and foremost these people are looking for value. They have no intention of spending all their retirement dollars on housing. They want to be able to travel.

Generally they are looking for smaller homes, usually under 2,000 square feet.

They also want safety. While they might tolerate an area that has mixed development, the tolerance for crime is non-existent. We get many people who come to our area just because they have heard it is a safe area.

They want services, but they are willing to do without some shopping. As I explain what we have in our area, I often hear that they don't care as much for shopping as they used to care. Medical services are a totally different story. They want quality medical services close by and easily accessible.

Perhaps because we are a water centric area, we see more water seekers, but being near the water or even being able to see the water is high on many retirees' list.

People also want reasonable property taxes. They are sick and tired of being taken to cleaners for thousands upon thousands of dollars every year for questionable services.

Many are looking for a different life style. They want to be active, including having trails for hiking, beaches for walking, and clean water for fishing or boating. Many are like me and love to kayak and bike.

They also want a temperate climate. I hear over and over again how people are tired of harsh winters and no sunshine. They want to see the sun and have the opportunity to be outside.

People also are looking for friendly people. They want to be part of the communities and to make new friends.

The good news is that we can deliver this to our clients here on the Souithern Outer Banks. The more challenging part is that often their budget won't stretch for that desired water view which in spite of the downturn remains a challenge to find at a reasonable cost.

Many folks are settling for water access communities where there is a common area on the water and some other amenities. More communities like that are on the drawing boards.

I think very few retirees are hoping to duplicate their current home during retirement. Perhaps the upper income segment will continue to move in that direction, but I certainly do not see it for the middle income people that I have been meeting.

Probably the biggest challenge right now is convincing people that sellers in our area are not in dire straits. Most buyers are over estimating the market conditions in Carteret County.

With the news full of foreclosures, I think a lot of buyers come to the table with the idea that the sellers are going to fall all over their offer. That's often not the case. The Charlotte, NC News & Observer did a nice piece on foreclosures in North Carolina. They have a very good interactive map that shows where foreclosures are a huge problem. All you have to do is point to a county to see the county's statistics.

I am going to make it a point to show new clients the map so their expectations are altered slightly.

With a downturn in new listings and some builders finding that their homes don't appraise at a profitable level, I am of the belief that we will see better times for sellers in the next twelve months.

I am looking forward to the new buyers who have new expectations. If any of them want to make a purchase before the market turns, now is the time for them to start looking. I think the folks who have bought in the last few months are going to be very happy, especially those who got water views at great prices.

For those wanting to see more on our area, I have some slide shows starting with an Emerald Isle Beach Walk, my Coastal Carolina Collection of mostly sunsets and sunrises, for the boaters in the group, Mackerel Morning is a good tour of the water, and finally fishermen might like Anniversary Fishing where we perched on our own private beach. Enjoying a NC style private beach is pretty special.

A contratrian view on home prices

David Sobotta (Bluewater GMAC Real Estate) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 21:46:26 -0500

There has been some discussion on a forum that I frequest about house prices needing to come down on the Crystal Coast.

It is an easy argument, prices need to come down so sales will come up. Unfortunately the logic is probably wrong.

To start with if lower prices were the answer, then why does the data show the most houses being sold in 2005 when the average price was the highest.

Unfortunately pricing is only part of our problem and then only in relation to value. I have seen builders struggle trying to awaken buyers with lower prices. We now have a range of small to medium size new homes on the market at prices between $159,000 and $199,000. That's not a bad price for a home just a few miles from the beach.

Now those homes are often in newly developed neighborhoods which take time to mature, but I find it hard to argue that we need lower priced homes. I sold a home in December of last year, it sold for only $5,000 more than it did new in 2004. A home recently sold for $280,000 not far from us. I expect it cost around $265,000 to build in 2005.

Those homes were good buys and have disappeared from the market. We do have a lot of $500K and up homes on the market. Few people seem to be interested in these homes. I don't think it is because some of these homes aren't good deals, because they are.

What I do think is that real estate does not look like a good investment so fewer people are buying and many who buy are more likely to buy conservatively. For years you could assume that if you bought a home and sold it, you would probably make money. Now we all know there were plenty of exceptions to that rule, but many people came to take it as gospel.

