Posted on February 14, 2011 by Barry Owen
How's that for an eclectic title?
Ah well . . . It IS Valentines Day, my favorite time of the year because Deb I married the day before Valentines Day (12 years ago) so we get to celebrate writ LARGE. Generally, this means for us an escape from it all for a night, and Deb surprised me with a night at our favorite place to go to unwind - The Inn At Evins Mill where we enjoyed perfect weather, perfect food, and each other's company without any phones or computers or noise 
I hope you have a wonderful Valentines Day and remember that it's all about loving the important people in your world. How many people can you get to smile today? Just walk around telling everyone you see that you love them. Sure! You'll get some strange looks . . . Do it anyway.
That "state of the market" comes because we generally start getting a feel for what the Spring real estate market is going do @ 6 weeks into the new year . . . and it seems that everywhere I go, folks are asking . . .
So . . . there are lots of moving parts for all of us. I'm going to splash a little bit about my perspective on a variety of things without going into laborious detail with the hope that you will contact me if you would like to know more about any of these issues.
The media is giving us all a LOT to think about this year. As usual, I believe their message is stronger than it needs to be. The sky is not falling.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are in the news a lot, and many of the "expert" media sources are interpreting these looming changes as likely creating inflation, higher interest rates, and far less friendly lending environments effectively making it very difficult to secure financing on Real Estate.
While it is true that financing has gotten more cumbersome, that has more to do with lenders and underwriters "erring on the side of caution" than overall market instability. We know that this can be significantly allayed by thorough and ACCURATE documentation at the beginning of the lending process. This means that Buyers must not only provide everything the lender asks for, but also must be very compliant about not doing anything financial between the day they make loan application and the day of closing. even the slightest anomaly can create a series of events that lead to unnecessary delays and frustration.
It seems we are starting 2011 with good momentum. Available inventory of homes for sale is lower than last year and average prices are, in fact, rising.
In the past few weeks, we are starting to see many more Buyers moving about the market - showing up at Open Houses - a marked increase in REALTOR showings on our listings - and a buoyant increase in REALTORS reporting of transactions being consummated.
All of the above will translate into a nice increase in closed sales reported in 45-90 days.
Another significant factor is a relatively strong infusion of NEW inventory (new listings) coming into view. Some of these are houses that were on the market before the holidays and pulled off to get a "fresh start" after the new year . . . and a surprising number of these are NEW listings (have not been on the market previously). This is exciting because it energizes the market to have new buyers and sellers roaming about.
Final thought (for today) . . . There's been a fairly significant increase in cash purchase transaction in the past couple of months. This tends to be an indicator that "cash Flush" Buyers are deciding that NOW is good time to "INVEST" their cash in real property . . . some folks might even extrapolate this to mean that the market may have already found the bottom . . . the cash buyers are general the "opportunistic" people who jump at the bottom (buy LOW) so they can cash out later (sell high).
I'm so excited I can't see straight. We have weathered quite a storm. I am in no way prophesying a miraculous and immediate recovery . . . what I am doing is saying that 2011 is shaping up nicely to get us a "foothold" on the territory.
This will be the year we lay the foundation for National economic recovery.
Will you help us lay this foundation?
My commitment is to help as many home Buyers and Sellers as possible in the coming years. Every day, I work on building our team of highly specialized, performance oriented real estate professionals and am certain that Pareto Realty is poised to be a leader in helping our local market rise to the top.
just sayin'
Love,
b
(well, it IS Valentines Day )
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About Barry Owen
Residential Real Estate Principal Broker and Founder of Pareto Realty, LLC. Creating the quintessential real estate firm with emphasis on "Live, Work, & Play" balance . . . and a true Performance Oriented environment for Real Estate Professionals. Serving the Real estate needs of Home Buyers and Sellers in Middle Tennessee. View all posts by Barry Owen →
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