After all, despite the national housing market statistics, people are still buying and selling homes. And they still need real estate agents. To build the best relationships, real estate agents are recommended to focus on 3 things in 2008:

1. Nurture their farm though regular communication. The best way to achieve this is by sending out a printed newsletter on a regular basis — at least monthly. Real estate agents benefit from providing useful, valuable information to their clients, former clients and prospects, strengthening their relationship.

2. Provide information that’s of service. If a real estate agent can help make their clients’ lives better though valuable information and advice, a client will place greater trust in their capabilities.

3. Provide local market information. The national news is full of gloomy housing market statistics. But those statistics aren’t necessarily relevant to the local market. If a real estate agent can highlight the good news in their neighborhood, they will help dispel some of the false information that is available in the media. After all, in many parts of the country, there’s no need for homeowners to be afraid of the housing market statistics.

Now is the time for savvy real estate agents to invest in marketing. Realtors with the best relationships will prosper in 2008.

Here is an interesting article written by Kenneth Harney.  I do agree with his assessments of the market below. I would like to hear any comments if you agree as well?
After what can only be described as the toughest year for American housing markets in decades, the big question is: When does this all begin to turn around?

Two of the nation’s most prominent real estate economists weighed in this subject recently and their end of the year forecasts aren’t too far apart from one another.

Dr. David Seiders, chief economist of the National Association of Home Builders, had this to say: Our “housing forecast shows systematic improvements in home sales by the second quarter of 2008, improvement in home starts by the third quarter, maintenance of low levels of manufactured housing shipments throughout 2008, and modest declines in the real value of residential remodeling next year.”

“In this forecast,” Dr. Seiders added, “residential fixed investment continues to contract during the first half of 2008, but posts modest growth in the second half of the year.”

Now here’s the outlook from Dr. Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors: “The broad trend over the coming year will be gradual rise in existing home sales, but because sales are exceptionally low for the final months of 2007, total sales for 2008 will only be modestly higher than for 2007.”

Dr. Yun added that the key positive change underway has been that the “unusual mortgage disruptions that peaked in August were finalized in September and October,” and now the trendline in pending home sales is up.

You might think these two economists take notes from each other, but believe me … they have totally independent economic models, and answer to two very different constituencies — new home builders on the one hand, and they definitely had an extremely difficult year in 2007 — and Realtors on the other, who suffered the greatest pains in the once-booming markets where sales and price appreciation went off the charts in 2003 through 2005.

We’ll check back and monitor the accuracy of both forecasts as the new year develops.

But let’s be frank: After such a run of down and bad numbers through most of 2006 and 2007, will it really be a big surprise if housing demand and sales and new construction finally begin showing signs of recovery — even modest recovery — in the year ahead?

We at Realty Times think it’s a very good bet.

The single most important factor to consider when selling a house is the home price tag: how much your house is worth. You don’t want to overprice the house because you will lose the freshness of the home’s appeal after the first two to three weeks of showings. After 21 days, demand and interest wane. On the other hand, don’t worry about pricing it too low because homes priced below market value often will receive multiple offers, which will then drive up the price to market. Pricing is all about supply and demand. It’s part art and part science, and no two agents price property the same way.

Pull Comparable Listings and Sales

Look at every similar home that was or is listed in the same neighborhood over the past six months.

• he list should contain homes within a 1/4 mile to a 1/2 mile and no further, unless there are only a handful of comps in the general vicinity or the property is rural.
• Pay attention to neighborhood dividing lines and physical barriers such as major streets, freeways or railroads, and do not compare inventory from the “other side of the tracks.” Where I live, for example, identical homes across the street from each other can vary by $100,000. Perceptions and desirability have value.
• Compare similar square footage, within 10% up or down from the subject property, if possible.
• Similar ages. One neighborhood might consist of homes built in the 1950s next door to another ring of construction from the 1980s. Values between the two will differ. Compare apples to apples.

Sold Comps

• Pull history for expired and withdrawn listings to determine whether any were taken off the market and relisted. If so, add those days on the market to these listing time periods to arrive at an actual number of days on market.
• Compare original list price to final sales price to determine price reductions.
• Compare final sales price to actual sold price to determine ratios.
• Adjust pricing for lot size variances, configuration and amenities / upgrades.