Unfortunately we are now seeing some people who bought homes in 2005 and 2006 lose money. When people lose money on an investment, the investment becomes less attractive. It takes some time for that bad reputation to disappear. Real estate now has something of a bad reputation.

When we add to this the uncertainty of the credit markets, and the other negative parts of the economy, I am pleased to be selling any homes.

While I don't believe there will be a particularly quick turnaround, I do believe that the people who are buying homes in 2008 are getting them at a price that likely will set them up for a profit in a few years. That will certainly help erase the bad taste.

On top of that, there are people who are still making good money when they sell their homes. Of course their homes have to be priced right and be a great value, but those that are sell.

People are looking for great value in a home. While it might be nice to think we could give them that value by seeing $600K homes drop to $400K, I don't think it is going to happen.

I used to work for Apple Computer. Apple does things a little differently. While most manufacturers continue to drive price down, Apple holds to its premium prices. Their market share is growing at record rates. Why are they selling more computers at a higher price? The perceived value that a customer receives with his Apple computer is greater than what a Windows customer gets at a lower price.

I don't know how we can translate that into the housing market, but we have to deliever great value to our clients to get out of this mess.

Everytime we are able to find a buyer and seller who can both get that value from the transaction, we are one step closer to turning the market around for all of us.

In summary, what we face now more than anything is a shortage of buyers at any price and a value proposition for clients that just doesn't work.

The thought that the house they buy today might be worth less tomorrow is a greater disincentive to buying than almost any price.

As the purchasers of homes today turn them over and make money, the problem will fix itself with help from fewer people listing their homes since the profits are not there.

The lack of buyers is driven by a number of factors, but price is certainly not the biggest factor. It is also not the easy solution.

On another note I am starting to experiment with high definition video which I think will help those of us with lots of great scenery like here on the Crystal Coast. I haven't done a house yet, but this is an outside video clip that shows the promise of the technology.

The long wait and thanks to the smart buyers

David Sobotta (Bluewater GMAC Real Estate) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 22:13:10 -0500

You could say that it is the worst of times in real estate, but even as I write this, a few more properties are selling and our inventory is getting reduced.

Back in the fall, I had about sixteen properties from our MLS that I considered very good buys. I specialize in water access properties or homes near the water so these met the needs of the clients I was seeing. I showed a lot of them several times, and sold a few.

Since December, those sixteen properties have sold. The last one I sold should close at the end of July.

There is only one left that I really think is a great buy. It is a waterfront home on the upper reaches of the White Oak River. It is a perfect getaway with a wonderful view of the river. I hope I am the one to sell it. It's more expensive than the others which is why it is still available, but it is definitely worth the price. When the right person comes along, it will be gone in a flash just like the others.

No new properties have come onto to the market to match the ones that have sold out of this group. As I long suspected the cherries would get picked first.

These were the reasonably priced homes that had some water access and cost under $300K. While you can look around, I don't think you will find deals like these that have sold since January.

This doesn't mean that the market has turned around, but it does mean that we have taken the first step towards getting ourselves out of this mess.

There are still plenty of properties on the market and some of them will have to come down in price to sell.

We aren't to the point that the majority of buyers have returned to the market, but we have seen some very smart shoppers who have worked the market to their advantage.

They came in when prices were low and still dropping. There was no time pressure on them so they could take their time and get as close to what they wanted as possible.

They were smart shoppers, and I have felt very fortunate to have them buying at a time when most buyers are afraid to leave their computer screens.

As some of the best buys are now gone, we are left with properties that might be a little more difficult to sell. Some of them will not sell at anything close to what the owners want. There will still be some tough conversations ahead, but I do think better times might be here by next spring.

At this point if you have had your property on the market for a long time, and it has not sold, I don't think it is going to get any easier for a long time. Buyers are going to expect value. If you aren't priced close to the properties that are selling, I suspect your wait is going to be very long.

If you are planning on putting your home on the market at an unrealistic price, you can expect to have it on the market for an unrealistic time.

There are still very few buyers out there. The amount of inventory on the market gives them tremendous choice and the opportunity to see homes priced at a variety of levels. If you are not priced right, you might not even get the first showing, much less the second one.

