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Holiday Lull

By
Real Estate Agent with Coldwell Banker Schmidt Realtors

In a market that has snow as a seasonal feature, you can almost predict when the Holiday Lull is about to happen. You turn on the news and the weatherman says Winter Storm Warning or Lake Effect Snow expected... moments later the fluffy, white stuff is cascading down to the ground, snow plows are slamming your signs with mounds of snow, and then the unthinkable happens: the phone stops ringing!

This year has been fairly similar. We made it strong through Firearm Deer Hunting Season (yes, this event slows us down and even makes agents non-existent for 2 weeks), Thanksgiving, and Black Friday. We now have over a foot of snow on the ground with no end in sight and yes, the calls have slowed down. The redeeming quality is that the number of agents in the office also is way down. I find that when I can bring myself into the office during the Holidays, I may not get the normal volume of calls, but the ones that I get seem to be serious buyers. I mean, what "tire kicker" is going to trudge through 16" of cold, wet snow to see a smelly, moldy bank-owned home if they're not actually interested in buying something soon?!

I write this a day after traveling through a blizzard some 30 miles each way to show a $12,900 single-wide at the end of a private, unplowed road. On the way out, my truck got stuck and the subject property was a disaster. The silver lining here is that the new buyer I picked up is ready to buy a nice home for his daughter and has a very large family in the area that will likely lead to some referral activity in the future. Was it worth it? ...yep.

The Holiday Lull is something we have invented as agents. It gives us an excuse to sit home, rather than going into the office (I say this as I am looking out the window at beautiful snow coming down in my back yard and I am waiting for new Nordic skis to arrive so I can put some more miles in today). The important point here is that the business is still there for those who want it. Set the alarm, get out of bed, maybe think about shaving, and get yourself into your office and on a phone... you will be surprized how many good contacts you can make. Who knows you may even be lucky enough to get a call about a $12,900 single-wide that you get the opportunity to show. I wish you luck! (today I will likely be playing in the snow, so you can have my share of the calls also)

Steven Terry- Mark Hagan and Associates

 

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Diane Williams
Pell City, AL

Great advice Mark, I am going to write an offer tonight.  They are coming to our Christmas Open House and after the Open House is over we are going into my office and writing a offer on a house. There are buyers out there if we continue to work.

Dec 15, 2009 01:35 AM
Anonymous
Anonymous

Steve Terry.. glad to see you are able to step up out of Mark's shadow and do something on your own. Everyone on here refers to you as Mark.

Jan 27, 2010 07:13 AM
#2