Realtors mount a strategy

17 years ago

Realtor ads to push home buying

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The National Association of Realtors is launching a $40 million advertising campaign to encourage Americans to buy houses amid the ongoing housing slump.

The Realtors' campaign includes $26 million in television advertising, about double what the group spent in 2006. Television ads will begin running Jan. 15, while new radio ads will begin to air Jan. 29.

NAR President Pat Vredevoogd Combs said Tuesday at a press conference that now is a good time for consumers to buy a home, given low interest rates and high inventories. "You can walk into a marketplace and have a choice what you buy," Combs said.

The ad campaign comes as the U.S. real estate market is weathering a prolonged downturn. The Realtors' latest data show sales of existing homes down 10.7% over the past year. See earlier story.

New homes sales, meanwhile, have fallen 15.3% in the past year, according to the latest government figures. However, sales rose in November, the Commerce Department reported late last month. See full story.

The Realtors said the new ads will run more than 8,750 times on national television and radio between January and November. They'll run more than 25,000 times on local radio stations

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Comments (9)

cordovamom
17 years ago
There are a lot of homes on the market, interest rates are still low, that makes it a buyers market. I think some people are not buying when they normally would because they are waiting for "the bottom to drop out" as has been forecast by the media. So for the realtor's strategy to work they need to instill in the buyers a sense of security that their investment will be a good one. People know there are lots of homes out there and they know how low interest rates are, the uncertainty that is stopping them from purchasing a home is the uncertainty about what the market will do next.
quirkyquercus
17 years ago
I wish my industry assn would do advertising like that.
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You should counter. You are much much more likely to come to terms with them if you counter versus cross your arms and say "no". Think of a counter offer as bouncing a ball. Kind of like dribbling a basketball. Each bounce(counter) might be lower and lower and lower. But the ball is still bouncing. Once it stops bouncing, then you spike the ball and the bouncing game is over and everyone walks away. Here's another thing....from an emotional standpoint, the longer you counter back and force, the longer that buyer imagines buying your home. They picture themselves buying it, they think about that home. Even if the back and forth is small increments, you still have their emotional investment/interest. The moment you spike the ball (dont counter) , then their emotional interest immediately stops. You want to stop countering when the deal is ready to be done. Not at the first bounce. It's too soon and they will lose interest and move on. If you had bounced back and forth with them for a few days then maybe they would have come up with a lot more money because they discussed the home for the past few days and realize it really is perfect for them. There is no rule as to how much you counter. But you should counter offer even if you take $1000 off your $25000 price reduction.
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I think people are just not buying because they can't sell their own houses and ten grand under or ten grand over or even twenty grand under is not going to make a difference. I get a lot of feedback because I'm a for-sale-by-owner. I can't tell you how many people have told me they love my house but their houses aren't sold yet and they hope mine's still available when they finally do sell. I dropped my price below the appraisal ten grand about a month ago and it didn't make a bit of a difference even though it put me in another search category. I still got lots of interested people but no one who could actually do anything about it. I've sold it once already and that person, the only one who didn't have to sell her own house to buy mine, because she was a first time home buyer, couldn't get a mortgage because the bank didn't like the color of my roses. Only kidding but it was almost as ridiculous. It looks like I sold it again but I don't know if this person will be able to get a mortgage either. Basically I think there just aren't enough ready buyers out there and unless we seriously drastically underprice our houses, it's just going to be a matter of luck that we get the one out of a hundred buyers who actually can perform.
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To the people wanting to know how to find an agent that will devote themselves to selling your home, or helping you find one, you should attend open houses and look at the condition of the home, as far as cleanliness, staging, how professional the flyers look, how the photos look on Realtor.com (since it pulls directly off the mls and updates more often than trulia/Zillow.). Talk to the listing agent (it should be the same person holding the open house) and see if they seem professional, and you have a good rapport with them. If you go into an open house, and see unmade beds/clutter, dirty dishes, baths with wet towels etc, then I would probably not list with that agent. A good agent will show up early to make sure house is presentable. The agents that will give you the most personal attention are probably not the agents with a bunch of listings. Often those agents will tell the seller the house is worth more than it really is, to get the listing, then they do no advertising/no marketing and let it sit and hope someone else either sells it or the seller will get frustrated and reduce the price. Talk to the agents about various neighborhoods/upgrade value, theory on what homes to avoid (most expensive/largest in the neighborhood, for example), types of financing programs available, etc and see if they seem knowledgeable. Browse Realtor.com, and see which agents consistently have good photos, informative write ups. Ask realtors that you interview for references from previous clients, and call them. The other side of having an agent that will go above and beyond to market your home, is realizing that agents can/do refuse listings. I work primarily by referrals. I am picky about what listings I accept. When I go to a listing apt, I will bring comps/photos of comps/history of the homes on the market now (time on mkt/price reductions), examples of the flyers I get done, marketing plan. I will ask seller to let me walk thru the house. If the house is dirty/cluttered, etc, I will tell them what I want done before I list it. I offer staging advice/security advice, and what to clean. Then I will come back to do listing paperwork, and if the items are not done, I don't list it until they are. I usually do only 90 day listing agreements and tell the sellers that the house should be sold in that time period, and if it isn't, they will decide if I have been doing a good job and they want to renew. I also tell them that I will not renew if they haven't held up their end of the bargain, by having the house not show well due to cleanliness, clutter, ease of showing, etc. I expect them to have the house ready to show with reasonable notice. I have my sellers use new (new looking) neutral bath towels tied up in raffia in the baths, and put the towels they use regularly on a hanger that they hang in a closet. That way after they shower, they hang the wet towel up, and it is out of sight. I also have them keep a shoebox/basket in the bath for their toiletries, and have them put it under their sink, out of the way, before leaving for work, so tub/shower area is clear. No dirty dishes left in sink when they go to work. bathroom mirrors should be cleaned each day before they go to work, and sinks wiped out/tubs with no hair/soap scum. Countertops cleaned off. Toilets clean with lids down. Trash emptied. Occasionally there will be a time where I need to show the home without much notice, and I will tidy up as needed. But realtors are not maids, and it shouldn't be a regular thing. I don't want to give the impression that maid service should be included. I've terminated one listing with someone that wouldn't have their house even close to ready to show. I am not wasting money advertising their home, and time showing it, if it looks like crap, and is dirty, cluttered, weedy yard, uncut grass.
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cpowers21
17 years ago
I think buyers may also be waiting to see how desperate some sellers will get. With prices declining, they are waiting to steal it.
western_pa_luann
17 years ago
"With prices declining, they are waiting to steal it."

