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By Melissa Dittmann Tracey, REALTOR(R) Magazine

Americans may be able to buy a higher-priced home if they buy new, according to a study by the National Association of Home Builders. The NAHB study — using data from the Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development — suggests due to lower operating costs with new-homes buyers can purchase a newer home that is more expensive and still achieve the same annual operating costs as an older, existing home.

The study evaluated how utility, maintenance, property tax, and insurance costs vary by the age of the home.

Homes built prior to 1960 had an average maintenance cost of $564 per year. However, homes built after 2008 had average maintenance costs of $241, according to the study.

“Home buyers need to look beyond the initial sales price when considering whether to buy new construction or an existing home,” says NAHB Chairman Rick Judson. “They will find that with the higher costs of operating an older home, they can often afford to spend more to buy a new home and still have annual operating costs that fit their budget.”

The study found that homes built prior to 1960 have operating costs that average nearly 5 percent of the home’s value compared to less than 3 percent if the home was built after 2008.

“While mortgage payments will be greater with the higher purchase price of a newly-built home, the lower operating costs mean the home buyer will have annual costs that are about the same as if they’d bought a lesser-priced, older home with a smaller mortgage payment and higher operating expenses,” NAHB notes.

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n a recent webinar conducted by Jones Lang LaSalle, analysts predicted commercial real estate would continue to perform well on whole, with most major international metropolitan areas growing in the 0-5% range this year.  Slides from the webinar are included for download below.

Selected highlights from the JLL May 2013 webinar:

• Leasing volumes remain flat, with corporate tenants exercising caution
• Yet, transaction volumes are up 20% across the board
• Office rents are falling in Amsterdam, Paris CBD, Beijing and Milan
• Office rents have bottomed out in Chicago, Sydney, Brussels and Washington DC
• Asia-Pacific office leasing activity year over year is down an alarming 20%, yet the gloabl picture remains “flat”
• Of Europe, Asia-Pacific and the US, consumer confidence is highest in Asia-Pacific

And more – to see the full presentation slide stack, download from Jones Lang here.

• Australian Office Yields Attract Investors: Real Estate – Bloomberg
• Wendell Brooks III leaves CBRE Hawaii for Jones Lang LaSalle
• Jones Lang LaSalle Inc (NYSE: JLL)
• Home staging for real estate listings
• Why tech manufacturing jobs are coming back to America

Jay O'Brien

By Jay O’Brien

Are you new to the industry? Have you been in the real estate business for 25 years? Well, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a novice, professional, or anything in between because I have a little gem of advice that is applicable to everyone.

Put yourself in the shoes of a consumer for a moment. Think about the house you are about to buy or the last house you did buy. Who represented you? Would you choose him or her to represent you again? What characteristics make up a truly great agent? If you had to boil it down to one word, what would the most essential characteristic be?

I am going to venture a guess and say that most people would have completely different answers on this topic. However, in my experience, I have found one significant common denominator that unites all descriptions of a successful agent and amplifies the possibility of future business:

Communication.

No, not being the “local expert” or the agent with the most listings. The most important quality to possess is communication. You must always be someone who routinely explains contracts with thoroughness until a client fully understands; someone who reviews the market with them one-on-one; someone who answers and returns phone calls around the clock. You must never be the agent who leaves his or her client in the dark. A client would rather work with a REALTOR® who finds answers quickly than with one who knows the answer but doesn’t communicate them properly.

I used to work in the retail sector. Actually, that’s just a fancy way of saying I was a sales associate at Best Buy. Anyway, while immersed in the retail environment, I acquired an abundance of skills and learned many lessons that can be applied to any field, especially real estate.

A lesson that always resonated with my business compass was based around engagement. Studies continually show that customers who are not acknowledged by an employee when first entering a store will wait on average only a few minutes before leaving. Why don’t most of these neglected customers stay? Because people want to know you care. That’s all they need to know and the rest will work itself out. What’s worse than the professional you’ve trusted with the largest transaction of your life not being there for you?

In 2012, 48 percent of my business came from clients who were displeased with their current agent. My suggestion: Don’t be an agent who runs a sales prevention desk. As a REALTOR®, it’s your job to be the concierge to the guests of your personal business.

Jay O’Brien is a REALTOR® with RE/MAX Prestige in Anaheim Hills, Calif. Aside from real estate, he regularly supports the Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) and is the co-founder of Mico York, a nonprofit organization that helps kids worldwide through their own personal artwork. Visit Jay on the web www.jayobrienrealestate.com or contact him at: Jay.obrien@remax.net.