The good news is the American Dream of a home is still alive and well. There are people looking for homes right now, contracts are still being signed and in nine months my prediction is that there will be more people looking for homes. Prices are not going to jump, but they might stop coming down.

To me it looks like a turning point, at least in our local market for homes. Vacant lots may well be another situation all together, but I expect we can work our way through those as well.

As hard as it has been to survive this long as a new Realtor®, this winter might be the toughest, but at least I now have a hope that spring might show some signs of improvement.

Maybe then all the work, the marketing, and the dollars spent when very little was coming into the bank, just might start to pay off.

At least that is my perspective from the Southern Outer Banks of North Carolina. I am looking forward to the time that I can say, "You remember how slow it was in 2007 & 2008?"

Applying some "high tech" marketing to real estate

David Sobotta (Bluewater GMAC Real Estate) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 07:51:48 -0500

I came to real estate from a career of nearly twenty years at Apple Computer. Technology companies don't give you pensions, but you do come out with plenty of skills for dealing with a competitive market place.

While the high tech industry might bring to mind massive email campaigns and slick websites, some of the most effective marketing done by these companies is in the hand to hand combant on college campuses.

I like to think that I do a lot of creative marketing from over a dozen websites/blogs to postcards with area scenery. I even manage have my photographs on the local weather station two or three times a week.

While all that certainly helps along with the flyers and magazines that I send out, I really felt like I was missing something.

I am not a shy person so striking up a conversation with someone is pretty easy, but what I wanted was something that would get people talking to me. A few weeks ago I decided to order some tee-shirts.

When I did higher education marketing for Apple, a clever tee-shirt was one of our best weapons. People would compete for the really good ones.

I wanted to come up with something that matched our area so I took some lines on an old tee-shirt and gave them my own spin. These are lines on the back of the shirt, they obviously fit our beach area. Of course I addeded the url of my main information website.

QUIT YOUR JOB
GET A TAN
FALL IN LOVE
NEVER LOOK BACK

On the front I put my new slogan, which also matches my feelings about our area

CARTERET COUNTY
A SECRET TO SHARE

So far I am very pleased with the results. I have handed out a number of shirts to clients and friends. I wore the tee-shirt to a Chamber of Commerce event and got lots of positive comments.

More importantly last night at a local restaurant, someone came up to me and started talking about the tee-shirt. As we were leaving one of the waitresses also wanted to talk about the tee-shirt.

I have even taken to pointing out that the words on the tee-shirt are the path that I am following. I even pointed out last night that my wrist watch tan line is long gone.

Whether it will lead to sales in the long run is hard to say, but my initial feeling is that in my particular situation and location, the tee-shirt is going to be a good way to make contact with more people.

If you want to try out tee shirt marketing I can highly recommend CustomInk.com. They do a great job. They were fast and the shirts look great and wear very well.

Beyond that I have also started experimenting with YouTube and with trying to connect back to my Canadian friends who I figure could use some of our sunshine and warm temperatures.

As I used to tell my sales team at Apple, "Leave no stone unturned." In this season when I seem to spend more time picking tomatoes and fishing than I do showing homes, I am willing to give some of my old high tech tools a try.

It is certainly better than watching the shrimp grow.

Realtor® Roulette

David Sobotta (Bluewater GMAC Real Estate) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 23:22:20 -0500

The tables are turned. Buyers who could hardly get any attention a few years ago are now in the driver's seat.

While many buyers are working hard to find the home they need. There are other buyers who seem determined to take advantage of the tough market

As Realtors® we certainly don't want to chase any buyers away, but it is becoming clear to me that not every buyer who walks through the doors is someone whose word I can take at face value.

I had some potential buyers show up when I was doing duty the other day. They had two houses they wanted to see. There was one in particular that they were interested in so I made the call to see if it was possible to view the home.

Since showings are few and far between these days, I didn't push a buyer's agency agreement before making the call. When I got the seller's agent, she told me that she had just signed a contract on the property and the buyers were paying cash.

When I told them the house was under contract, they immediately told me that they weren't interested in seeing the second house.

It turned out that I knew there was another house for sale which looked very much like the one which had just sold. I printed out the MLS sheets for the house, and they appeared very interested. At that point I should have gotten a buyer agency agreement signed, but in my ethusiasm to show them a property, I didn't.

