The Whole World is Waiting for Ourselves

In Annapolis, as Elsewhere, the Real Estate Market Has Scared Some of Us Into a Holding Pattern. Maybe It's Time to Land the Plane

Is it just me, or does it seem like the entire world is on hold lately, waiting. Yesterday I showed a home to a young woman who needs to move soon. Nice house, meets her needs, beautiful neighborhood. Would she be interested in making an offer?

No thanks, I think I'll wait.

Wait for...?

Prices to drop some more.

How can you be sure they will?

Someone on TV said so.

Perhaps you should consider offering less than asking price. Just think of it as accelerated  waiting.

No thanks. I'll just wait wait.

And so it goes. Buyers are waiting for sellers to lower their prices. Sellers are waiting for buyers to make offers. And agents are waiting for their phones to ring.

Even My Barber is Waiting

Apparently he's in line somewhere behind the housing waiters. I ask him about business. Not good, he tells me. People are waiting much longer between haircuts.

Really?

Yes, he tells me, especially families. Mom is buying electric clippers and doing it herself. Who'd have imagined that one sign of weak consumer confidence was a nation of kids running around with bad haircuts? 

My brother - who manufactures model trains - reports that waiting is alive and well in his industry, too. Track is selling. But people are waiting to buy the expensive stuff like locomotives. 

Waiting for what?

Waiting for their disposable income to re-materialize. Right now they're disposing it on things that aren't so disposable, like gas.

I did meet one couple this week who weren't waiting, pulling their new RV into the Shell Station on Riva Road. He hooked his RV up to the pump and the gallons started ticking off. As the counter soared passed the hundred dollar mark without so much as a hiccup, he told me that he and the wife were on their inaugural run down to Virginia Beach. Sold the boat, which got 1 mile to the gallon. The RV gets eight. "We've actually reduced our carbon imprint!" he said with a smile.

The Up Side of Waiting

I'm not one of those agents who wait very well. My anti-waiting strategy is making other people's phones ring. So I'm calling everyone. I may even call you.

Most agents I know would rather have a root canal than pick up the phone and make calls. Call reluctance is rampant in this business, especially now, because deep down agents think the world blames us for the housing slowdown. Nobody wants to risk an earful.

But I've found that's not the case. Nobody is chewing me out. They're glad I called - almost as if they've been waiting for me. More than anything they're curious. How's the market really doing? Is it as bad as we're hearing? They're tired of waiting, anxious for the truth, and wary of the pundit on TV who doesn't live here or know the facts about our local market.

People pour their hearts out to me. It feels like I'm becoming the Dr. Phil of local real estate. I kind of like this job.

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