A Plea From Your Local Realtor - STOP Reading the Newspaper

I opened the Washington Post this morning to an article about how magnet manufacturers are losing profits because Realtors can't afford to pay for magnets to send to their clients. The article goes on to discuss how many Realtor are leaving the National Association of Realtors this year. I would normally link to the full article, but I DO NOT WANT YOU TO READ IT. Let me explain...

- Many (not all) of those Realtors that are leaving the National Association of Realtors were people who jumped in while the market was hot. All they had to do was stick a "For Sale" sign in the ground and their job was done. In this market, it's not that easy.

- For those of you who don't know - most of us are 100% commission based. It's quite unnerving if you're not correctly prepared. So for some, the threat of no paycheck for the next 6 months, was enough for them to go back into a salaried job. I don't blame them!

- The paper doesn't print good news. There's a country song by Terri Clark called "Slow News Day"...my favorite line is: "Lately I pray for a slow news day, cause everything goods not bad enough for the front page." If you really want to know what's going on in YOUR specific area, call a Local Realtor in that area. The paper here in DC, can't tell you what's really going on in a specific suburb of Arizona, or Florida, or Oklahoma, etc. Just like they don't see properties here in Arlington or Falls Church that are drawing 2,3, or even 6 contracts at a time. I had buyers put an offer on a house that was $20k above asking, they were 1 of 7 offers, and they still didn't get it. The journalist doesn't see that. He's not a Realtor - he's a journalist.

Here's the bright side...

There are many Realtor that are new to the industry, myself included. And guess what? We're still surviving. Still doing this full-time. And I don't see any chance of leaving this industry anytime soon (unless I win the lottery and can buy a small island in the Caribbean).

If you really want to know what's going on in your local market - call your Local Realtor.