Today, President-Elect Obama stated that “budget reform is not optional”  He further stated that it is necessary to go “page by page, line by line" through the federal budget to get our economy moving.  I suggest we need to go through our Real Estate inventory, listing by listing, freshen them up, give them new life, make them competitive in our market, or eliminate them.  Staying competitive is not optional. 

As I preview homes around the Portland metro area with buyer eyes, I discover the good, the bad, the ugly, and shining examples of reform.  Sign posts that are about ready to fall down, empty flyer boxes (as I previewed homes today I counted 23 empty boxes within a two mile upscale area). entrances that have me immediately saying to myself – “no wonder this one has been on the market for so long” are dragging our real estate economy down." 

Sellers and Realtors together can make the decisions to not just adjust prices, but to do the little things that would help a prospect take a deeper look.  As Realtors, we are doing quite well in making our listings look great on the Internet and the local MLS.  How often do we experience another reality when we either preview or take our prospects out looking?   In a great book I am reading, “One Small Step Can Change Your Life - The Kaizen Way" by Robert Maurer” he talks about how it is the small steps, the short simple questions we need to take and ask.  Perhaps we have focused on the bigger questions such as price with our sellers, while missing the smaller questions.  “Mr. & Mrs. Seller,  you are, or will be a buyer, so as a buyer,  as you walk up and then enter this home, what makes you anxious to explore more of this home?”  “What one of two things would you change right now and not wait until tomorrow or spring?”

Today, after previewing 4 homes, I wondered if we could not start with the sign our front and the empty flyer boxes.  As a prospective buyer who has probably looked at a lot of homes both on the Internet and in your area of interest, where would you start?  What conversation would you have with Realtors & Sellers? 

What little steps would you (sellers, buyers & Realtors) take to bring out real estate reform in your local real estate neighborhood?

By the way .. I'm on my way out the door to go check on my listings.