Tallahassee Condo Market - Slowing But Strong - 09/30/07 09:15 AM
With all the talk about real estate nation-wide, I've had plenty of investors asking about the condo market in Tallahassee. More accurately, the condo/townhome market is having it's third-best year ever. Sales are down from the peak of the boom, but they are certainly up from the pre-boom years.
As you can tell, the 2006 was awesome for townhomes and condominiums in Tallahassee, but 2007 is almost as good as 2005, which blows away the previous market years. With all the new students coming in to Tallahassee (see previous blog on Florida Prepaid College Program), I think our condo/townhome market will continue … (17 comments)

Does The Picture Tell The Tale? - 09/30/07 09:03 AM
Since I seem to be going chart and graph crazy lately, I decided to take a look at resales in the Tallahassee Real Estate Market. I was able to gather all the data (not just data from the MLS) to take an accurate look at the resale market in Tallahassee. The following graph was created from that data. Take a look at the graph and come to some conclusions before you go on to the rest of the narrative.
Now that you have gone over the graph, did you make some conclusions? Perhaps you're ready to say the resale market is having … (22 comments)

Help From The IRS? - 09/28/07 06:44 AM
Introduction to the 1031 Tax Deferred Exchange
Everyone who thinks about investing in real estate has been told about the great "tax benefits" that come with real estate as an investment. Often times, they are counseled about the annual write-offs of interest and expenses, as well as the great "phantom expense" of depreciation. These are certainly reason enough to create a real estate investment portfolio, but there is another powerful tax strategy that should be utilized as well, the 1031 Tax Deferred Exchange.
I will write a series of blogs explaining how to maneuver through the maze of rules when performing an exchange. … (21 comments)

Have You Ever Tracked Home Sales By Age Of Property? - 09/27/07 07:21 AM
Newer Homes Fair Best In Today's Market
Yesterday's blog generated several comments and questions regarding home sales in the Tallahassee Real Estate Market. Specifically, one reader wanted to know if I saw any trend in home sales corresponding to the age of the homes that were selling. I found this to be an interesting question and one that I had never considered in the past. So....
Back to the Tallahassee Board of Realtors Multiple Listing Service (MLS) I went. I pulled all the residential sales (Single Family Detached, Condos, and Townhouses) from the past month and all the way back to January … (10 comments)

Average Home Prices Relatively Stable - 09/27/07 07:12 AM
I was doing some research on property values in order to see how the market is handling the increased inventory. Two graphs of the data caught my attention. First, it appears that home prices are relatively stable in the Tallahassee Real Estate Market, as seen below:
Average Home and Townhome Prices

New Construction Home Prices have increased 10.6% over last year, while resale prices are down about 4.4%. The overall market of single family homes, townhomes, and condo's is priced down about 1.5%, with the average residential unit in the Tallahassee Real Estate Market selling for $203,500. I then wanted to … (10 comments)

They Are Great Prospectors.... BEWARE!!!! - 09/26/07 03:16 PM
DID YOU HEAR THE ONE ABOUT...
The charred scuba diver found in the middle of a burned out forest?
Or that swallowing pop rocks and drinking soda at the same time will make your stomach explode?
How about this one?
Subject: FW: Do Not Call List starts in 12 days!Please review and pass on to as many individuals as you canREMINDER....12 days from today, all cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive sale calls.YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLSTo prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone: 888-382-1222.It is the National DO NOT CALL … (16 comments)

Time to Re-Sharpen The Ax: Creative Financing Solutions - 09/25/07 07:10 AM
from Creative Financing Offers Solutions for Buyers and Sellers Alike
Now is a great time to be a home buyer in the Tallahassee Real Estate Market! You have choices, with inventory at an all-time high. You have motivated home sellers. You have historically low interest rates. So what is holding you back?
Some of our Tallahassee Home Buyers come to us with problems related to financing the purchase of a home. I like to tell my Sales Associates that anyone who really wants to buy a home in Tallahassee can do it. The market conditions are perfect. The key is to understand … (10 comments)

See, It Isn't That Bad - II - 09/24/07 11:40 AM
After posting my previous blog, I had someone wanting to see the raw figures that created the report.
This all came about when I decided to do some research in the Tallahassee Board of Realtors Multiple Listing Service (MLS). I created a table for Leon County, by price range, and showed how we are doing this year versus every other year since 2000, for the months of January through August.
I pulled data from all sales of residential properties (Single Family Detached, Condominiums, and Townhouses).  These are the raw figures that created the chart in the previous post:
Additionally, I have the same … (10 comments)

See, It Isn't That Bad - 09/24/07 06:07 AM
With all the concern over the real estate market, I decided to do some research in the Tallahassee Board of Realtors Multiple Listing Service (MLS). I created a table for Leon County, by price range, and showed how we are doing this year versus every other year since 2000, for the months of January through August.
I pulled data from all sales of residential properties (Single Family Detached, Condominiums, and Townhouses). The numbers in red indicate where we are doing worse this year, while the numbers in black indicate where we are doing better.