1. Education & Experience

You don’t need to know everything about buying and selling real estate if you hire a real estate professional who does.  The trick is to find the right person. For the most part, they all cost about the same. Why not hire a person with more education and experience than you? We’re all looking for more precious time in our lives, and hiring pros gives us that time.

2. Agents are Buffers

Agents take the spam out of your property showings and visits. If you’re a buyer of new homes, your agent will whip out her sword and keep the builder’s agents at bay, preventing them from biting or nipping at your heels. If you’re a seller, your agent will filter all those phone calls that lead to nowhere from people just looking and try to induce serious buyers to immediately write an offer.

3. Neighborhood Knowledge

Agents either possess intimate knowledge or they know where to find the industry buzz about your neighborhood. They can identify comparable sales and hand these facts to you, in addition to pointing you in the direction where you can find more data on schools, crime or demographics. For example, you may know that a home down the street was on the market for $350,000, but an agent will know it had upgrades and sold at $285,000 after 65 days on the market and after twice falling out of escrow.

4. Price Guidance

Contrary to what some people believe, agents do not select prices for sellers or buyers. However, an agent will help to guide clients to make the right choices for themselves. If a listing is at 7%, for example, an agent has a 7% vested interest in the sale, but the client has a 93% interest. Selling agents will ask buyers to weigh all the data supplied to them and to choose a price. Then based on market supply, demand and the conditions, the agent will devise a negotiation strategy.

5. Market Conditions Information

Real estate agents can disclose market conditions, which will govern your selling or buying process. Many factors determine how you will proceed. Data such as the average per square foot cost of similar homes, median and average sales prices, average days on the market and ratios of list-to-sold prices, among other criteria, will have a huge bearing on what you ultimately decide to do.

6. Professional Networking

Real estate agents network with other professionals, many of whom provide services that you will need to buy or sell. Due to legal liability, many agents will hesitate to recommend a certain individual or company over another, but they do know which vendors have a reputation for efficiency, competency and competitive pricing. Agents can, however, give you a list of references with whom they have worked and provide background information to help you make a wise selection.

7. Negotiation Skills & Confidentiality

Top producing agents negotiate well because, unlike most buyers and sellers, they can remove themselves from the emotional aspects of the transaction and because they are skilled. It’s part of their job description. Good agents are not messengers, delivering buyer’s offers to sellers and vice versa. They are professionals who are trained to present their client’s case in the best light and agree to hold client information confidential from competing interests.

8. Handling Volumes of Paperwork

One-page deposit receipts were prevalent in the early 1970s. Today’s purchase agreements run 10 pages or more. That does not include the federal- and state-mandated disclosures nor disclosures dictated by local custom. Most real estate files average thicknesses from one to three inches of paper. One tiny mistake or omission could land you in court or cost you thousands. In some states, lawyers handle the disclosures, thank goodness!

9. Answer Questions After Closing

Even the smoothest transactions that close without complications can come back to haunt. For example, taxing authorities that collect property tax assessments, doc stamps or transfer tax can fall months behind and mix up invoices, but one call to your agent can straighten out the confusion. Many questions can pop up that were overlooked in the excitement of closing. Good agents stand by ready to assist. Worthy and honest agents don’t leave you in the dust to fend for yourself.

10. Develop Relationships for Future Business

The basis for an agent’s success and continued career in real estate is referrals. Few agents would survive if their livelihood was dependent on consistently drumming up new business. This emphasis gives agents strong incentives to make certain clients are happy and satisfied. It also means that an agent who stays in the business will be there for you when you need to hire an agent again. Many will periodically mail market updates to you to keep you informed and to stay in touch.

Rismedia came up with a top ten checklist for homeowners to to during winter months to make sure your house stays in good shape.  Although the amount of people selling their house in the winter drops, many people do keep their house on the market.  This is a good guide for people whether their house is on the market or not.

According to the National Association of Realtors, one of 16 American households will buy a home this year. To make sure your home stands out from the crowd, consider using ASHI’s maintenance checklist, a helpful list of items around the house that should be evaluated and repaired year-round.

