Ken Baris, president of Jordan Baris, Inc., Realtors in New Jersey, shares these market insights.
Where is your housing market in terms of “the bottom,” what do you forecast for 2009 and why? How are you preparing for it?
So many people are speculating as to where in terms of price and when the bottom of the market will be. The reality is nobody knows. Frankly, it does not matter as we cannot control it and even with an immense amount of information it is impossible to predict.
I agree with those whose guess is that the bottom is not here yet and when values level, they will not jump back very quickly.
Our approach is to take a thought leadership position. That is to say:
Attention bargain shoppers: real estate is on sale at 25% or more below the peak of the market!
People who buy real estate today will be seen as geniuses in ten years.
Maybe values will still drop. However, rates may also go up negating some of the difference if prices continue to drop.
The bottom line is that history repeats itself. Values will come back. Prices will increase. Within ten years we are confident that values will be significantly higher than they are now. Maybe someone buys today and finds in 12 months the house is worth less. That’s fine as long as they are planning on staying for a number of years.
So…
Who should be buying?
First Time Buyers – They are in a word, if they can qualify CRAZY in most instances not to buy today as prices and values are amazing.
Move Up Buyers – Sell for less and then more than make up the difference by buying a more expensive property that has dropped even more than their property.
Who should sit tight?
- Downsizers – If someone is downsizing but can wait five years, they would want to sit tight until the market comes back.
How do you expect to use online social networking as a primary tool of generating new and repeat business? How will real estate advertising dollars be spent in the future? How will real estate marketing be different? We are going to spend more advertising dollars on the web and with direct mail. Some of the best web tools are free. Facebook brings in business for almost everyone on our team who uses it. Twitter is another winner that everyone seems to be talking about. Create a twitter site for your company. Get meaningful information out there.
We last week launched a tool called yammer. Yammer is similar to twitter in that is gets short 140 character messages out via text, email and web interface as well and a desktop application. The difference is that anyone can find and see you on twitter and that is the value. Yammer is limited to who can view it. This will allow our agents to have an open conversation for anyone in our company to know about such as price adjustments, congratulations, milestones, new financing, birthday wishes, whatever. Our belief is that we will have a better informed and more cohesive organization as a result.
As for direct mail – we see a void there as so many brokers have reduced or entirely eliminated direct mail. Our pieces are upbeat, visually appealing and show action. This leads to a powerful edge.
What gaps do you see between your current sales agents’ technology capabilities and the typical customers you will be working with this year?
The best cost saving measures are those that your associates do not feel. Contact all of your vendors with recurring charges such as long distance, maintenance, homes magazines, etc. and ask for some help. This is a great start and it does not affect the team. If you are going to cut personnel, make sure it is backed up with enough training for others to take over the responsibilities. Finally, find some ways to add value while reducing costs. Have open communication as to your strategy to thrive not just survive the current market.
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