Have you ever wondered why so many people"try" to sell Real Estate?  Honestly, how many times have you heard someone say..."I'm gonna get into Real Estate and make some real money?"  Oh don't get me wrong, there's money to be made alright and plenty of it even in this "dynamic" market.  So they spend all this time and money getting licensed and they hang their hat with a brokerage and get a big office with all the fancy whistles and bells and 3 months down the road...poof...just like that they're done.

I suppose they thought that just because they announced to themselves and their bar buddies that they were now in Real Estate business would just come out of the woodwork and say..."boy am I glad you finall decided to get into the game because I've been waiting to ask you to sell my house!"  I mean, that's how it's supposed to happen right?  Oh...you mean I have to work at being my own boss?  I have to do what?  I just thought that if I................. and that's where the dream ends.

I've been lucky enough and blessed enough to start my career in Real Estate in a tough, down market.  And you know what?  I'm glad I did because I'm gonna be a star someday and I'm gonna have everything I ever wanted.  I've decided to enroll in an 8 week long workshop put on by Keller Williams called BOLD.  BOLD is an acronym for Business Objective Life by Design.  It's a high octane high accountability program that is designed to take me to the next level both personally & professionally.  I need more accountability in my life and I need more discipline to do the things that will make me money in this business and that's lead generation.

I need to develop more of an attitude of making phone calls, talking to people about Real Estate, touching people in my data base on a regular basis thus creating my own destiny.  This is gonna be awesome and I can't wait to take it to the next level and realize my dream.

Gregory K. Thomas

www.PensacolaRealEstateInfo.com

Well now that the weather has changed and Spring has sprung it's time to master the art of fishing.  Any fisherman will tell you that if you wanna catch fish you got have your bait in the water and right in front of the fishes nose!  I mean when is the last time you ever saw a fish jump out of the water and right into the boat just because you had to have him?  And when is the last time you ever caught a fish with a bare hook and no bait?

In today's Real Estate Market you gotta put that bait right in front of the buyers nose in order to get offers or contracts.  Sure you can sit there and dangle your bait above the water or you can drop it just below the surface but you won't catch many fish that way.  If you're gonna land the big one you best price your home to sell NOT sit on the market.  Do you know what rotten fish smells like?  Do you know what happens to homes that sit above the market...exactly same thing they get old and stink after awhile.

If your gonna sell in this market you had better review your pricing strategy from the beginning and not chase the market down while watching thousands of your dollars get flushed down the drain.  That my friends is the key to successful fishing.

Gregory K. Thomas

www.PensacolaRealEstateInfo.com

I got this idea from a sports talk radio show that I usually have on in the background while I'm getting ready for work in the morning.  It's a series of numbers and each number has its own relevance in today's local Real Estate market.  And by local in mean the Pensacola, FL Real Estate market where things seems to be picking up just a bit.  And here are the numbers:

8.13     The percentage increase of closed sales for Res. Detached, Res. Attached, Condo & Manufactured Home units sold YTD versus the same 3 month period last year.

17.4     The number of months worth of inventory currently on the market in our local market.

281      Total number of cash buyers since the begining of the new year..almost 25% of all sold terms.

1135    Total number of distressed listings currently on the market locally...nearly 20% of all listings.

8000    Money available to first time home buyers who purchase a home prior to June 30, 2010.

30        Days left for first time home buyers to act in order to receive the $8,000 tax credit.

850-501-2889     The number to call if you are looking to buy or sell a home in the greater Pensacola area.

For more information on the Pensacola Real Estate market or homes for sale in Pensacola, FL please log on to www.PensacolaRealEstateInfo.com

Yesterday I was browsing around the internet and I came upon an article on MSN Real Estate that cought my eye.  Because I have a desire to stay on top of the issues in my industry I thought I read the article and just could not believe what rubbish I was reading.  The article went on to say some things and dispense "advise" that absolutely paints the professionals in my business as bad people.  Please click on the link below to read this article and then tell me what you think.