“People need to think of their home as a machine,” added Lesh. “If one thing is off balance, everything else is compromised. Our goal is to keep our customer’s homes working like well-oiled machines.”

Below are the top ten items to check-off your maintenance list this fall:

1. Check the chimney for deteriorated chimney caps or loose and missing mortar.
2. Check vents, louvers (a frame with horizontal and vertical slats on a building that is angled to admit light and air, but keep out rain and sunshine) and chimneys for birds’ nests, squirrels and insects
3. Check flashing around roof stacks, vents, skylights and chimneys which can be sources of leakage
4. Check the roof for damaged, loose or missing shingles
5. Check for leaking, misaligned or damaged gutters, downspouts, gutter guards and strainers
6. Evaluate your landscape and cut back tree limbs that may be growing too close to the roof. Also consider cutting back and trimming shrubs away from exterior walls
7. Check caulking for decay around doors, windows, corner boards, and joints. Recaulk as needed
8. Check glazing putty around windows as well as weather stripping
9. Check your faucets, hose bibs and valves for leakage
10. Keep your garage doors closed to conserve energy and insulate exposed water lines in cold climates

Mortgage interest rates are very low right now which should help home buyers. As the media is portraying the housing market as terrible, this doesn’t necessarily mean that it is a bad time to buy. No one knows for sure what will happen to the housing market over the next couple years but i will tell you why it could be a great time to buy. As you can see in the following diagram, interest rates are at a very low rate. This mixed in with the fact that there are records amount of houses on the market, making a solid offer at this time, can land you your dream house at a price that you can afford. There are many people out there who want to sell really badly and have lowered their prices and are even willing to take in some cases a lot less than their asking price.

Daily Rate Averages
30 Yr Fxd	5.90 %
15 Yr Fxd	5.54 %
1/1 ARM	5.69 %
3/1 ARM	5.48 %
5/1 ARM	5.58 %
Full Rate Averages Update: 11/6/2007

When searching for a house to buy or looking to sell, it is a good idea to keep current on the events going on in the real estate world. Its good to check on interest rates, if the real estate market is doing well or not  and many other things. I will provide here a list of some good websites to visit.

http://www.realtor.com/

http://realestate.yahoo.com 

 http://www.realestate.com/TipsAndTools/default.aspx

http://realestate.msn.com/ 

http://money.cnn.com/real_estate/ 

I have recently signed up and posted many listings for our company on homes.com. The link for this is http://www.homes.com/Agent/3756049/Eric-W.-Bittman

This website is viewed by millions of people a day and will hopefully create lots of traffic to my website. If you type in homes for sale and many other phrases, it is the first real estate website that pops up.

A society’s economic success is increased if it has sure and quick ways to accomplish this separation, however painful to those who suffer losses. While there will be political pressures to buffer folks from the consequences of economic folly or bad luck, it is socially dangerous to do so. Reality checks should have force, so that those who fail to prudently manage resources will not keep control over them.

My banker friend and FREE board member Leon Royer recently wrote: “Too many people (borrowers, bankers, investors and investment bankers) have done too many dumb things for this situation to be resolved without substantial pain disbursed over many folks. No optimistic happy talk will change the curing time; it’s likely measured in years.”

Economist Peter Linneman nailed it more harshly in “Making Sense of the Current Capital Markets Disarray.” He observed: “As for the idiots who lent (often without down payments or documents) to the idiots who bought speculative homes, they deserve to lose. People must understand this simple fact.”

Our pressing danger is not that many folks will go broke, but rather that opportunistic politicians will bail them out and insulate them from past and future folly. We need to find and support those who instead recognize the ecological question: “If correction is not swift, then what will follow?” The longer we wait for a correction, the more massive and painful their suffering — and ours — ultimately must be. That’s the way the world works. via TCS Daily

My website www.rocklandcountyrealty.com is up and running.  I have made a bunch of changes and hope that this will attract some customers. What do you think of this site? Is there anything that you would add to this site?  How do you make this site move up the ranks on google? Does anyone else have any good marketing or advertising advise for the internet? Please check out my site and get back to me with any information that would be helpful.