From the table above, one can … (10 comments)

Pictures Don't Lie - 09/23/07 07:58 AM
There has been a lot of talk lately in the Tallahassee Real Estate Market regarding where our pricing is going. We look at the condomium/Townhouse market and are amazed at what prices have done over the past 5-10 years. These have been the staple for students at FSU/FAMU/TCC and the other colleges in town. We can see from the pricing trend chart that they have really shot up.
I have addressed the "why" in recent posts, but nothing shows the "why" like the corresponding chart of lot prices in Leon County, Florida.
The cost of land plus the costs of developing has made … (12 comments)

OK Frank, Here's Our Numbers - 09/22/07 12:54 PM
Frank Telenta read my previous post about the Tallahassee Real Estate Market and requested to see the numbers by price range. I downloaded sales in the MLS for the Periods of January Through August for both 2006 and 2007. The following is a Tallahassee Real Estate Market Report for all price ranges:
As you can see, we are down roughly 28% from last year. The "Discount" represents the sales price versus the original asking price. When I get some more time, I will do this report over a longer period of time.... until then, have a great day!
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Joe Manausa, … (18 comments)

Best Counter-Offer Ever!!!! - 09/21/07 07:14 AM
I am certain that all of you in tough market's are starting to see some crazy offers coming through. Yesterday, one of our agents received a "Low Ball" offer, though it was more of a "No Ball" offer. The listing price was around $300,000 and the offer was closer to $140,000!
Our market is down about 24% on units, but pricing is holding steady in most price ranges. This property is just above our median price point, so it will sell very close to its last-year's value.
The reason for this post is for one reason (and one reason only), and that is … (132 comments)

Great Presentation Tool - Rent vs. Own - 09/21/07 06:48 AM
After dealing with some very opiniated comments from readers of my Newspaper Blog, I decided I would post the presentation that I use to help people decide whether to Rent a Home in Tallahassee, or whether to Buy a Home in Tallahassee. Here is what I posted on my other blog:
Tallahassee Real Estate: Rent or Own?
Do you ever wonder whether or not it is better to rent versus owning your own home? This question comes up from time to time, and with all the negative news about the real estate market, we have fielded this question quite a bit lately. As … (19 comments)

Using Excel Graphics To Make A Point - 09/20/07 04:56 AM
I received a comment from a reader, Anne Tyler, suggesting that I expand yesterday's graphics to include some of the more affordable neighborhoods in Tallahassee. Because there are so many of them, I only included Leon County Subdivisions where the average selling price was below $160,000. This left me with over 200 Leon County Subdivisions to Graph! Hence, they are broken-up into three graphs, sorted by price range (Which is listed below each graph). Note, the red bars are subdivisions where the average current asking prices are lower than the previous year's average sales price.
[Click Here For Tallahassee Affordable Housing Neighborhood … (8 comments)

By Request .... Creating Charts and Graphs in MS Excel - 09/19/07 03:20 PM
OK, so I am a numbers guy. I've been using MS Excel for as long as it has been a product (Excel 1.0).
I have been posting a lot of charts and graphs about the Tallahassee Real Estate Market in my blogs, and quite a few people have complemented me on my graphs.
A Friend of Mine CalledThe Charts "Show" What The Numbers Might HideHow Do Changing Markets Affect Realtor Pricing?Great Way to Explain Why Now is the Time to Buy!But that wasn't enough for Adam Waldman, Nooooo, he wanted a tutorial. Well Adam, here is my shot at a MS Excel … (41 comments)