http://realestate.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=23115000

Keller Williams Realty Ranked as Top Real Estate Franchise by Industry Leader and Entrepreneur Magazine   AUSTIN, TEXAS (December 21, 2009) - Keller Williams Realty joined the ranks of the top franchises in the world last week, when the company was ranked as the No. 1 real estate franchise on the 31^st Annual Franchise 500 list by Entrepreneur magazine. During the same week, the company was also voted the Most Recognizable Brand of Real Estate Franchises for 2009 in an industry-wide survey for the Swanepoel TRENDS Report.    "The Swanepoel TRENDS Report is a respected source for the real estate industry and beyond, as is Entrepreneur magazine, and we are excited to see our agents honored in this way for all of their hard work," said Mark Willis, CEO, Keller Williams Realty. "We certainly wouldn't have been included on either list without the dedication and resolve of our agents."     According to the ranking in Entrepreneur magazine, the most important criteria to determine the top franchises included financial strength and stability, as well as growth rate and size of the franchise system. The magazine also looked at the number of years the company has been in business and the length of time it's been franchising, in addition to start-up costs and financial data. Additionally, Keller Williams Realty made an impressive showing on the overall list, placing higher than any other real estate franchise.   The Swanepoel TRENDS Report is published by Stefan Swanepoel, a real estate industry speaker and insider. The survey was crafted to determine the Most Recognizable Brand for Real Estate Franchises for his report out in February 2010. The survey included votes cast by 11,000 plus real estate agents, who cast 390,000 votes to select the top 10.   Earlier in the year,Keller Williams Realty also received the highest overall satisfaction ratings from home buyers among the largest full-service real estate firms from J.D. Power and Associates for the second year in a row.   "We are extremely proud that our associates and company are being recognized for our strength and stability during this time in our industry," said Mary Tennant, president and COO, Keller Williams Realty. "We attribute our success to being in business with phenomenal people and to our core business models, which have allowed our franchises to thrive during any market."   ###   About Keller Williams Realty Inc.: Founded in 1983, Keller Williams Realty Inc. is the third-largest real estate franchise operation in the United States, with 679 offices and 73,000 associates in the United States and Canada. The company, which began franchising in 1990, has an agent-centric culture that emphasizes access to leading-edge education and promotes an economic model that rewards associates as stakeholders and partners. For more information, visit Keller Williams Realty online at (www.kw.com).  

Treasury sets guidance to simplify "short sales"

By Al Yoon Al Yoon - Mon Nov 30, 6:58 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury on Monday set long-awaited guidance on a plan for mortgage companies to speed "short sales" of homes and other loan modification alternatives to stem a rising tide of foreclosures.

The Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program provides financial incentives and simplifies the procedures for completing short sales, a growing practice in which a lender agrees to accept the sale price of a home to pay off a mortgage even if the price falls short of the amount owed, according to an announcement on the Treasury's website.

Guidelines address barriers that have often sidelined short sales by setting limits on the time it takes a bank to approve an offer, freeing borrowers from debt and capping claims of subordinate lenders.

The incentives, first announced in May, expand on the government's Home Affordable Modification Program, known as HAMP, that has seen limited success in lowering payments for distressed homeowners. The Treasury earlier on Monday stepped up pressure on mortgage companies to make permanent the 650,000 trial modifications they have started.

"While HAMP program guidelines are intended to reach a broad range of at-risk borrowers, it is expected that servicers will encounter situations where they are unable to approve" or offer a modification, the Treasury said in its announcement.

Financial incentives for completing short sales or similar deed-in-lieu transactions -- in which the deed is simply transferred to the lender -- include a $1,000 payment to servicers, and a maximum of $1,000 to go to investors who sign off on payments to subordinate lien holders, the Treasury said. Borrowers would receive $1,500 in relocation expenses.

Short sales are favored by real estate agents and community groups over foreclosure because they can preserve the borrower's credit rating and leave the property in better condition than when a homeowner is evicted. While primary lenders typically realize steep losses, their recovery is typically far better than under foreclosure.

But short sales have been frustrating for borrowers and real estate agents, often hung up by negotiations with multiple lien holders and mortgage insurance companies. Real estate agents have complained that sales fall through as lenders bicker over the sales price, what they should receive from the proceeds, and whether the borrower will be held accountable for the debt in the future.

Among requirements, mortgage servicers have 10 days to approve or disapprove a request for short sale, and when done the transaction must fully release the borrower from the debt.

It also prohibits mortgage servicing companies from reducing real estate commissions on the sale, a practice that has dissuaded many agents from taking short sale listings.

In one of the most contentious issues gumming up negotiations between lenders, the guidance caps the aggregate proceeds to subordinate lien holders at $3,000.

Second lien holders in recent months have begun demanding more money from the first lender, seller, buyer or agent in exchange for releasing their claim, agents have said. Because primary lenders would face larger losses in a foreclosure, some subordinate lenders have felt empowered, the agents said.

The largest second-lien holders are Bank of America Corp, Wells Fargo & Co, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Citigroup Inc.

Second lien holders may proceed with a short sale outside of the Treasury program, if they felt the cap was too low, a Treasury official said in October.

"If there was a short sale program that didn't recognize the second lien holder position, it could have pretty damaging consequences for the industry," Sanjiv Das, chief executive officer of CitiMortgage, said in an interview last week.