I took them out and we viewed the property, and they seemed very interested. They wanted to think about the property over the next couple of days and potentially make an offer, but the husband was also interested in seeing some more of the area so I agreed to drive him to a couple of other neighborhoods.

I got to hear about his home in NY and his plans to buy down here. He liked the neighborhoods I showed him and the potential homes. He said that I seemed to understand the kind of property that he wanted. He promised to call back in two days with his intentions on the house I showed him, but he also gave me his cell phone number and his email address.

When I didn't hear from him in two days, I called and left a message. I also sent some information by email and even tried another phone call.I didn't get any return messages.

This week I got an email that started out "Dear Joe, thanks for the all the information and helping us search for property, we have bought a property in the Cape Carteret area."

Well my name isn't Joe. Of course in a couple of minutes, I got another email addressed "Dear David" which is my correct name.

My guess is that this buyer was using at least three real estate agents in the area to look for property.

I am glad he found a property that he likes. I didn't spend but two or three hours with him so I am not out a lot of time or money.,

However, I would have been happier if he had simply stated that he had looked at property with two or three agents in the area, and he was not sure which one he planned to work with yet.

I try not to pressure people to sign anything exclusive with me until we have had time to figure out whether or not we can work together.

The buyer didn't buy the home that I showed him so it is no big deal. It was interesting that the emails came from his wife and not him.

I would have liked to have heard why they didn't buy the home I showed them so I could give the seller's agent some feedback.

I would also have liked to understand why he chose to work with someone else. Was it just a particular piece of property that led him to another agent?

Since we had a very positive couple of hours together, I would have found it useful to get some feedback on myself.

However, at this point buyers are in the driver's seat and some strange behaviors are likely going to be standard.

This one was a good learning experience for me. Coastal North Carolina seems to be filled with learning experiences.

Real estate reckoning delays

David Sobotta (Bluewater GMAC Real Estate) — Sun, 18 May 2008 15:20:25 -0500

As the water over on the beach gets warmer and warmer, I keep thinking that we will see more than the trickle of customers who have stopped by the office.

Here on the shores of Bogue Sound by the beaches of Emerald Isle, most of us were hoping for some strengthening of the real estate market.

With a few exceptions we are running behind last year. While we still have time for the clients to come this summer, I am beginning to wonder whether we will have a successful year or not.

Right now most buyers have been conditioned by the national media to expect a bargain. I can show them the prices of homes that have sold in the last six months, and yet some are still hoping that they can get a "deal."

On the other hand, some sellers are just digging their heels in and making the decision to take their property to the grave with them.

Obviously there are some sellers who need to sell, and over time they become much more reasonable. Still even in those cases, there are few buyers to take advantage of these well priced homes.

It is as if buyers and sellers are waiting for a signal to tell them that the laws of negotiation are no longer in suspension. I have heard all the arguments.

Well I just don't want to sell at that price. It will hurt the prices in the subdivision. I don't want to do that to the people in the neighborhood. It would not be fair to everyone.

That's an interesting sentiment, but it leads to gridlock in neighborhoods, and potentially even more pricing problems when an appraiser cannot find any comps because no houses or lots have sold for over a year.

When a neighborhood tries to hold its prices up without real justification for those prices, buyers just go elsewhere. You have to have a really good piece of terra firma if you want someone to pay $100K more for it just because you think it is worth that.

Eventually the market will determine what your property is worth. You might delay the market, but you cannot hide from it. When what few buyers are in the area buy elsewhere, then you need to carefully look at how you have your home priced.

It works the same way for a buyer, if your offers keep getting turned down, then you might want to look at the price of homes that are actually selling.

I keep trying to convince our powers that be, that once in a while our caravan should be focused on the properties that have sold not the ones that have just listed. I think it would be very enlightening. My wife and I often do our own tour of what has recently sold.

Back in February I had a buyer make an offer on a property. I had tried to convince him to go higher but he wanted a deal and insisted on making an offer before I could even pull comparable properties for him. He didn't get his deal, but I took the time to print a number of properties that had sold and mailed them to him. Now he is planning another trip to the area, and when he comes, he will have a much better idea of what might be possible.

