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When You're in the Top 5, Don't You Think You Ought to Celebrate?

When the news broke that Grand Rapids was the 5th most affordable city in the United States, you would have thought there would be cheering and dancing in the streets. After all, isn't affordability a great thing in the era of recession fears and increasingly dire economic news?

Well, if there was such thing as negative miracles, somehow this normally great news is being apprehended by the boogie man...fear of the unknown. News reports indicate that potential buyers fearful of further declines in the market are determining they won't buy now even though prices haven't been this low for more than 20 years! Wow!

Golden Nest Egg

Well, I'm glad that I'm living in a parallel universe. These past two weeks have been some of busiest we've had at Audu Real Estate. We're taking buyers out and some of the deals that we're seeing are so good that we're being told that we're offer #2 or #3. Today, I fielded several requests for home showings on homes we have listed!

When opportunity knocks, we have determined that we don't want to be sleeping. We've found that it's better to open the door because often opportunity doesn't stick around, it keeps on trudging towards the next likely candidate. What FDR said remains true... 'the only thing to fear is fear itself.'

So, if you're a homeowner who would like to sell your home or a home buyer who wants to check out what the incredible options are right now....give us a call or e-mail us at info@auduhomes.com. We're eager to be of service.

Click here to pre-view homes

Lola Audu, CRS, GRI e-Pro ~ Audu Real Estate

Lola Audu, is the Designated Broker & Owner of Audu Real Estate. Our company specializes in helping people buy and sell homes in the greater Grand Rapids, West Michigan area. We've had the privilege of helping hundreds of clients succeed in their goals of purchasing and selling property including demonstrated success in the negotiation of Short Sale Transactions. You can contact us via e-mail @ info@auduhomes.com or by phone at 616-791-0511.

Posted by Lola Audu~Real Estate Broker/Owner Grand Rapids, Michigan Real Estate on 02/24/2009 04:23 PM

Comments (29)

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29 Comments on When You're in the Top 5, Don't You Think You Ought to Celebrate?

FEB

Congratulations on your #5 award and the increase in activity. Despite all odds, we are seeing a sudden increase in buyer activity as well. It defies all the pundits but it's great!

I'm of the opinion that we are in our normal "early in the year" buying season. Ours usually begins about first week in Feb.

What I do know is that buyers making the decision to take advantage of this market are getting some very good homes at very good prices.

Diane, it's amazing, it's wonderful. More so given the fact that we're still in the icy grip of winter. Spring has not yet arrived in Grand Rapids, MI...but the spring market looks like it's poking its head in early. This week, we've been aware of 9 offers on 3 homes...

Yep, Lenn...prices have dropped to such a degree that there are some absolute incredible deals. Grand Rapids is a nice city to live in, it has many advantages of the larger metropolis without a lot of the downsides. Trends are never easy to spot and when they're clouded by negative chatter, it's even more daunting.

Lola - what's good news for buyers is not so good for sellers, although it can mean more activity and getting your home sold since buyers recognize the value. The downsise is folks keep thinking things wuill go lower.

Good luck to you in your Grand Rapids real estate business. Congrats on all the new activity with buyers and on your listings.

Jeff

It's an interesting trend to monitor Jeff. On the one hand there are some excellent deals for sellers because there is so much foreclosure/shortsale activity in the market. On the other hand, if a home is priced right, the price is being driven up. Today, we had one deal where we had to bid above list price and still didn't get it. We live in interesting times indeed...

Lola I have come to the conclusion that if the News Media has the choice of reporting something positively or negatively, they will choose the negative far more often.

Congrats on your ranking, time to get the buyer off the sidelines.

Ah yes, George. The spin on this one is definitely in full tilt. We must steal grief from good news any way we can. :)

Lola-. Such a nice position to be in. Affordability is one of the key ingredients in any real estate market. Glad things are picking up there and best wishes for it continuing for the year. BTW- has anyone told you that you have a strong resemblance to Michelle Obama? Quite striking actually :)

Martha, Affordability is a huge issue...it's strange to think of it in terms of a liability especially when just a mere 3 years ago, there was a huge concern about the bursting or the real estate bubble.

Kacem...thank for your comment.

Would be nice if the media helped drive your market on the heels of that great news.

Good luck!

We're seeing more activity, too. I wish I had buckets of money to invest in some of the wonderful bargains that are out there. Lots of activity and offers on the aggressively priced properties - no activity on the others.

JoAnna, I've become somewhat resigned to the fact that it may take 6-8 months before some of this is reported. That's about the same amount of time it took for serious reporting to take place on the crisis after many agents on the ground were well aware of the issues because they were daily realities for us. On the other hand, this may be Good Luck for some intuitive individuals. We'll see. :)

Sharon, this is where being on Active Rain is so helpful. One can quickly compare note with brokers across the nation. Homes which are priced competitively are being sold. I know. We missed out on a great deal today.

Lola,

We owe it to those who are hurting in this economy to strive to get houses sold to those fortunate enough to not be affected by the recession...!!! Thanks, Fran

I t does seem to be busier now than I can remember. I will just be glad to have the snow gone and see some sun shine.

Lola, congratulations to your city's affordability ranking...5th is GREAT! Our office too has seen an influx of buyers in the past week, just hope it continues.

FEB

Lola, That is a nice picture. Congratulations on your success. This is the second post I am reading this morning about multiple offers.

Absolutely Fran. Helping our clients understand how to position their homes in the current market and assisting them in the creation of an appropriate pricing strategy is a huge component of the value to the services of a qualified professional agent.

Terry, that is great to hear from a fellow agent in our local market.

Teresa, it is interesting to hear that you are experiencing an increase in activity. While there is an expectation that there will be increase as we approach the spring market, the level is higher than I have noted in the recent past.

Gita, thanks for your comment.

Congratulations - 5th's not bad considering what you've come in 5th place for! Funny how negativity in the market overall has affected consumers to the point where they are still afraid of making any major purchases in spite of hearing that things are obviously different in specific areas.

Kathy

Lola,

Excellent. I hope your market keeps busy and you continue to reap your efforts.

Hi Lola,my friend. I'm so glad that GR ranked so highly. Your fellow Michigan city, Ann Arbor was named the TOP city in which to retire. Let's make a champagne toast! Remember that the media just wants to market a scary headline. That's their business model. It's up to us to pound out the drumbeat of great deals! BTW-Agents are still talking about the great blogging con ed that you did for us in Ann Arbor last week!

Kathy, this has been in interesting to observe the spin on this story and how it has impacted public perception. It's a reminder about the responsibility we all have to filter what we allow into our minds. Under normal circumstances, buying high ticket items at the lowest prices in decades is a source of optimism. The good news is that our experience indicates that not everyone is listening to the pundits...some people are making up their own minds.

Marian, Thank you. Like most of the country, we have taken a hit. But, we have much to be thankful for. For one, our economy is more diversified than many parts of the state and we generally have many of the benefits of a larger metropolis without much of the downside. So between Ann Arbor being named a TOP city in which to retire and Grand Rapids, MI a TOP city in which to live...who could ask for anything more? I'd say move to Michigan...wouldn't you? :)

Rebecca...thanks for your comment and good thoughts...

FEB

Lola Activerain is such a god sent at times

All my best

Tom Braatz

Lola,

This is what I like about ActiveRain hearing it from agents all over who are out there "working" to make it happen. Homes priced and staged well are selling and many with multiple offesr. Thanks for your great post and congratulations on #5 spot!

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