(Editing by Leslie Adler)

There is undoubtedly a huge market these days for distressed properties and if you have been paying attention to various news shows and listening to Real Estate professionals, you know that there is another huge wave of distressed properties out there that haven't even hi the market yet...but they will, just wait and see.  You may be asking yourself, "what is a distressed property anyway and why or how does it affect me"?  Well, a distressed property is any property that is in danger of being foreclosed upon and there are many properties that are in various stages of the pre-foreclosure or foreclosure process.  In the pre-foreclosure stage, a distressed property is commonly known as a "short sale".

As far as the effect of distressed properties on buyers and sellers it's easy to explain.  If you're selling in today's market and your area is flooded with distressed properties, your properties value is being affected and it's not in a good way either.  If you are a buyer looking in this arena then you could be about to find an unbelievable deal and actually walk into a new home with equity which is not all that common these days of declining values.  If you are a seller facing foreclosure please know that you don't have to settle for the damaging effects of a foreclosure.  You have options and you should explore those options.  For more info on short sales please log on to www.PensacolaShortSales911.com.

For instance, did you know that in the case of a short sale sellers can use the services of a professional Realtor without having to pay for some of the typical fees associated with a Real Estate transaction.  That's right, most lenders will pay certain fees such as Real Estate professional fee, title insurance and doc stamps on the deed.  One word of advice to anyone considering a short sale...many real estate agents claim to be "short sale experts" but few carry the Certified Distressed Property Expert designation.  This designation is earned by attending 16+ hours of training and properly qualifies certain Realtors to handle short sales correctly.  Make sure you hire a CDPE to handle your short sale.  Hiring the right Realtor to negotiate a short sale is the most vital component of a short sale.

Now as far as buyers go, you must ask yourself one question...."is this distressed property the best deal or the best value"?  Often times the best deal does not equate to the best value.  Also, ask your lender about a 203K loan which allows you to wrap up to $35,000 into your mortgage for upggrades and repairs that may need to be done with a distressed property.  Log on to www.PensacolaHomeSite.com for more information.  Currently in our local market there are over 700 distressed properties up for sale which is about 13% of all active listings.  There is still a huge wave of adjustable rate mortgages (ARM's) out there that are getting ready to re-set and when they do, the flood gates will once again open. 

Many people shy away from short sales including buyers and their real estate agents.  As a CDPE, I can guarantee you that if you are patient and if you have the right Realtor, a short sale will not be the painful process that most make it out to be. 

Today the National Association of Realtors released its home sale statistics for the month of February 2009 and there is some very enticing data in the report.  First, existing homes sales rose 5.1% in February indicating that a lot of first time home buyers have made the decision to get into the game and why shouldn't they after all, intereswt rates are still at record lows and there is a lot of inventory to choose from.

If you are trying to sell your home, then you probably think that since sales went upo then values must have gone up as well.  I wish I could be the guy who says that yes that is true, but I'm going to stick to the pillars of my business & reputation which are Honesty & Integrity.  The truth of the matter is that while increasing sales is a very good indicator of change in the Real Estate market, values still declined by 15.5% according to the same NAR report.

Values are expected to continue to fall well into the later part of 2009.  I beleive the number one reason for declining values is the number of distressed properties being listed every month and the increasing number of distressed properties that are closing each month.  I'm here to tell you that this is not such a bad thing because the quicker we can sell the distressed property inventory, the quicker we can move towards stabilization of the Real Estate market.  To learn more about distressed properties and the Certified Distressed Property Designation log on to www.PensacolaShortSales911.com.

Values will begin to climb again but it's probably a minimum of 3 to 7 years before we see normal growth in values again.  To put that into perspective, values locally in the Greater Pensacola area typically rise at about 3-5% annually.  During the bubble of late 2004 and into 2005 we saw values skyrocketing sometimes at double digit growth...per month.  You didn't think that was going to last did you?  The market continues to give back anywhere from 1-2% monthly and we will no doubt see 2003 level pricing by the end of the year.  We are already seeing signs of 2003 level pricing in some areas.

Can sellers still make a decent profit on the sale of their home in these uncertain times?  The answer is absolutely they can!  Values in some cases are still higher now than they should have been given the historical growth pattern.  To learn more about Pensacola Real Estate please feel free to log on to www.PensacolaHomeSite.com.

A broker was dismayed when a brand new real estate office much like his own opened up next door and erected a huge sign which read 'BEST AGENTS.'

He was horrified when another competitor opened up on his right, and announced its arrival with an even larger sign, reading 'LOWEST COMMISSIONS.'

