Buyers, now hear this!  If you've been contemplating moving up in the housing department, now is the time.  I realize home prices have dropped and the price you receive for selling your home will be less, but so will the price you will pay for upgrading.  For example, you own a home that was worth $300,000, but the value has dropped to $240K.  But you want to move up to a house that was previously worth $600,000 when your home was valued at $300,000, and now that more expensive home is now priced at $480,000 and you're saving the $60K!  In addition, the taxes should reflect the lesser value and you are still in your $600,000 dream home. 

 Talk to your mortgage professional or banker to see what type of loans are available and get pre-qualified.  There is ample inventory to choose from and you definitely sit in the "catbird" seat today. 

We have been tracking weekly sales statistics in our office for over a year now and I believe it is vital for us to have this information to compare seasonal trends, make an informed market analysis and to simply know and not speculate on what is going on in our local market. Our clients are really not as interested in the real estate market in other areas, but want a true picture of what is happening right here, right now.   These numbers are put in an excel sheet format and incorporated into a graph which shows the peaks and valleys in our local market.   Perhaps of late, the numbers are not particularly cheering but they are what they are and help us to provide the most knowledgeable counsel as we possibly can to our sellers and to negotiate more efficiently for buyers.

In this tough market, we have to stretch beyond our comfort zones and seek to learn more, expand ourselves and get to the other side of these economically challenging times. 

Our government rescue of $Billions of bad mortgage debt and the ramifications of how that affects buyers, sellers and the REALTORS® hoping for a renewal remains to be seen.  Hopefully on the short term, new money being injected into the mortgage market, will free up the availability of mortgages and other major purchases.  But, certainly the days of qualifying for a mortgage with little or no money down and marginal credit-worthiness are over, and rightfully so. 

 But integral to recovery in consumer buying is for the public to feel confident and secure in their futures again.  I sincerely hope that the government can give some distressed homeowners relief from the many foreclosures occurring all over the country and that are rippling down and negatively impacting property values for everyone.

Only a short while ago, the descriptive words "curb appeal" only meant an enticing appearance as people drove by the property.  However, in this day your first shot at luring buyers to look at your property is via the internet with great photos of the outside and interior of the home and with the virtual tour.  I am always flabbergasted when REALTORS® use inferior photos and often only one photo of the front view of the home.  When I cruise the websites and come on a property that has none or poor photos, I move on to another with a better representation.  I imagine most buyers do the same.

With so much competition and an abundance of inventory of very fine choices in every price range, we must go that extra mile to present our listings in the best possible light and draw the needed attention to single a property out from others.  We even go a step further and add virtual tours if the owner would like.  In the age of "internet shopping" our goal is to get our listings seen.  Check out our site at http://www.realestatessi.com/

Everyone is feeling the pinch at the gas pump these days and we're all trying to coordinate our trips and excursions with more care.  Our little corner of the world on St. Simons is a place that vacationers have enjoyed renting scooters and electric cars to get around and enjoy the beauty of the locale.  My husband, James, has a business called Beachcomber Buggies that rents out scooters and electric cars predominantly to visitors to the area. With gas prices at such a premium, locals are taking another look at a more economical way to get around.  His sales for both the scooters and the cars that can be plugged in at night to charge have been very successful in the past couple of months.  The only rub seems to be to get the scooters ordered and received in promptly as those vendors are really backlogged with orders. 

 One of my sellers of a lovely King and Prince Villa condo on the ocean has added a 4-seater electric car with his condo sale and that addition has actually spurred a lot of new showings and interest since doing so. 

 Times they are a-changing, and we have to go with it!

I read a recent article in MONEY MAGAZINE that I found very interesting to consider.  I have found that the majority of my past buyers were interested in as much as square footage as they could possibly afford.  The article expressed that with energy costs rising, environmental issues becoming so very significant and the average smaller family, today's consumer will not need or want as much house to maintain.  If the trend switches to "smaller is better", our numerous McMansions may be an even more deteriorating market.  If only we all had a crystal ball or soothsayer to predict trends and market swings!

If you would care to read the article, I have included a link below:

 http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/02/real_estate/gandel_your_next_house.moneymag/index.htm

In the midst of the reports of foreclosures, tragic storms ripping through America and an abundance of other bad news, you may have missed a bit of encouragement!  The Mortgage Bankers Assn. reported that in a national survey last week, new conventional loan applications jumped by 11% and FHA mortgages went up a whopping 17%.   Perhaps some of that activity is due to individuals buying foreclosures and picking up some real bargains.  But I believe some of that activity is due to people sensing that with home prices getting very competitive and with mortgage rates creeping up a bit, it's time to get locked in now before the upswing begins in earnest.

If potential buyers have been sitting on the fence, this may be an opportune time to jump off and get their dreams on paper!

I recently attended a seminar on how to "Sell" homes and not just "Market" homes.  One particularly interesting item I walked away with was to suggest that Sellers offer buying down a Buyers interest rate rather than simply reducing the price.  This is such a win-win for both parties.  The Buyers enjoy their savings up front, usually in the first 4 years, rather than having a small reduction in their monthly payment which would take many years to save the same amount of money.  Sellers are happy as their bottom line isn't really affected and the mortgage lender should be agreeable as well.  If your client's mortgage lender is not up to speed on "getting creative" in providing financing, perhaps they need to look for another lending institution. 

 Another worthwhile consideration for this process is that the property values are not lessened and certainly the neighborhood residents would like that! 

 In this time of frustrated Sellers and motivated REALTORS®, we all need to investigate new and innovative avenues to get properties sold. 

In this period of a somewhat flat real estate market, people are deliberating on what should I do to set myself apart and get new business?  What advertising medium is most effective?  What area should I choose to farm?  Should I blog?  Should I re-vamp my website?  On and on we go incessantly in the quest for staying in the game!  I firmly believe in doing your homework and research, but there does come a time to "JUST DO IT!" 

• Send out postcards and flyers
• Work on your website
• Dive into blogging
• Touch base with former clients and ask for referrals, and finally
• Knock on doors if you must!

 Whatever medium you deem the way to proceed, get out there and act on it!

If any one writer brought attention and interest in St. Simons Island, it was Eugenia Price.  Ms. Price was born in West Virginia, as was I, and after graduating from Northwestern University she began writing and producing for radio and television.  With the publication of her first book, Discoveries in 1952, her career as an author began.  On a promotional book tour, she discovered St. Simons Island and the story of Anson Dodge, the young man who built Christ Church in honor of his late wife in the 1880's.  His story captivated her and she then moved to St. Simons and within the next decade had written three novels which spanned three generations of the Dodge family.  This Trilogy brought readers from all over the world to visit our wonderful area. 

 Ms. Price built her island home, appropriately named "The Dodge" and lived the remainder of her life here.  She died in May, 1996 and was buried at Christ Church.  Kudos to the great Eugenia Price for her body of work and her love of St. Simons Island.

I am interested in how many of you are familiar with the work of Eugenia Price.