In 53 days most of us will be gathering with family and friends and counting down to the beginning of a new year, new opportunities, new beginnings. A fresh start. Some might even believe that when we flip that calendar to January 1, 2011 all the challenges of this real esate market will magically fade away.
If only...
Once again I was reminded this morning that sometimes there is only so much we can do for our buyers and sellers, and the rest is up to them.
We can show sellers what comparable homes in their neighborhood are currently listed at and what they've recently sold for. We can show them how area short sales and foreclosures are impacting their market value. We can show them all the data we have available to us that predicts prices will continue to fall some more and that prices will not begin to turn around for some time yet. We can show them all of this, but we can't force them to adjust the price of their home to better position them among the competition.
We can pass along to our buyers the magazine articles and newspaper articles and blogs and charts and graphs from the most reputable sources that tell us interest rates will begin to slowly creep back up. And we can show them how this will affect their monthly payment and the cost of their home over 30 years. But we can't force them to get off the fence and write an offer on the house they love.
Ultimately, it is in our sellers' and buyers' hands. The choices they make are theirs. They decide what the house will be priced at. They decide whether or not they're going to wait until the spring to list. They decide if and when they're going to write an offer.
And what can I as their Realtor® do? Keep plugging along. Keep providing guidance. Keep providing facts. Keep hopeful. Keep positive. Keep the faith.
That's the choice I'm making.
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