The delivery of primary healthcare services on chain retailer floorspace – sometimes referred to the retailiziation of healthcare – is underway.  Signs include:

• Walgreens pharmacists administered shots 5.5 million times out of the 9 million flu vaccines they delivered
• Industry estimates that there are now more than 1,400 clinics in retail chain stores, double the number six years ago.
• It is projected that by 2016, the number of retail convenient care clinics (CCCs) will double to 3,000
• Nearly 30% of the US population lives within a ten-minute drive of a retail clinic. That number rises sharply for chain retail, showing the way forward expansion-wise
• The demand for CCCs is rising as demand for healthcare generally rises thanks to the Affordable Care Act provisions ending  the situation of 30+ million uninsured

Patients Are Already Shoppers

Retail owners, managers and brokers contemplating new transactions and space apportionments have to add this newest wrinkle into pro formas far and wide; there are two waves of patients who are also shoppers headed to these clinics.  The first wave comes from the greying of the baby boomer generation, a demographic consumer of healthcare services up to three times the average of other demographics.   The second wave comes from the previously uninsured under the Affordable Care Act.  There will be a scramble to marry the convenience of retail locations with the medical needs of these patients.

Supply Chain Experts Expected To Step Up

Chains such as Wal-Mart dominate supply chains and may be leading the way toward the critical rethinking of medical services as one more service in a supply chain.   According to this video from the consultants Advisory Board Company,  the Walton family retail juggernaut has has unveiled their plans to have primary care services available in rural markets within five to seven years.

While the specific future isn’t clear, we can be sure that the era of the hospital and medical office building as the default locations for medical services is coming to an end.

• ‘Wal-Mart handed its FCPA case to a chief suspect’ (with video)
• Wal-Mart fined over hazardous waste
• Is Thanksgiving day the new Black Friday?
• Wal-Mart gears up online as customers defect to Amazon
• Wal-Mart turns to green dots to ensure stores stay stocked

The emergence of energy disclosure regulations aimed at building sustainability and addressing energy waste has New York City as its center. Since we can probably expect similar legislation efforts in cities across the US in the future, where can we turn to learn as much as we can about how sustainability policies impact the commercial real estate market?

NYC’s Greener, Greater Buildings Plan

Last year, New York City passed a package of initiatives called the Greater Greener Buildings Plan (GGBP).  The energy disclosure policy regulatory efforts combined with job training initiatives aim to address energy usage and waste in Gotham’s largest buildings  - about 15,000 of them at over 50,000 square feet.

GGBP creates piles of data on energy usage, data that allows owners to understand the specifics of usage beyond what energy bills say.  And the program claims it will create over 17,000 construction jobs along with a $7 billion net energy savings.

But how do these efforts get to the point where the value is made clear to owners and investors?

On The CUSP Of Greater Understanding

The national effort involves industry partners, national laboratories, universities, and NYC governmental agencies with intent to use information sciences and data analytics to improve the quality of life in cities along with the economic efficiency, the resilience and resource efficiency of cities.  Examining the implications of the energy disclosure policies and how they will impact commercial real estate markets is the role of CUSP, The Center For Urban Science Progress located, fittingly enough, at NYU.

The ability of today’s building owners to collect and process data is unsurpassed.  In commercial real estate, sustainability is less a collection problem and more of a measurement problem.  Finding what the right metrics are and what real data points lie behind them are essential in order to make the right decisions for operations.  This goes from energy consumption to measurements of indoor air quality and its impact on occupational health, to measuring the effects of better daylighting on profitability.

That’s the role of CUSP – to learn the full measure of methods to make the strongest case to the investor that sustainability is not just a feel-good, but a value proposition.

To learn more about CUSP, check out the CUSP website.

• Tracking Building Energy Use
• Newest Fed Beige Book: Commercial Real Estate Improved Markedly
• Efficiency In Energy Management Is Key To Pressures In Food Industry
• LEED, Existing Buildings, and the Empire State Mystery
• Lower Your Energy Consumption At Home

See what commercial practitioners had to say about market performance, sales and rental transactions, challenges, and expectations.

See what commercial practitioners had to say about market performance, sales and rental transactions, challenges, and expectations.

Anthony James

By Anthony James

Recently, I heard a local REALTOR® make this statement over the radio: “Even a monkey could sell real estate in this market.” As a professional in the industry with over 11 years of experience, I get it. I understand the message this REALTOR® was trying to convey: The market is hot and homes are selling quickly. However, I don’t think a monkey could do our job.

Surviving the downturn of the local California real estate market and pressing forward in my career has helped me understand the true meaning of being a broker/manager. When the game changed in 2007, many REALTORS® were left to either sink or swim. This was the defining moment in a REALTOR®’s career. During this time, the monkeys were definitely scratching their heads and eating bananas while the real professionals rose to the challenge and figured out a way to claw through one of the toughest real estate markets our nation had ever seen.

And don’t just take my word for it, let the numbers speak for themselves: According to the California Department of Real Estate (DRE), the amount of people entering our industry has substantially slowed. In 2007, California issued about 44,000 salesperson licenses—a relatively high number—but only 11,434 salesperson licenses were issued in 2012.  If the business of selling homes could be taken care of by a monkey, why is this number dropping at such an alarming rate? Wouldn’t everyone want to get in on the act?