D@#!, AND EVERYTHING SEEMED TO BE GOING SO WELL - 09/19/07 11:00 AM
In the vein of deal doctoring....let me relay a little story (Previous Deal Doctoring Blog)
So, one of our agents had a buyer.  And our agent found this buyer a beautiful house which he very much wanted and so they put a contract on the house. 
Now this buyer was also selling a home.  He planned to use the proceeds from the sale of his existing home to buy down the mortgage of the new house.  Nothing new there. 
Unfortunately, his existing home appraised for much less than he had anticipated.  Then, the house he had under contract appraised for less … (10 comments)

The Charts "Show" What The Numbers Might Hide - 09/19/07 06:22 AM
Every month I like to take a look at all the Subdivisions in Leon County, Florida to determine inventory levels as well as price levels. Sometimes, we can chart out information and see what is going on in the Tallahassee Real Estate Market much more clearly than we can with just numerical data.
For example, I was wondering which Subdivisions in Tallahassee had the most homes on the market and I came across two interesting graphs. The first graph of Leon County Subdivisions shows the supply of homes in the Tallahassee Real Estate Market (Months of Supply). The Subdivisions in Red have significantly … (8 comments)

How Do Changing Markets Affect Realtor Pricing? - 09/18/07 05:56 AM
Golden Eagle Subdivision - A Pricing Trend Analysis
I was doing some research for a client and found an interesting trend (interesting if you're a numbers type anyway) on the pricing in Golden Eagle Subdivision in Tallahassee, Florida . I was wondering if there existed any relationship between the properties that sold in Golden Eagle (how they were priced) and the properties that failed to sell in Golden Eagle (how they were priced). I created a trailing-12-month trend analysis for each, and the following graphic ensued.
The green line represents a 12 month average Price Per Square Foot (PPSFT) of all the … (16 comments)

Home Inspections - Worth the Money? - 09/17/07 06:39 AM
Often times, we work with Buyers who are tight on cash and are looking to save every nickel in the process of Buying a Home in Tallahassee. They ask for advice on things that they should do to save money. Invariably, the question arises as to whether they "really need to pay for a home inspection."
Before I give you my answer to this, let me begin with the benefits of the professional home inspection.
The Home Inspector will check every system in the home and give his or her professional opinion of its condition. As you are well aware, there are … (22 comments)

50,000 Points - No Longer a Newbie? - 09/16/07 08:52 AM
I started blogging on Active Rain 63 days ago with 1 goal in mind. I needed an answer to a question that I had been pondering for nearly a year....
What the heck is this "blogging thing" all about?
So I made a commitment to be active on AR for 30 days and then re-evaluate. After 30 days, I did the same thing, a 30 day commitment to see if I could get better. I think I have.
Yesterday, I hit 50,000 points, yet I still feel like a "Newbie."
Because of my involvement with Active Rain:
I now author the blog on our local newspaper.I met … (34 comments)

The Smartest Person I Ever Met! - 09/15/07 10:45 AM
Now that I am blogging for the Tallahassee Democrat (our local newspaper), I have been very fortunate to run into some incredibly opinionated, not-so-educated people. I'm certain that YOU have met the one person that I am really going to talk about, after all, this is titled The Smartest Person I Ever Met!
Of course, the All-Knowing, Expert At Everything-Person that I am referring to signs his/her name with great pride ...... Anonymous
I thought I'd use this post to show you Anonymous's comments from the other day. Sorry about the typo's, but I am going to cut and paste so that you … (10 comments)

Great Way to Explain Why Now is the Time to Buy! - 09/14/07 07:51 AM
Time to Buy Real Estate?
So many of our Buyers are asking us if now is the time to Buy Real Estate in Tallahassee, Florida. As someone who has been in the Tallahassee Real Estate Brokerage Business for 17 years, I can tell you it is, but that might seem biased....
Rather, I think with the help of a little common-sense analysis, I can show you it is definitely time to Buy Real Estate in Tallahassee, Florida! When buying any commodity, it always seems to be prudent to buy low and sell high (not exactly rocket science, huh?). So, looking to … (18 comments)

Seller Talking Point #2 - How Home Values Are Determined - 09/13/07 06:39 AM
I thought I might provide some insight on How Home Values Are Determined. Everyone who owns a home typically likes particular aspects of that home. But these likes and dislikes have less to do with value that you might think, so let me give you some value-thoughts to chew on:
Value is a moment in time, and is based on what else buyers can buy, the day they go out and look at your house.Prices are not forever, because values are fluid. They go up, and they go down, depending what other sellers do with their prices.Value is never an isolated concept, … (12 comments)

