Between facebook, activerain, etc. I am losing track of what I said where and if anything had any content at all.  I have not developed an appreciation of what it can do for my business.  I started a realtor group and no one takes part in the conversation -- can it be that the older generation does not really follow conversations on facebook like the younger generation that is on it every minute from their cell phones?

Second Floor 2 Bedroom condo, 1050 sq ft, 2 full baths, family room, kitchen w/counter, and sunroom. A $4,000 golf membership conveys w/property. Community is for active people--amenities include: Indoor and outdoor pools, children play areas, tennis, badminton, and basketball courts, large workout facility, exercise trails, and golf. Boat slips can be leased. Unit has fantastic water and mountain views. Wide water & Mountain Views.

• Home is in ideal location, close to Hales Ford Bridge (by boat & car), the center of recreation, shopping & restaurants.
• Deep water cove provides safe shelter for swimmers.
• Recently renovated-granite counter tops, wood floors, new roof, gas fireplace. Have to get into property to appreciate features. Nice gentle sloping lot. Home has 3 bedroom septic and is decorated as a 4 bedroom.
• Covered Dock
• 
• 

Last year, while visitng Florida, I met an investor that invited me to his investment group -- the group turned out to be focused on trading properties.  I found the meeting to be exciting and very informative, but never thought I would have the opportunity to use what I learned.  Recently I obtained a lead from an ad that I placed in the Wall Street Journal and after showing him several properties, he asked if any of the sellers would be interested in trading a lake property for a condo in Nags Head.  I do not have anyone that is interested, but if anyone does, "please come on down "and perhaps we can "make a deal." 

We have worked so hard gardening --as I like to call it -- we are cultivating our clients and planting seeds for the future.  The market has been slow, but if you do enough plowing and raking, you can find clients.  We have helped many find bargains that resulted from prices driven down by the large inventory and foreclosures.  Foreclosures take a lot of time to "sow-up" the deal and close--so much of our free time is gone.  This evening, I looked outside at the lake and tried 4 times to get down to our dock to enjoy the pleasant calm movement of the water.  No deal - the phone kept ringing--thank God! At 10:30 p.m. I decided that nothing was going to stop me --left the phone on the charger, put on my clunky comfortable shoes and hiked down to the dock. As I sat on my favorite chair and looked up at the sky, there were beautiful stars smiling at me--I totally relaxed and thought isn't it great when the simple little things of life make you happy!

Received a contract offer by a fellow realtor yesterday -- along with the offer he said the buyer has their house under contract and want to close quickly on my client's home-they have financing already locked in at a good rate for 30 days.  I presented the offer to my clients -- the countering dance started -- when everyone agreed and we had a solid contract the buyer's agent tells me his clients does not have their home under contract.  Better yet, when I asked for the lender's approval letter I found out the buyers have not yet applied for a loan.  Luckily, I have worked with the sellers for a long time and they have confidence in my professional abilities. But, if they had not -- can you imagine the potental impact on my reputation? We all want a deal to go through -- but we should stick to the facts, and not feed each other stories.

If anyone has a agent feedback templet, I would appreciate a copy. Thanks.

Roanoke Valley - Virginia -Property Stats May May April 2006 2007 2008 Months of Inventory 6.84 11.5 18.05 New Listings 1.38K 1.46K 1.44K Sold Listings 693 547 375 Active Listings 4.74K 6.29K 6.77K The dollar value of active listings from May 2006 to May 2007 grew 32% and went up slightly in 08. The dollar value of new listings stayed relatively constant from 2006 to 2008. Because the number of sold listings went down about 46%, the months of inventory have nearly tripled. So OK the market has turned -- do we moan and groan or change our marketing strategies. This trend can reverse itself by REALTORs staying positive and market buyers on how they can take advantage of the current situation. Let's get going and start having "Meet the Lender", "First Home Buyer", and "Investment Seminars". If you have marketing idea, comment on this blog. Let's help each other!!

We sold several houses for a client--all properties were well built and high end.  The client purchased a lot and it happened to have a doublewide on it and they asked us to sell the property.  When we listed it, the address was different -- they said they moved it to another lot.  We assumed the lender did not know about the move and were very concerned about the financing aspect.  Well, someone was looking over us, an elderly women ran off the road and ran into the middle of the doublewide and to top it off the owner became a REALTOR.  So we were off the hook. Anyone have this type of experience--if so any advice?

 

Jo-Ann

This is an example of the reasonable prices in the Smith Mountain Lake area.  This home is off water and for sale for $238,900.  It is situated on 5+ acres and the taxes are approximately $1,330 a year.  Travel to a launch site is about 10 minutes. The neighbors have similar acreage.  Location is key - about 20 minutes to Lynchburg, 10 minutes to Bedford, 20 minutes to Roanoke, and 10 minutes to Westlake shopping area. You can see more of our lisitings on thevanteam.com