Topeka Ks - Becky Burghart's Real Estate "Ah Ha moment"

After listening to a video produced by my friend Jay Kinder at Kinder Reese.com he said something that made perfect sense and I agree, "I have done my LAST CMA" and I had an "AH HA" MOMENT.

I BELIEVE AS AGENTS WE HAVE TO CHANGE OUR WAY OF THINKING..IF WE ARE GOING TO TURN THINGS AROUND STOP LOOKING IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR (as Jay said on the video) AND START LOOKING FORWARD!!!

Think about it. How many times have you been preparing your Comparative Market Analysis lately and thought, 'Man, this is terrible, No seller is going to go with this price especially not in today's market but the numbers are terrible?"  I feel we are obiligated to obtain for our seller clients 3 simple things.  My business boils down to these three things: 1.) Get them the highest price possible 2.) Shortest Period of Time and 3.) With the Least Amount of Hassles.  MY CLIENTS LOVE WHEN I DELIVER!!!

Back to CMA's:  It is happening more and more because CMA's are "historical" data. 6mos ago we were at the end of the selling period (for my area-winter has been wet, extremely cold and excessive amounts of snow.) And I typically would have pulled sales data at the worse time of year for my CMA. 

I ask you to ask yourself...Has the market in your area changed?  Why are we looking back?  I know in my market for the last year it was worse 6 months ago than it is NOW...

I am going to start looking at the Current data, TODAYS market and trends, absorbtion rates, days on market for the price range that I am preparing to list.  I want to SET MYSELF APART from other agents and have it be the BEST POSSIBLE WHY TO PRICE A HOUSE.  Looking forward is certainly brighter and more accurate than looking back at the historical data.

DOES THIS MAKE SENSE TO ANYONE ELSE?  I am in an improving market. List to Sales in 97% and our average home sales in 2008 have increase 5%. 

I think we all need to start looking thru the windshield and do our homework better than what the historical data has to offer.

LET'S TALK ABOUT THIS PEOPLE..WHAT DO YOU THINK??