What is going on in the real estate industry?
In 1964, a youngster named Bob Dylan (fka Robert Zimmerman) from Hibbing, Minnesota wrote a song "The Times They Are A Changin' "
That would be over 50 years ago. Fifty. Five-O. Half a century.
Rings true today, more than ever. And the pace of change is getting faster by the minute.
And in real estate, it is "change or die," figuratively of course.
- Distressed sales are down, equity sales are up.
- Buyers used to hammer down prices, now they're chasing multiple offer bids.
- Houses used to linger on the market for months. Now they're gone in hours.
- FHA is tightening some guidelines, loosening others. FHA is making homeownership more accessible but is also filling up the pipeline of future short sales and foreclosures.
- Marketing has changed dramatically, and shifts every day.
- End-consumers are more informed and have access to knowledge - and that is a very good thing!
- End-consumers are also MISINFORMED by companies that peddle fake estimates - and that is bad for both sellers and buyers.
- Companies want to disrupt the Realtor model, leaving buyers and sellers without professional representation. That will be a bonanza for real estate litigation attorneys who will be needed to come in and fix massive numbers of real transactions gone awry.
- Baby boomers are retiring and shifting market trends like they've been doing since they were born.
- Millenials are reaching home purchase age, some are buying, some are not. But, they too are changing segments of the market.
Whether you are a buyer, a seller, or a Realtor, will you recognize changes in the market, will you change accordingly?
Here's what Bob Dylan told us fifty years ago:
Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.
The Times They Are A Changing - Bob Dylan 1964
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