IT'S ALIVE!!!!! - 09/12/07 10:42 AM

Who hasn't found themselves desperately trying to breathe life into a gasping, sputtering flat-lining deal?  Wouldn't it be nice to get a second opinion before you pull the plug? 
One of the benefits we offer our agents is access to over 100 years of real estate experience between our owners and full time managers.  So, when they need help, whether it is a simple question about the contract form or someone to accompany them on a tough listing presentation, they have access to some very knowledgeable and experienced people.
We also hold a round table discussion every Friday afternoon at Century … (8 comments)

A Powerful Seller Presentation - Talking Point #1 - 09/12/07 10:19 AM
Many of our agents are starting to hear the same question from Sellers during their listing appointments. While this question exists in all markets, it is Critical that we answer it properly when we are languishing in a Buyers' Market with tons of inventory.
The Question:
"Can we list high, we can always come down later."
The Answer:
The answer, in my humble opinion, needs to be scripted, practiced, drilled and rehearsed. It is so important that we do not overprice our listings that I feel All Agents need to be great at this. Points that need to be addressed include:
Window of OpportunityMemory RetentionPrice ReductionsBest … (20 comments)

Thank You Everyone - 09/12/07 06:36 AM
Well, somebody noticed!
Here in Tallahassee, Florida, we only have 1 newspaper. The Tallahassee Democrat noticed my blog and has invited me to write a Tallahassee Real Estate Blog for the Newspaper.
I am certain that without all the activity that Active Rain creates, this blog would not have been found by the Publisher of the newspaper. So, thanks for helping to create this great opportunity. My blog is featured at I now write the real estate blog for the Tallahassee Democrat. You can find me at http://www.tallahassee.com/special/blogs/manausa/. I hope to see you there!
… (24 comments)

It Is Up To Us ~~~~~ and Remember! - 09/10/07 06:25 AM
  Subscribe to this Blog:
Joe Manausa, MBA, CRB, CRS | Broker / Owner | Century 21 First Realty
2365 Centerville Road | Tallahassee, Florida 32308 | (850) 386-2001 | http://www.manausa.com/
… (8 comments)

Because of Active Rain, I am Reborn! - 09/08/07 08:44 AM

Two months ago, I had not even considered blogging as something a serious business person would do. Active Rain has not only taught me how to create and manage a blog, it has taught me how to connect to some great professionals around the country.
Without Active Rain, I would not have met Brad Carroll, who is now helping me replace an old and worn web site with a new dynamic web site.
Active Rain has led me to some great agents and professionals around the country(s), like Missy Caulk in Ann Arbor Michigan, Thesa Chambers in Central Oregon, Brad Andersohn in Concord, … (46 comments)

Great Excel Tip - 09/07/07 03:59 AM
Don't you just hate it when you are trying to create a chart in Microsoft Excel and some of your data totally obscures the rest of it? The purpose of this post is to show you how I created a chart, showing how My Company Web Site has had more visitors than our competition.So, How do you do it? First, you graph the information as you want it. Then, by doing a series of copy and pastes, you will be able to make all data sets semi-transparent, allowing the viewer to see all (as in the image above). So, here are … (12 comments)

A Geek's Guide To Finding Business - IV - 09/06/07 11:01 AM
The Numbers
(continuation from My Previous Post )
So after years of measuring different lead sources, what have we found? First of all, I want to acknowledge that this is a small sample of agents that were measured for roughly a year. Differing talent and skill levels, as well as differing market conditions will yield different results for everyone. That being said, I think it is a fair analysis for one lead source versus another.
Since I first went to Joe Stumpf and Mike Ferry back in the 90's, it appears that Joe Stumpf has not changed a whole lot of what he is … (6 comments)

A Geek's Guide To Finding Business - III - 09/06/07 09:48 AM
The Business Funnel (continuation from My Previous Post ) After measuring Attempts, Contacts, Leads, Appointments, Sales and Closings for over a year (with about 20 agents) I discovered a fascinating thing.... We could use an agent's measured numbers to focus their specific training needs to them. Let me demontrate by means of an example. Let us look at "the numbers" on five ficticious agents: These numbers quickly show that Susan is the top producer with 34 closings, while Alice is producing the least. Normally as the broker, I would only know closed statistics, but with the measuring systems in place, check out all the … (8 comments)

