Ninja Training

Last week, we closed all of our offices for the day, and took Ninja training together.  It's a sales system that involves listening carefully to clients, keeping in touch with them, and giving them relevant and useful information on a regular basis.  Since the average person knows 12 real estate agents (!), we need to stay top of mind, and it takes a carefully thought-out plan to do that well. 

The goal of the whole program is to work smarter, not harder, and to be able to live a balanced life, something that can be challenging for everybody, but which is particularly difficult for real estate agents, who need to work so many nights and weekends.  We are excited by what we learned, and are looking forward to translating training into action.

Along the lines of working smarter, and listening to our clients, this is a good time to ask readers:  What do you want from your agent or company?  How do you want to hear from us, and how often?  What questions can we ask that will make your buying or selling experience easier and more effective?  How can we best demonstrate our expertise in the field, so that you can take advantage of what we know?

We ate now imbued with a very clear purpose, and will endeavor to work the Ninja way going forward, so expect to hear from us, and for us to be eager to hear from you.  There is a better way, and it's a win-win for all of us!

Current Absorption Rates

Explanation of absorption rate: The rate at which available homes are sold in a specific real estate market during a given time period.  If you look at the number for Wallingford you can say “If market conditions do not change and if no new listings come on the market it will take 7.2 months for the current inventory to sell at the current pace of the market.  A balanced market’s absorption rate is typically between 5 – 7 months.”

Click on table to zoom in

2013 vs. 2014 New Haven & Shoreline County Statistics

Click on the link below to view a report on the market change in real estate between 2013 and 2014.  Page one of the report has single-family residential home data, while page two consists of condominium data.  

2013 vs. 2014 New Haven & Shoreline County Statistics

Absorption Rates

Click on image to view in full scale

Absorption Rates

Click on image to view in full scale

Absorption Rates

 

 

Home Foreclosure Activity In State Shows Signs Of Improvement In March

By Kenneth R. Gosselin, The Hartford Courant, click here to view online

Home foreclosure activity in Connecticut rose again in March, but there were more signs that the state's foreclosure troubles are beginning to moderate, a report released Thursday shows.

One component of overall foreclosure activity — first-time notices — fell 16 percent in March, the first year-over-year decrease after a string of 13 months of increases, according to the monthly report from RealtyTrac, which monitors foreclosure filings nationally and by state. RealtyTrac also markets foreclosed properties.

First-time notices totaled 1,022 in March, down from 1,221 a year ago, the report showed.

"This could signify a turning point for the recent rebound in foreclosure activity in Connecticut, indicating that lenders and the court system are beginning to catch up with the backlog of delayed foreclosures in the state," Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac, said.

He added, "The latter two stages of foreclosure activity — scheduled foreclosure auctions and bank repossessions — continued to trend higher in March, but the decrease on the front end of the foreclosure process is a good sign."

Foreclosure auction notices rose 75 percent, to 156, and bank repossessions rose 65 percent, to 717.

Residential properties in some stage of foreclosure rose nearly 9 percent in March, to 1,895, from 1,742 for the same month a year ago. While an increase was still registered in March, it was in the single-digits, far below the 40 percent, year-over-year increase in the previous month.

The nation as a whole saw overall foreclosure activity decline by nearly 23 percent.

Experts say recovery in Connecticut was slowed by the robo-signing scandal in 2010. The scandal involved major mortgage lenders and servicers signing off on foreclosure documents without verifying their accuracy. The controversy touched off far-reaching federal investigations that led to paperwork reforms and hefty monetary settlements — and also delayed lenders pursuing foreclosures.

That, some experts have said, led to the spike in activity in Connecticut and a backlog in the state's courts. Not all states process foreclosures in the courts, so the fall-out varied from state to state.

In March, one in every 784 residential properties in Connecticut had a foreclosure filing, compared with one in 854 for the same month a year ago. Connecticut ranked the seventh highest among all states in this measure, compared with sixth highest in February and 13th highest in March, 2013.

 

Not the Typical July

The weather surely signals that it's midsummer, but the slow start to the real estate year means that the dog days of summer have a little more life to them. We are still seeing new listings, new offers, and new sales. Our web hits doubled from May to June. There was a downward blip for the Fourth of July, and then they went up again. People are clearly thinking about buying and selling, even if every contract seems a long and tortuous process.

