I'm sitting in my company's office just a few minutes before 5:00 , the receptionist will be leaving in a few minutes and then it will be just me .  I was just thinking back to the times when there would be 5 to 10 agents here until way after 8:00 . I took a look earlier at the REO inventory in the Cape May County real estate market and I saw over 120 with another 900 well on the way .  It is tough to think about some of those folks in that situation at a time of year like this. Not everyone took on irresponsible debt, some were just victims of it.

Now that the praverbial ?%$*&+~!  has hit the fan here we are with bargains we are literally falling over. As Wareen Buffet says " be fearful when others are greedy and be greedy when others are fearful" . I can't think of a time when I have seen more fear in the market as now . What i find funny is how many times I have heard from buyers, " if you find a great deal call me".  Well I make that phone call daily, and I have to say it does work often enough to keep heading forward in this business.

My new buyer qualification question is quite simple these days.  I ask " If I called you up and said there was the best deal I have yet to see and it was in your price range , would you be willing to drive down that day or put an offer on it sight unseen?  It sounds a little like B.S but the great buys I see don't last long and as a matter of fact I have seen several multiple offers on some properties.

I have started to concentrate on my quality clients as Brian Buffini suggests, ones that you know will not only be loyal but also serious about taking action. One thing is for sure is that this downturn will not last forever and once someone says we are heading out of it , it's too late. 

One final note to consider is that historically more millionaires are made in down markets than up by a ration of 8 to 1 .  Looking at things that way these are times to really pay attention to for there may not be such great opportunity again.