Election Will Have A Zero Effect on the Housing Market

I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news but the housing market will continue in decline and this occurrence would have been the same if the election had turned out differently for John McCain.

 

Any change in administration will not happen for months.

 

Any contemplated changes by the new administration (however beneficial) will not be acted upon for several more months.

 

Any accepted changes will then take additional time to become effective.

 

 

In the mean time;

 

Millions of new foreclosures will have hit the marketplace. A marketplace suffering from short demand that has supply added to it will have but one reaction to make, a downward effect on pricing.

 

Confusion is surrounding the bailout and whether the banks will free up lending practices or use the government funds for other purposes. 

 

The promise of a future rescue by the government of homeowners from foreclosure is much too little too late to change this housing market.  The time for positive action to help this market has long since passed because it has now mushroomed into something bigger than just the housing industry and homeowners.

Simple changes to the way the banking industry handled this situation could have been enacted quite awhile back and had a positive or stabilizing effect. Instead the financial institutions decided one and all to get into the real estate business and their track record in the real estate business has been and still is a dismal one.

The simple fact is banks do not what to own real estate because they do not know how to market real property. It quickly becomes an albatross to them.

Knowing this as one of their core beliefs, instead of foreclosing on properties and thereby becoming the owners of large portfolios of property, they could have perhaps handled thing differently to avoid the ownership and disposal role that they traditionally do not want or particularly handle very well.

Some new and radical way of dealing with homeowners that are late on their payments should have been explored. Perhaps something along the lines of converting the loan payment arrearages into second mortgages with balloon payments due on dates certain might have helped both sides in this difficult situation that now effect us all.

This idea or many others should could been investigated and enacted before the banks found themselves in the unwanted position of real estate owners.

Now we are in a situation that unfortunately has no quick fix. Although a change in administration is a great step in the right direction it will take considerable time, effort and talent to bring about changes for the better in the housing market.

Banking Bailout. Banks Handle Real Estate Marketing Wrong. The Real Estate Maven

Most of the injuries that many Banks are currently suffering from are self-inflicted. Financial institutions have been holding onto more foreclosed property than it is obviously healthy for them to own. It now seems painfully apparent this is because Banks do not have a clue about marketing and how to sell the very real estate that they were so hasty to reposes.

Trying to deal with most banks about their owned properties has been like some weird form of a cloak and dagger game. It seems that most Bankers find some sort of perverse pleasure in avoiding the very thing that they need the most BUYERS.

You see the banks have made it is almost impossible for the average buyer with interest to contact them about the very property that they are sitting on and need to sell. Even though this Property is obviously doing the banks more harm than good most financial institutions refuse to deal directly with individual buyers.

Larger financial institutions have not wanted to be bothered with the individual investors. They have sought to repackage groups of multiple properties into large portfolios to be resold to institutional investors. Maybe that is all that their staffs know how to do but it is time for them to change focus.

Many Banks have acted too high and mighty to deal with the individual investors. While they have shunned the small investor they have wasted precious marketing time and now look to the government for a solution

One can find the banks identity and address from town and city records but there is never a contact person to direct inquires to. An interested buyer cannot call these institutions and submit an offer and receive a call back. An interested buyer cannot write to these institutions and receive an answer about how to purchase the property in question. There is usually no way to have any dialogue whatsoever about the very real estate the financial institutions need to sell. It’s as if they actually do not want to sell. They do not want to be bothered with the little guy only the other giants of the industry. This attitude or strategy does not appear to have proven wise.

Some of the Bank Real Estate Owned departments utilize the services of the Realtor community. From what I have seen of the properties either the Realtor was trying to hard to impress the banks in order to obtain other listings from the banks or the banks are unrealistic in their appraisals of value. Either way the pricing I have seen has been completely out of line and this is not the time to be unrealistic.

The Banks need someone in house to see the properties, accurately price the properties and then concentrate on marketing the properties to each and every buyer they can find. Marketing over the Internet is simply not that hard to figure out.

 

The enormous difference between the RTC in the 80’s and the New Bailout bantered about this September is the Internet and the potential it creates to reach millions of individual buyers. Will the banks embrace this Internet marketing opportunity and liquidate their real estate holdings to each and every qualified buyer?

 

 

 

 

 Most banks have created an impermeable barrier that the ordinary purchaser cannot penetrate.  Financial institutions have made it all but almost impossible for the ordinary buyer to approach them about the foreclosed properties that they so desperately need to sell. Strangely, most of the very banks that turn the Government for bailout assistance make it all but impossible for buyers to contact them and negotiate to purchase on their Bank Owned Real Estate. In this volatile market banks should be looking at every buyer, big and small, as a potential sale.

 

Real Estate Marketing Advice: Now is the Time to Get Very Serious About Selling. The R/E Maven

 

 

If you truly desire to sell your property now is the time for you and everyone involved to get extremely serious about the sales task.

In the very near future trillions of dollars worth of real estate will be competing with the sale of your real estate. If you do not beat this wave you will find your properties value in decline as you attempt to compete with properties that are for sale at lower prices.

 

Simple supply and demand will affect your values to go lower. Unfortunately there is no other alternative. An increased supply of homes for sale that the government will be forced to sell at below market prices will drag everyone’s values down. The additional demand needed to absorb this enormous amount of housing stock will only be increased if the prices are decreased to such a point that new buyers cannot resist the urge to take advantage of this new opportunity. Take a good look at the current real estate market. Very few homes are selling and the interest rates and selection could not be better. This leaves the only single variable available that can change the current demand to be price and price alone.

 

So if you are serious about selling your real estate here is what you need to do.

• Move swiftly in order to beat the influx of bargain priced property
• Make sure your marketing is top notch
  • Your property is included on all the major Internet sites
  • Full assortment of pictures
  • Consider video tour
  • Pay for better placement on Internet sites if available
  • Include great property descriptions
  • Use local and regional newspaper Internet ads
  • Open houses
  • Signage – do not keep the for sale fact a secret- now is not the time
• Price needs to accurate. Do not play the pad the price game. You will lose that and more if you do not more your property soon.
• Analyze your Realtor or agent. If you suspect they are not doing everything in their power to market your property run don’t walk to find a better alternative.

 

 

The proposed bail out will have an adverse effect on the value of real estate.

With the very real possibility that the real estate market and values are going to go south, sellers need to protect themselves and do everything that can to sell their property before the further decline in property value.