What Baby Boomers Really Want in a Home

September 23, 2009 Leave a comment

The term ‘Baby Boomer‘ gets thrown around a lot in the world of advertising.  It seems like everyone is trying to sell to this segment of the population; including the real estate industry.  Economic statistics show that baby boomers account for 28% of the population, but over 77% of all financial assets in the United States.  This generation also accounts for more than 50% of all discretionary authority in private organizations as well as in government.  But do REALTORS® and builders really know what baby boomers want in a home?  Do they know what features they want?  What locations are preferential?  How much money they’re willing to spend?   A new survey conducted by the MetLife Mature Market Institute and the National Association of Home Builders entitled 55+ Housing: Builders, Buyers and Beyond was just released that sheds some light on these very questions.

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Peering Through the Fog

September 10, 2009 Leave a comment

There are more and more positive signs that the fog is starting to clear in the residential real estate market.   Gone are the dense, pea-soup like conditions from a couple of months ago that caused buyers and sellers to try and drive through it at 5 mph.  It appears that they’ve put their collective feet on the accelerator and are now driving more confidently, albeit still with the headlights on. 

Point2 Technologies, Inc., the largest independent provider of website and listing syndication solutions for the real estate industry, with users in over 100 countries on its platform, released its Real Estate Confidence Index (RECI) for August 2009 this past week.  Over 3,000 real estate professionals covering every U.S. State, Puerto Rico and Guam contributed to this month’s report.  Charts of their findings are shown below:

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Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Central Pennsylvania Construction and Real Estate But Were Afraid to Ask

September 4, 2009 1 Comment

The Central Penn Business Journal (CPBJ) just published its Fall “Construction & Real Estate” report.  CPBJ claims it’s the beginning of the end after more than a year in recession for Central Pennsylvania.  CPBJ focuses on why the construction and real estate industries are key economic indicators and what effect the federal government’s stimulus package has had on the mid-state.  You’ll read about companies that got creative to weather the recession and the state of our region’s commercial, residential and rental real estate markets.

Lots of good ‘stuff.’

Related articles of interest:
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Will ‘Tweeting’ Benefit Your Business?

August 30, 2009 Leave a comment

There is no denying that social media has grown exponentially over the last year or two and will continue to impact our lives in the future in ways that we can’t even imagine today.  For evidence, go to my recent post on the subject.  However; real estate companies, brokers and agents have been slow in trying to get their arms around this 800 pound gorilla since it first appeared on the marketing scene.

Perhaps the biggest obstacle that our industry has had to overcome with this newer form of advertising and networking is that a large majority of the company owners, leadership and top-producers are 50 plus years old.  In general, they have had a successful track record that hasn’t included social media so in their minds the cost/time versus benefit matrix just doesn’t add up.  In addition, this group of practitioners is traditionally more conservative and resistant to change.  (In the interest of full disclosure and just so you don’t think I’m bashing this specific group, I fall within this age demographic – but just barely.)

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How To Explain the Accuracy of Zestimates® To Consumers

August 15, 2009 Leave a comment

Image courtesy of Flickr

I remember a couple of years ago when Zillow first hit the real estate scene.  Consumers embraced the web site almost immediately because of the web site’s cool, on-line tools.  One tool in particular caught their fancy:  the Zestimate.  This single, funny-sounding word would grow to strike fear in the heart’s of REALTORS® everywhere.

But what is a Zestimate?  A Zestimate is an estimated market value of a home based on Zillow’s proprietary, mathematical formula.  The home data they compile to generate a Zestimate home valuation varies by location.  Some geographic areas provide all the data Zillow could hope for, but others are lacking such key things as the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, or, in some cases, the square footage of the home.  The theory says that the more data Zillow has, the more accurate the Zestimate.  They even made it easy for users of the site to help them improve accuracy by incorporating edited home facts into their Zestimate calculations.  In some areas, Zillow can’t produce a Zestimate at all, but they do have some basic information on the homes.

Why did REALTORS® dispise Zillow?  Because they claimed that the tool that produced Zestimates oversimplified the valuation process and gave inaccurate results.  Regardless, Zillow shot up the popularity charts and in no time at all it was firmly entrenched as one of the top ten real estate web sites in the world.  REALTORS® looked at the new kid on the block as a threat to their own personal fiefdom as experts on property valuation.  They exclaimed, “How dare they hand out FREE property estimates!  They’re misleading consumers.  Why can’t consumers see that the accuracy of  Zestimates is atrocious?”

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Is the Social Media Revolution a Passing Fad?

August 15, 2009 Leave a comment

more about “Social Media Revolution“, posted with vodpod

A couple of weeks ago I posted a video to this blog which showed the impact that social media is having on our society, and in particular, on the real estate business.  Still aren’t buying into this phenomenon?  Wake up and smell the coffee!

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Rising Home Prices – Really?

July 28, 2009 Leave a comment

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Like it or not, one of the most pessimistic (some would argue realistic) housing economists of our generation, Robert Shiller, will probably always be associated with the worst housing downturn since the Great Depression.  He was one of the first outspoken people to warn us of an impending ’housing bubble’ as far back as 2003.  At that time, most economists scoffed at his assertions and at his newly created S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index.  He was like that single, stray cloud that blocked your personal sun on the beach on an otherwise beautiful day.  Annoying, but if you waited long enough, it would pass and the sun would return.  One small problem - Shiller’s cloud grew into a full-fledged thunderstorm that very few people saw coming.

His S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index has been quoted far and wide as the definitive read on the housing market.  For months, it hasn’t been a rosy picture, but today that sun returned to the beach.  For the first time in three years, his index showed an increase in nationwide housing prices of .5% for the month of May.

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Tryin’ to Understand the Economic Crisis

July 27, 2009 Leave a comment

 

Everyone and their brother has an opinion or theory on how the country got into this economic situation.  Some people blame Wall Street, the financial institutions and banks; other people take direct aim at REALTORS®, builders and mortgage companies; still others impugn the American consumer and their fixation with obtaining easy money with no strings attached.

I found this short video enlightening, insightful and explains the economic predicament about as well as any that I have read, heard or seen.

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