A Geek's Guide To Finding Business - II - 09/06/07 07:53 AM
The Language(continued from my previous post) I must say that I was extremely excited to try out everything that I learned. I was determined to measure our actions and our results so that I could quantitatively prove what was the best method(s) for acquiring new business.In order to measure, I had to come up with a common language for all of our participating agents. As the great Bill Clinton once reminded us "It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is." This common language would ensure that our measurements and systems were consistent across the board. So, here is a list … (6 comments)

A Geek's Guide to Finding Business - I - 09/06/07 07:16 AM
As our market has toughened up, I have had many agents come to me and ask what they could do to generate more business. As I have been in the Tallahassee Real Estate Market for 17 years now, I certainly have a lot of ideas and experience. But more importantly, I have (on my computer) records of what we were doing the last time the market was like this. I had to dig deep. As a Real Estate Broker with a computer science degree, I have a pretty well-organized computer structure that allows me to pull most files or records that I … (10 comments)

ARE YOU ALWAYS TURNED ON? - 09/05/07 12:31 PM

HOW OFTEN DO YOU MIX YOUR PLEASURE WITH BUSINESS?
When does your business day begin?  When does it end?  Are you always on?  Off and on?  Or (hopefully not) always off?
We teach our agents to always prospect, even when they are working. Some of the questions we teach new agents to memorize is our Daily 7.  These are the seven questions every agent should be prepared to ask anyone with whom they happen to strike up a conversation.
DAILY SEVEN
(Prospecting with everyone you meet)
Where do you live?How do you like it there?How did you happen to choose that area?If you were to move … (4 comments)

Afternoon's are Crazy! - 09/05/07 10:24 AM
OK, so I figured it was time to meet with my GM and talk about strategies to get our Tallahassee Real Estate Company moving along faster. We met in our normal fashion and came up with some good ideas.
First of all, we need to acknowledge that, while this is a normal market cycle, we cannot just bury our heads and hope that it changes on its own.
As a matter of fact, it is imperative that we know where are heads are at all times!
We feel that the news, the market, the "buzz", the Board, and all the other "the's" in our world are … (8 comments)

Pimp My Ride! - 09/04/07 06:02 AM
Pimp My Ride!
A few years ago, we had an agent join us who was driving a 1981 CJ8 Jeep Scrambler. It had two doors and two holes in the floor. He could apply brakes by one of three methods. The preferred method was to use the unpredictable brake. The second method was to put it in neutral and use the "emergency" brake. The third method was to stick my feet through the hole in floorboard and stop the car like Fred Flintstone.  Truthfully, he was equally skilled at all three techniques.
Figuring that he really wanted to make a living selling real estate, I … (18 comments)

What to do.... What to do.... - 09/02/07 08:20 AM
I was curious what the AR community had going on for Labor day and found that it was a very hot topic.
Here is a collection of blog posts about Labor Day from our AR community.
Happy Labor Day Everyone.
Labor Day Events in Atlanta - Alpharetta, Ga                                                                   Subscribe to this Blog:
                                     Joe Manausa, MBA, CRB, CRS | Broker / Owner | Century 21 First Realty
2365 Centerville Road | Tallahassee, Florida 32308 | (850) 386-2001 | http://www.manausa.com/
… (10 comments)

Nine Great Reads For An Active Rain Newbie - 09/01/07 10:15 AM
Tomorrow will make my 50th day on Active Rain and I have learned to much that I've encouraged a good portion of my Tallahassee Real Estate Company to start blogging on Active Rain. I'm not sure how long I carry the "Newbie" title, but I still feel like one.
I like to encourage participation on this site within Century 21 First Realty because I know Our Great Agents gain a lot of knowledge about the real estate industry and general business practices. But they also will create A Great Online Image that will gain them referrals and direct business over time.
So, if you are … (20 comments)

SEO Ain't Everything.... - 09/01/07 09:55 AM
I read an interesting blog this morning by Brad Carroll titled Free Tools That Allow You To Spy On Your Competition. I followed all of the links and learned a great deal about how my site can be analyzed, as well as how to use the same tools to analyze my competition.
One tool in particular made me really excited. I used Compete.Com to compare my old, rusty, not up-to-date web site with the top local web sites for my highest value key words. What I found amazed me. My site doesn't show up in the first two pages of a … (8 comments)

 
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Joe Manausa - Tallahassee Real Estate

Tallahassee, FL

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Century 21 Manausa and Associates

Address: 1140 Capital Circle SE #12A, Tallahassee, FL, 32301

Office Phone: (850) 386-2001

Cell Phone: (850) 508-1544

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