OK, so here I am again at midnight finally doing something I like to do, write, directly related to the thing I love to do, real estate. But I have to say, Michigan is trying my last nerve as a realtor trying to hold on.
I have been in this business for only three years, deciding to enter the professions after doing a self-administered test from a library book entitled, "Do What You Are", "Be What You Do" - I don't remember. What I learned from the book of forgettable name was that real estate would be a very good fit for me, aside from the organization of paperwork. It was a VERY good book, in the end. I decided to enter this profession when good appreciation in real estate was still the norm in Michigan, particularly in the golden Ann Arbor market where I live and would be practicing. After mandatory classes and testing, on the job training with my company, and paying a lot of fees I did not fully anticipate, I was a licensed NAR, MAR, and AABoR realtor. I was confused, I was scared, I knew what I didn't know - nearly everything.... I will never forget the first weekly sales meeting I attended in my office, spring, 2005, when our broker stood before us and said that in her 22 years of real estate this was the worst spring she had ever seen. GREAT! My timing was poor too!
A wise person in my office commented that the difficult deals of that first year, and they were all difficult except the first (I'll detail that later), would make me a stronger agent in the end. And she was right. I don't know it all and I freely admit that when I think the other party is OK with hearing it - some people get nervous. I get the information I don't have and transform it into what I need to know to get the job done. I never pretend I have all the answers. I just get them, provide them, and hope the clients will stick with me through the process. Back to that first deal of the first year. Floor time, Friday evening about 5:00 PM, and a young man called saying he wanted to buy a condo in a particular complex. I questioned him as to whether he meant rent or buy - I could tell he was that young. Buy....definitely. My mentor was at my side and told me everything I did wrong - hung up on him without copying his number from caller ID (so I could take another call), not giving him my direct contact phone number, not scheduling an appointment. Fortunately he called back. Less than three weeks later I closed the deal, only two units available in the complex, no inspection, no mortgage, cash paid in full - $220,000 for 600 square feet on the 13th floor. I haven't done a simpler deal since.
Forward to October 2007 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It's a great time to be a buyer! That really should be my tag line I use it so much. I have written probably three times as many deals as have been accepted. Why, you might ask? Because sellers initially did not believe that their properties could not command what they thought they could in price, let's not even talk about condition, and rejected offers right and left. Buyers, sensing the change and fueled by the exodus of business and individuals from Michigan, wrote bold offers that were occasionally accepted but most often rejected. Present all offers; mantra-like, I obeyed. The lowest offer I ever presented and that was accepted? About $45,000 for a foreclosure home on a decent street in a decent school district in a decent part of town. It should bring $120,000 at sale. Tight reins on the budget but enough frillls that buyers will be attracted - the October listing should tell all. A nice profit for the sellers should result.
That was then, now is now. Short sales are the name of the game. Foreclosure would be one step worse but for those individuals who can demonstrate a definite hardship, negotiating a short sale is the way to go. This is not the real estate profession I signed up for. I never saw myself as the savior who could sell a house without netting the sellers a dime, deteriorating their credit in the process, and leaving them with dubious prospects for buying another property before the credit issues cleared in a few years with credit score points shy of ideal. For some, it is the only option. Michigan is a sinkhole at the moment. I am helping at least three families address this issue right now and if I choose to approach the FSBOs and ask if their issue is upside down mortgages, well, I wouldn't sleep at all for the work to be done. There is difference of opinion as to whether we are at the bottom yet; some say yes, some say another six months or so. I only know that my husband is not anticipating the joyful holiday season when his auto industry company lays off the year's employees. He does not feel safe. I can't decide if a layoff and forced move would be a blessing or a curse. My home won't bring enough to cover our mortgage, I fear, despite ample equity in days of yore, and I'll find myself negotiating my own short sale then. But I won't be very nice and I won't take no for an answer. I have most of the answers now. These years have made me a strong agent, just as predicted.
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