On that note, I was spending the weekend in Vermont last weekend with a friend from North Carolina. She was trying to close the sale of a commercial building, which she had sold already once and it had fallen through. She was in negotiations with the new buyer on the day before what was supposed to be the closing. Her husband was bemoaning her travails. I told him that MOST commercial contracts seem to fall apart at least once, and that it is, unfortunately, very common for the buyer to come back at the last minute and ask for concessions, often due to financing conditions. Even in residential, we have a number of contracts now that seem to have taken on a life of their own. They go on and on, with delays, threats, changes, grandstanding, and probably tears. I'm telling you this so you won't take it personally if it happens to you! Forewarned is forearmed.

Evening Open Houses?

I have an idea on which I'm interested in input from the public. We have traditionally done almost all open houses on Sunday afternoons. That isn't true everywhere in the country, since I have noticed that, in Arizona, Saturday seems to be just as common as Sunday. There is an historical logic to the current pattern, since people were usually less busy on Sunday afternoons. The idea of going to open houses seemed to fit in with the practice of taking Sunday drives.

Today's world is different. Children's sports, in particular, take no holidays. Sunday afternoons may be as jam-packed as any other day. In addition, weather is a huge factor. All real estate agents know that there is a bell curve for attendance--if the weather is too bad, no one comes, and, if the weather is too good, no one comes. For busy people, a great day may just be too precious to pass up.

So why not vary the routine? If you are like I am, you may prefer to squeeze in all you can into the work week, leaving bigger blocks of weekend time for other things, especially outdoor activities. In this season of extra light, we could hold open houses late in the day, and interested parties could stop on their way home from work or picking up kids. Even for commercial properties, this idea has appeal. Many owners and managers are too busy to take time out to look at space during the work day. We could serve wine and cheese, and let people take their time after the end of the work day to explore real estate options. Even agents would benefit, as it would leave weekend time to work with buyers.

We have tried this a few times, at least in residential, but it hasn't caught on. I'm curious as to why it has not. What do you think?

Who Would Have Thought It?

If someone had told us twenty years ago that the center city's residential properties would be holding value better than those in the suburbs--better even than direct waterfront--we probably would have scoffed. It's clear right now that the hot market is New Haven--the closer to downtown, the better.

This isn't by accident. President Levin of Yale, who has been in office for fifteen years, lived in New Haven for many years before he became Yale's leader (and, in fact, has continued to live in his own home, rather than the one that Yale provides). He has made it clear that he would be happy if every new hire lived there as well. The last time that I heard, 47% of Yale's senior faculty lived within the city limits. In today's New Haven Advocate, the stated equivalents of New Haven's municipal police and firefighters were 13% and 17%. Yale's showing clearly represents the payoff of a long-term strategy.

There is another factor at work, however. Current demographics favor the central city, although this is a change from earlier generations. Young professionals have always preferred urban life, but now, increasingly, so do empty nesters. The arts, the dining, the conveniences, and the lack of commuting time have all contributed to make New Haven a popular housing choice. Even those with school-age children, if those children attend one of the city's prestigious private schools, have been moving into the city neighborhoods.

And that's all good news for the region, since a vibrant city makes for healthier suburbs.

New Careers

The backbone of the real estate industry has always been people who are entering a second career, and this current economic crisis will surely produce folks who are looking for them. There are several factors that make mid-life entrants successful in real estate: maturity; life experience, including often significant personal real estate and relocation experience; savings, pensions, or other financial cushions; contacts; and transferable sales skills. Our history has shown that people who enter real estate in a down period tend to do better over time, probably because they are forced to learn skills and strategies that those entering in boom times don't always acquire. Also, those starting in the profession now will be training and getting licenses now, and will be ready to take advantage of the recovery just down the road.

It may also be possible for those retooling from other jobs to receive economic stimulus money for the interim period. I am looking into this with local job center officials. Both residential and commercial fields are always eager for new blood and new backgrounds, but it takes time to get up and running, and will probably take longer in this economy for new agents to earn a living selling real estate (In case there are readers who do not know this, real estate agents are 1099 independent contractors, who are paid entirely on commission). However, there are many wonderful things about being an independent contractor, and we like to point out that it is one of the original "equal pay for equal work" industries. You eat what you kill, as we also say. Good agents do well in every kind of market, and this one is no exception.

So, if you are reading this during your job search, you might want to consider real estate, where your relationships and prior skills can help you launch a new career today!