Short sales, foreclosures: These are the inevitable allies in this market.  And so it is not a surprise that I am now in transaction with a short sale.  Because of the wait, I can just tell that the buyers are already nearing total impatience and borderline surrender.  We are now counting five weeks from the time of bank submission and we hear nothing other than a call promise from the bank's appraiser.  That was a week ago and I have not heard anything yet.  In the meantime, we received another offer from another agent whose Buyer is ready with an all-cash offer.  Great, I thought!  But will they wait for the bank's decision?  And when the bank finally responds, will this be something agreeable to the Buyers?  What about the back-up offer with all cash?  Ordinarily, it is very exciting to have a ton of showings and a couple of offers on a seemingly well-priced property, but the wait is an unknown factor.  I can hardly wait for the outcome of this transaction.  It will be my first foray into short sales.  

Driving to work yesterday, I couldn't help but notice $4.87 on one of those gasoline price boards.  Why am I surprised?  Just the other day, when I filled my gas tank. the total amount came to a whopping $120.00.  My head wouldn't stop spinning: If I drive around showing properties 5 days in a week, I could potentially be spending more or less $24.00 every time I park and go open doors. 

How many times have we spent a half-day, five to six properties, a dent in our gas meter only to find out that the buyer is actually a hopeful, but out-of-this-world bargain hunter? They give you parameters, their price point, then their shaking heads to every one of those houses that actually fit their price point and parameters.  I assume that this is typical buyer behavior during this market.  Right, everyone wants a deal.  Who doesn't?  But as a real estate agent, I also need to know when it is smart to drive deal hunters around town and the next town over and how long it is decently tolerable to go on looking for the best deals. 

When all I could do is patiently drive around, inside I am hoping that the perfect house strikes my buyer as also the best deal in town!

I was contemplating on the changes I would like to implement in my business this year, when it dawned on me then that if almost 80% of the Buyers surf through the internet first, before actually picking up the phone to dial an agent, then it makes sense to be on the up and up with technology.  

Easier said than done!  I tried hitting the 'Refresh' button on my site; hoping that the site would just magically refresh itself and show up with a different look and content.  Who am I kidding?  It takes work in order for one to be updated.  In other words, just like technology threatens to just assume the responsibility of serving our clients, technology, in reality, also works vis-a-vis human guidance and human guidance is pretty much a basic requirement in conducting buying and selling real estate.  For without us, humans, the mouse won't move; hence, the site won't be updated; real estate won't be bought and sold. So here it goes: I attempted at revamping my website; I gave birth to two other domain names which I should be nursing for another month or so before they could actually walk; I also reignited my attempts at blogging.  Committing to be tech-wise seems overwhelming, but really necessary nowadays.

Active Rain came to mind because I've bumped into it a year or so ago during one of the Realtor.com conferences, I believe.  Why have I not jumped on the wagon soon enough?  I tell myself now, "It's never too late."  Thing is, I'm on it now and I'm moving forward to better serve.