The best way that I can describe our market is by looking at airline pricing. We all know that the people who are willing to pay the most and act the quickest get the best seats. We also know that those who wait for a deal sometimes get a really good one. Other times they have to wait for another airplane or end up squeezed into a center seat with not enough room.

The scenario I have painted is a little different than the traditional real estate transaction where the first people often get the best deals on lots and houses. I am not saying that it is gone forever. What I am saying is that right now what those people get when they resell their property might not be more than they paid for it.

A lot will depend on when they bought their ticket, how much they paid for it, and how well they have guessed the current market's needs.

Will holding out for that extra twenty or thirty thousand work in this market? That's hard to say, but the odds are much better right now that you might not get it, and you might wait a long time for another offer.

It just depends on how you have priced your home. Pricing it unrealistically for a market where buyers are hard to find is likely not a good strategy.

The better decision is if you value your property at more than your real estate agent thinks he or she can get for it, then do not put it on the market. Wait a few years and see if the prices come back.

Just don't count on those rising prices being just around the corner. I suspect we have yet to see the full impact of higher energy costs. It might be great for an area like ours where we end up having temperatures much of the year close to what we want our houses to be, and it might hurt us since we are good distance from many population centers.

Time will tell down here on the Southern Outer Banks.

Your home is not a bank certificate of deposit

David Sobotta (Bluewater GMAC Real Estate) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:36:39 -0500

We live in an absolutely gorgeous area. I feel wonderfully blessed to be in this part of the Southern Outer Banks.

Unfortunately even the pristine waters, fantastic climate, low taxes, wonderful places to visit, and friendly people cannot protect your home from a real estate slump.

Like many areas we have been struggling with homes that cannot find buyers or buyers that will not pay as much as the owners want for their properties.

I have spent a lot of time studying figures and providing information to people about the properties which are actually selling. Those properties are the ones which are establishing market prices.

While there are exceptions to every rule in real estate, I can say fairly confidently that very few properties are selling close to their most recent assessed values. Most properties are selling under their assessed values because our county, Carteret County, like many others did their most recent property valuation at the peak of the real estate boom.

Unfortunately I have some clients interested in properties that were purchased at the peak of that property boom.

The sellers know what they paid for their properties and are hoping to make a "reasonable return" on their investment. The buyers are smart folks. They have done their research and know the prices at which comparable properties are selling.

This often means that both buyers and sellers are far apart on their offers and counter offers.

I recently had a client make an offer on a property that had been on the market for nearly a year. In the year, it has received two offers including the one from my client, both were within a few thousand dollars of each other.

Even after being reduced in price, it is still listed at about 7% over its assessed value. I actually have a pretty good idea what the owner paid for the property and improvements.

My client was willing to offer the owner a slight profit on the property. However, the owner quickly came back with a counter would have given him close to a 20% profit on a piece of property that was bought near the peak of the real estate boom.

That 20% profit is certainly nice if you can get it, but in a market with few buyers and even fewer buyers who are willing to pay premiums for specific properties, I suspect the owner will be waiting a long time for someone to come along pay his inflated price.

The whole situation reminded me of the property that I sold just before Christmas. It was a relatively new home which ended up selling for $5,000 more than it did in 2004. That was about 1.4% more than it sold for originally.

On the one hand I know that some sellers can keep their homes on the market indefinitely. However, I also know that after over a year of no furniture and being unoccupied, the properties do not look nearly as nice. Eventually the property which doesn't sell for a year or more will get a stigma attached to it.

For years putting money into a house was better than putting it into a certificate of deposit. Somehow I think much of 2004, 2005, and 2006 are not going to be years where money invested in homes is likely to grow quickly unless you have found a very special property.

I have no doubt that homes are still good long term investments, but when it comes to selling your home quickly, the prices which other similar homes are selling for are much more important right now than what you paid for your home.

It you want to make money on what you put in a home during the peak years, you have two choices, wait out the real estate slump, or sell the home for what you can get, and start making that money work for you in another way. Waiting for a buyer to come along who might pay your price is not much of a strategy.

A harsh fact of life on the coast

David Sobotta (Bluewater GMAC Real Estate) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:56:56 -0500

We live on the North Carolina coast. Like most coastal areas, wetlands are a fact of life.