They are not 'stealing' anything... just paying the prevailing market price. The sellers can hold out for whatever price they want.
Just because the prices are falling more in line with what the property is worth... that's not stealing.
uncledave_ct
17 years ago
Why do houses keep getting snatched up before we even have a chance to look at them? It's frustrating. And prices are not coming down anymore; why should they? Properties are selling where we're looking. We're getting activity even out here in the boondocks. It seems like right after Thanksgiving, suddenly things picked up, slowing only during Christmas week. Where do you all live, that sellers have to sell their souls to move a property?
Sully6
17 years ago
I am curious what folks here think about the prevailing wisdom that first-time buyers are sitting out of the market right now. Just my experience, but it seems the opposite is true where I am (Chicago). More expensive properties with all the right amenities and great location are sitting for a long time, whereas homes in the $300-$400K range with good features are moving at a decent clip. (This impression was seconded by the local guy we used for our mortgage. He said he was still handling a lot of mortgages in that price range but a lot fewer in the higher ends of the market.)

My brother, who lives in metro Atlanta, is also looking for a starter home right now. He says stuff in his price range seems to be selling. Of course, he's also seeing a lot of foreclosure sales too.
berniek
17 years ago
Our market is fairly steady. Obviously not at the pace when investors were snatching up properties left and right about 3 years ago. Today, the available inventory provides a great opportunity for buyers to cherry pick listings. When I was looking to purchase end of 2003 and beginning of 2004, I ended up purcchasing a new spec home end of Feb. 2004. Resales were run down and overpriced in my opinion. The builder I purchased from had great incentives which were just to good to ignore.
With interest rates as low as they are and inventory at it's highest level today, in my area there are some great buys, especially in the starter/retirement home and first time buyers category.
Looking at what's selling in my neighborhood recently, I noticed that most homes were around $200k and ranch style, I believe many retirees are taking advantage of the availability of newer, quality homes.
I also believe, that if someoone needs to buy, right now is the right time.
Areas such as CA., NV, FL. and other N.E coast locations that had extraoordinary increases, require an in depth analysis of the local market before making a committment.
cpowers21
17 years ago
"Just because the prices are falling more in line with what the property is worth... that's not stealing."

I think some buyers think eventually a seller will go WAY below the current market. I had a woman call me and ask me to inform her when this happened in a certain area. I told her that there really isn't a lot of that going on here. I didn't really mean steal it, I mean they are waiting to see just how low prices will go. Things are pretty stable here. It has slowed down a bit.
mmelko
17 years ago
It would be helpful if you would say where "here" is. For instance the Real Estate Institute at the University of Alabama produces a market report each month. Here in Alabama there has been some slow down of sales, but no noticable overall depression on prices. The major metro areas continue to do well, some posted an increase in sales during November. Alabama continues to enjoy low unemployment and some areas are seeing an increase due to new large employers moving into the state. The institute does not see a pull back in home prices, for states that have low unemployment - the resetting of the real estate market will not be as severe as predicted for some of the markets in the country that realized double digit appreciation in real estate prices.
All that is relative. The median home price in Alabama remains in Nov at about $167,000 an affordable number for most people. And in reality that is a real number, homes in the under $200k price range in my area are not staying on the market very long. Above that there is a longer DOM but as long as they are relatively new, first time homebuyers and the transient buyers are snapping them up. The number of rentals left behind by military families having to leave before they can sell their house is thinning out a bit. Of course it is the spring home buying season here and the weather is nice.

Realtors mount a strategy

Comments (9)

cordovamom

quirkyquercus

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