The broker panicked, until he got an idea. He put the biggest sign of all over his own real estate office. It read: 'MAIN ENTRANCE'

This is a pretty funny story right?  Of course it is it shows just how creative and competetive the Real Estate market is.  But let me be honest you can't have the "Best Agent" while paying the "lowest commission"!  I'm telling you that would be like asking your heart surgeon for his discounted fee for a triple bypass now wouldn't it?  The point is that you get what you pay for which explains why many people are frustrated with the Realtor profession.  The honest truth is that if you want the best and if you want the absolute highest sales price for your home, you need to be willing to pay for the best possible service.

To learn more about Real Estate services by a  full time Prefessional Realtor with Honesty & Integrity please log on to www.PensacolaRealEstateKing.com or visit www.PensacolaHomeSite.com.

Well everybody here we go with the start of one of the greatest times of the year.  Yes, I'm talking about the start of the Spring/Summer selling season.  As with the greatest collegiate tournament in sports, you need to make sure that your bracket is filled in and that you have a winning strategy for selling your home.

So with that said it's time for you to get up off the sofa and get the yard in shape with a little mow and some nice colorful flowers to boost your curb appeal.  While you're at it get busy with the Spring cleaning and make sure that your home is clean, uncluttered and in show condition.  Now you're ready to sell your home right?  Wrong!  You forgot about your pricing strategy.  If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, you need to set the price right in order to get showings and offers.

Okay so now you are asking yourself "how do I figure out the right price"?  Easy Jethro, I'm gonna help you out a bit because that's how I roll.  The advice that I am about to dispense is the best that money can buy and I;m gonna give it to you for free today because...you guessed it, that's how I roll!  Are you ready?  Here goes.....HIRE A PROFESSIONAL REALTOR!  That's it, that's all you need to do to get top dollar in today's dynamic market.

Aahhh, I know what you're thinking..."why can't I just put a little red & white sign in my yard and save money on the professional fee"?  First of all because you're going to write your contact info on that sign with a little itsy bitsy marker that is going to fade in the sun within 3 days.  And then, you're gonna miss every call that comes in asking for information on the property because you're at work, at the kids game or at the beach.  Next, you're gonna be away from the home every day either working or or living a life and you're not going to be able to show your home to prospective buyers.

As if that wasn't bad enough, you're are gonna miss all of the people driving around on the weekends looking for new homes because you're at the mall or enjoying a little weekend get away with the family.  Finally when a Real Estate agent calls to get some information about your home to give to a prospective buyer, you tell them that you're not interested in working with a Realtor.  You pay a doctor for the "best care money can buy" when you're faced with a health crisis and you pay a mechanic to make sure that your car keeps running but you won't pay a professional Realtor to help you sell your single largest financial investment.  With all do respect people...not a very wise move.  In fact it could cost you up to 20% in value while you are determined to save a 6% professional fee. 

Why?  Well that's because our local Real Estate market continues to lose about 1-2% in value per month and you and your little red and white sign are virtually invisible to the 87% of all home buyers who are looking for homes on the Internet.  I know..I know..you're on some for sale by owner website that makes all kinds of guarantees and claims that Realtors are one step below used car salesmen.  Meanwhile they just took you for $400 bucks to use their website and..ohhh...by the way you have to show your own home, negotiate over 30 different terms of a sales contract and find your own attorney (who will probably overcharge you) to handle the closing.  Ohh, I forgot..who was going to qualify the buyer?

Well, that's even if you get a buyer because you have grossly overpriced your home and nobody is going to overpay for it.  The only way that you stand a chance of selling an overpriced home is if the buyer just fell of the turnip truck and is willing to pay cash...that's right greenbacks people because no bank is going to lend $250,000 on a home that is only worth $200,000.  I know it's hard to beleive but even banks have standards these days.

Well, now here it is 12 months later and you have lost at least 15% in value because you were determined to sell your own home and you weren't going to pay a professional to do it for you.  You finally call the Realtor who has been calling every month, mailing you "just Listed" and "just sold" post cards, and sending you statistical data on the market.  You agree to meet with this Realtor and expect a miracle right? 

In closing let me ask you 2 questions.  First, when you go to look for your new home, just how many "for sale by owner" homes are you going to look at?  Secondly, if you needed life saving heart surgery, are you going to ask the doctor for the " do it yourself" home surgery kit? 

Do your self a favor.  If you are thinking of selling a home, hire a professional Realtor to handle it for you and net more at closing.  That's right...earn more at closing!  For more information on Real Estate and professional Real Estate services please log on to www.PensacolaHomeSite.com or visit the web site www.PensacolasRealEstateAgent.com. 

Find yourself a Realtor with Honesty and Integrity and you will find a Realtor who has Value!  I guarantee if you hire the right Realtor, you will have a winning strategy and finish like a champion worthy of a trophy.