Most of us have come to value wetlands as they filter our water and provide a good spot for young fish to hatch. In fact there are lots of things wetlands are good for, but houses are not one of them.

Buying coastal property is a little different than buying a city serviced lot. Sometimes you have to deal with flood zones and wetlands.

Assuming that you know what you are doing might not be the best way to buy a lot along the coast.

In fact I can point to lots of folks who have bought lots along the coast and found out after buying them that building on the lot was more expensive or difficult because of wetlands they did not notice or understand.

While a small piece of wetland like the one in the picture to the left can end up being a very attractive addition to a home, bigger wetlands can often be a substantial obstacle with some very interesting property rules.

However, if your lot is over one half wetlands and the wetlands prevent you from getting to the water, then you might just have a problem.

Before you buy a lot make sure that the wetlands that you are seeing match the description on the survey of your lot. Find out the local rules and permit requirements for bulkheads and fill.

Some places no longer permit bulkheads. If you are planning on a dock, will you neighbors sign off on your request? How hard will it be to get a permit?

It is fair to say that just because you buy some waterfront property, do not count on enjoying the water unless you have done your research and make sure you understand the local laws.

The laws governing what you can do near the water and especially in wetlands are getting more challenging each year. Look carefully before you leap or you might be surprised at the difficulties you could face later.

If you are not familiar with the North Carolina coast or boating on Carolina coastal rivers, you might enjoy this slide show of a trip from Bluewater Cove, a water access subdivision on the White Oak River, out into the very impressive but shallow White Oak River.

A second slide show takes you down the White Oak, by Swansboro, over to Hammocks Beach and out Bogue Inlet into the ocean. If you haven't had enough water and salt water marshes, you can take the virtual boat trip to Shackleford Banks near Beaufort, NC.

Life on the coast is wonderful, but there are just some new things to learn and plenty of other things to watch for if you are buying property.

Things are not always as they seem

David Sobotta (Bluewater GMAC Real Estate) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:48:17 -0500

I have spent a lot of time in the last three months working with clients who are interested in having a place where they have access to the water.

In our area of Carteret County that generally means finding a "water access" community. Here on the Southern Outer Banks, that usually involves a place which has a boat ramp and access to navigable water.

My wife and I have been boating down here on the coast for about a year. We have had to figure out a lot of the boating information for ourselves so it is still fresh in our memories.

That has turned out to a very helpful skill when it comes to dealing with water access communities.

The fact that I have a 20 ft skiff on a lift behind my house has been very useful. We were very active boaters last year and made a number of trips including one down to Beaufort, NC where we logged 67 miles in visiting Shackleford Banks and some of the area's wild ponies.

It was a while before we got a lift so we got plenty of experience using boat ramps.

Also our home is on the White Oak River which is a wonderful river. It is something of a challenge to navigate since you need to understand channel markers. As I take people around and show them "water access" communities, my personal experience certainly has helped some of my clients.

Since we deal with people coming for retirement and often moving from a lake or the interior of the country, they often have many boating questions. I have had clients walk away from a community and not even bother looking at the listings there because a boat ramp did not match what they needed.

I do not make any effort to present myself as a boating expert, but I have found in many cases that you do not have to be an expert to know that water access communities have ramps which are often used very little. Unfortunately a boat ramp and the channel from it to a main channel is something that needs to used often. If they are not used and are in an area where there is silting, you can end up with a ramp where the biggest thing you can launch is a kayak.

I was lucky that when we bought, we ended up in a community with great water access. Two years ago, I did not know enough to evaluate that myself, but today I do.

Not only does our community have great access, but it is maintained which seems to be a rarity. We had a dredge in to work on our channel just this month.

One of things that works well for evaluating any community is checking what types of boats are parked in the yards. It is also helpful to actually talk to the boaters who use the ramps.

If you are new to boating on the coast, it is a whole different world, and a good boating course is one of the first things you should do. It will put you in contact with the local Coast Guard Auxiliary which is comprised of people with lots of local boating knowledge.

If you are buying property, make sure you carefully evaluate any boat ramp and check the subdivision covenants for any boat size restrictions and storage requirements.

I have had some exciting times with my boat. That happens a lot more regularly if you can get it in the water without a lot of aggravation.