these are tough times for everyone, but the question i have is Provo Real Estate holding up better than other areas?

due to the proximity to the universities, provo real estate provides housing to a lot of students

it seems to me that provo real estate has benefited from this symbiotic relationship with the students, provo real estate seems not to have dropped in value as much as other areas i have seen

in addition, provo real estate seems to be having less short sales and foreclosures and clients of mine looking the prove real estate market are finding that provo real estate owners are less inclined to give away their properties than we are seeing elsewhere

the strong rental market also assists in provo real estate to hang in there - even investors look positively at provo real estate, it seems that provo real estate cannot go wrong?  or am i speaking out of turn?

i never thought that i would see the day when i was paying less that $2.00 per gallon of gas again!

last evening u pulled up with the advertised price being $2.09, inserted my card and saw the price coming up aas $1.89!!!

wow what a pleasure - i am enjoying my V8 again!!

must be the democratis working already!!??

i am delighted to report that the beginning of this year has been a huge imprevement over what was happening here last year!!

we have real live buyers again - its awesome - i dont believe that this will have a positive effect  on prices for a while though, seeing as we have that much inventory and negativity to overcome - but it certainly has me feeling a lot better than at the end fo last year

the reason for this post is to give a little bit of hope to all of you who are feeling like there is no hope - that is the way i was feeling at the end of last year

if you carry on doing the intelligent things, it will come back to you, there are fewer agents now and people have less to choose from - you be the professional who weathered the storm and you will survive!!

good luck everyone and a very happy new year to you all

i recently posted the following blog;

DOES A HIGHER BAC WORK?

i havenoticed since the market has got tougher that more and more sellers are offering a higher BAC. 

to be truthful, i have recently done thje same

what i would like to know is how other realtors feel about that

does it motivate you to find a buyer for that property?

does it motivate you to take clients to see it?

does it get you thinking about your clients to find a buyer?

does it do nothing except signal a desparate seller?

please let me know, i often think we get caught up in our own little worlds, not really undertanding what we are involved with

have a great weekend

since then i have tried offering up to a 5% BAC on some of the properties i am selling and nothing changed - zero, nada, zip!!

so, as they say in the classics - the proof, is in the pudding!!

HERE IN UTAH IT HAS BEEN A TOUGH FEW MONTHS - FEW BUYERS, LOTS OF SELLERS, PRICES DROPPING, NO CALLS, ETC ETC - BUT OVER THE LAST FEW DAYS, I HAVE SEEN SOME SIGNS OF RECOVERY!!

SOME MORE CALLS, SOME NOT SO SERIOUS SELLERS REMIVING THEIR HOMES FROM THE MARKET, MORE FLYERS MOVING, MORE APPROVALS FROM THE UNDERWRITERS, MORE SHOWINGS - GENERALLY SIGNS OF THE MARKET RECOVERING.

THIS BRINGS SOME RELIEF AND HOPE THAT THIS TOO SHALL PASS

THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I HAVE SEEN A "DOWNTURN" AND FOUND IT REALLY TOUGH TO "SEE" THE WAY OUT, BUT I AM GLAD I HUNG IN AND ALTHOUGH THE TOUGH TIMES ARE NOT OVER, I AM SEEING HOPE IN THE FUTURE OF REAL ESTATE FOR ME AND FOR MY CLIENTS

THIS IS AN AWESOME MEDIUM FOR AIRING YOUR VIEWS - LETS HER ABOUT THOSE POSITIVE EXPERIENCES!!

a client of mine recently declined my offer for a homes inspection.

they only look at the outside of things and their reports are pretty superficial and decline any liability whatsoever - he told me

i am not sure that i totally agree with that - but i do feel home inspectors have fallen into the "they have to use us" category recently

what re your thoughts

what experiences have you had?

what are the options you have thought of? 

i wanted to share the news that we are starting to see some positive signs in the market here already.  There are more flyers leaving our boxes, we are getting showings and properties under contract.  There seem to be more buyers around again, loans seem to be getting approved, as expected, and even the appraisals are looking more normal.

So heres hoping that the panic is subsiding and that people are realizing that real estate is still a great investment and that it is a GREAT TIME TO BUY.

have a great halloween everyone and lets share our positive vibes!! 

JUST LISTED!!!  An amazing horse property in Lehi with plenty of room to grow, play, keep your horse, RV, toys etc etc or develop!

This 4117 Sqft, 6 Bedroom 4 Bath house sits on nearly 3 Acres of Prime Real Estate. 

This is one that defintely deserves a look. 

We will post photos shortly but till then if you have any questions please call Tony du Preez at (801) 360-6424.

we recently received an email from the local association of realtors pointing out an irresponsible, ill researched article in a local newspaper.

on reading this email from the association, i realized the extent to which i, an active broker, had bought into their generalized negative hype and how it had negatively effected my attitudes and also my approach to some of my deals

so here's a word of encouragement to all of us - make sure you have the facts before youo subscribe to the recession, there are people out there that making our lives so much more difficult than it needs to be

we owe it to ourselves and to our clients

has anyone else had experiences relating to the media they would like to share?

all realtors are required to belong to a local association and the national association as well.  we just received the bill for our 2008 dues and the first question that arose in my mind was what value am i going to receive for these fees?

i understand that the associations represent the interests of agents as a group, they position politically and hopefullly protect us from being replaced by Walmart or the banks - but what other value do they deliver? 

so, being a converted blogger, i decided that i would ask my collegues from all ober the country what their local association does for them so i could get some ideas as to what to suggest to our local chapter.

also what does the National Assocation do for us?  what should they be doing?  does anybody have any ideas?

have a great week