1) Generally people looking for homes during this time period are legitimate buyers and not just lookers.

2) Many corporations relocate employees during this time of the year.

3) Buyers may be able to take advantage of certain tax benefits before the end of the year.

4) Less inventory on the market means less competition for you, the seller.

5) Homes are generally well decorated and show better during the holidays.

6) Buyers tend to have more time to themselves to look during Nov-Dec.

7) You can still be listed on the MLS and limit showings to days that work for your schedule.

8) Buyers can still take advantage of the tax rebate

9) Sellers have more freedom to use closing date as a negotiation tool b/c of the importance of closing before the New Year to some buyers.

10) Pending to active ratios are still increasing in the majority of markets we serve.

Nicolas Cage has sold his Bellaire Mansion through a sealed bid auction as of this morning. Originally constructed in 1940, the property is widely considered one of Bellaire’s finest lots. Cage originally listed the property for upwards of $30,000,000, however, the property had recently been dropped down to $17.5 million. (The min bid this am was 10,000,000.) Despite confirmation of the sale, the name of the buyer and final price have not been released yet. Most experts are anticipating a sale of around the 10 million dollar min.

After losing 2 of his New Orleans homes to foreclosure, Cage has also parted with two European castles he recently purchased:
http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/buying_and_selling/article6879592.ece#

Hulk Hogan recently dropped the price of his FL mansion by nearly 50% of the original asking price. The new list price of 13.9 million is down from 25million.

Finally, comedian Steve Harvey has dropped the price of his Plano, TX pad from 3.5 million to 2.5 million.

The key word here is “sell” not just list. We close more properties than any other Flat Fee Company, it’s a fact. Why are our listings different from competitors? The biggest single reason is our brand name. Other brokerages see our name and respect our name b/c they know if they show and sell one of our listings, they are going to get paid. Plain and simple. How did we acquire this reputation? We’ve been in most of our markets for a minimum of 5 years, over time you build your reputation in each market you do business.  A couple of facts for you below:

In Nevada over the past 21 days, we have had 10 properties go under contract.  I sincerely doubt that any other Nevada flat fee brokerage has listed 10 properties during this same time period, let  alone receive and accept contracts.

In Nebraska, of the last 20 properties we have listed, 9 have closed escrow, 3 are under contract, 6 are active, and 1 was cancelled. That would be an amazing run for any 6-7% brokerage, let alone a flat fee brokerage.

Here is a good high level of synopsis of the Phoenix real estate market.

In September 2009, there were 6948 total sales of single family detached homes on the Arizona Regional (Phoenix area) MLS.

• 93% were below $400,000
• 48% were lender-owned (REOs)
• 20% were short sales

The main trend we have seen in the past 4 months is that the # of lender-owned sales as a percentage of all sales has DECREASED from around 67% to 48% while the percentage of short sales has INCREASED from about 11% to 20%.  Contact us if you are interested in selling your property.  Yes, we do handle successful short sales.

I have to admit, this falls under the category of rule changes that make absolutely no sense at all, however, it was voted upon by the OABRMLS Board of Directors on Sept 29th. In short, Days on Market and Cum Days on market will now be removed from all Omaha area MLS listings. The only way to view the current DOM will be to run a history report on that particular property.

This is the first time I have ever seen an MLS vote to remove DOM from the listing detail printout. No reason was given by the board on why the change was initiated.