Further, the misconceptions about our industry happen in mainstream media too. The  lives of typical REALTORS® are hardly as glamorous as they seem on reality TV shows like “Million Dollar Listing.” The average real estate agent is earning less than $38,000 per year and it makes my stomach turn to see our industry misrepresented on television. The truth is, we work long and hard for our money and sometimes go weeks without a paycheck. Let’s recognize the reality and not attempt to minimize the importance of our role and what we do as professionals.

But the other issue I take with the “monkey” statement has to do with its source. As a community of REALTORS®, we must always be aware of what we are saying and how we are portraying ourselves to the public. Making a statement that a monkey could do our jobs gives off the worst possible perception of how valuable we really are to our clients. I can assure you that no monkey would be able to complete the hundreds of short sales and REO transactions I’ve been involved with in the past 11 years. If I would’ve asked a monkey to help me figure out how to close the 10-month short sale with delinquent taxes, liens, HOA dues, back child support, a seller who left the country, property damage, and three loans at three different banks, I know the monkey would have no answer.

Today, I want to challenge us to rise up as a community of young professionals and be extremely aware of the statements we put into our markets and give to local media. As the tide turns and the market continues its recovery, please press forward with a level of character, dignity, and integrity that shows our clients how essential we are to the success of their real estate needs. Our jobs are challenging enough and the last thing we need is to be compared to an animal by one of our own. Rest assured, this ain’t no monkey business—and you can quote me on that!

Anthony James is a Broker Associate and Regional Manager at RE/MAX Gold in Northern California.  He’s been a REALTOR® for over 11 years and now helps hire and train agents for the 21 offices he manages.  Connect with James at www.facebook.com/SacHomeMarket or ajames@remax.net.

Walking up to the ballroom that promised a fast-paced, leadership-oriented session exploring “Online Tools and Apps to Increase Productivity and Awesomeness” at the Midyear Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo in Washington, D.C. earlier this month, I was a bit skeptical. As a somewhat savvy user of technology, it seems like every time I sign myself up for a session promising information about the latest tech tools, I end up sitting down to a lecture on Dropbox and Twitter.

But I just hadn’t met my new “nerdy best friend” yet. Beth Ziesenis, who markets herself with the self-deprecating four-letter n-word, was presenting the tech tool forum I was about to enjoy. She wrote the book, Upgrade to Free: The Best Free & Low-Cost Online Tools and Apps (TSTC Publishing, 2011), and plans to follow it up with another book soon.

“Back in the day, being nerdy wasn’t cool… but today we’re popular,” Ziesenis said of her chosen nickname. “These are the kind of tools that will set you apart.”

Turns out my early skepticism was unwarranted. I only had significant experience with one of the items Ziesenis described in her presentation, and there were a few I had never heard of at all. I even decided to act on a few of her recommendations. Here are some of my favorite takeaways from Ziesenis’ lively talk.

Ever see someone post a funny image with their name or catchphrase in it and wonder how they did it? Well, unless they’re a graphic designer, they probably used a generator. Basically, these generators take your custom text or image and plug it into a meme, art scheme, or element of popular culture. For example, it took me mere seconds to create and download the Weekly Book Scan bling image embedded on the right hand side of this blog entry. There are so many free options in this genre that Ziesenis couldn’t choose a favorite. But she keeps a running tally of the good ones on a Pinterest board (meta, huh?).

Ziesenis did share a particularly awesome generator-type site that does so much more than just make funny images from your inputs. At Tagxedo, you can enter your web site, blog, Twitter feed, or any number of online components into the generator and get a word cloud (in a variety of shapes, colors, and designs) that tells you what your site is saying.

“It’s important to do this to find out if your website says what you think it says,” Ziesenis told the audience. Of course, I later rushed to the site to see if REALTOR® Mag Online was giving off the right signals, resulting in the image embedded on the left (click on it to see a larger version, and let me know what you think).

Have you ever clicked on a link expecting information, only to find you’ve involuntarily downloaded an 85-page PDF? All too often, when a person wants to fancy-up a Word doc, they’ll hit the “Export as PDF” button and be done with it.

But with Issuu, you can create browsable, magazine-looking publications that are re-indexed to build up your SEO. Not that Ziesenis thinks you should stop at just one.

“You can put together a whole collection,” she said, showing attendees how the application “allows me to display them as a shelf.”

An investment analyst has approached the National Association of REALTORS® and several NAR directors seeking insights on a special meeting of the NAR directors that will take place in July. At the meeting, the  directors will be discussing proposed changes to the relationship between NAR/REALTOR® Information Network and Move Inc./RealSelect, which operates REALTOR.com.

The analyst, who signs his e-mails “Jem,” is offering an incentive for information and is seeking to learn the likelihood of changes that would restrict the ability of third parties to aggregate MLS data. NAR General Counsel Laurie Janik says directors should avoid speculating on any future actions of the board. “We don’t know what the board will decide,” Janik says, “so I would strongly caution against speculation.”

The Commercial Real Estate Lending Survey is conducted annually and provides an overview of lending conditions that impact commercial transactions nationally, based on responses from commercial real estate members.

Sam DeBord

By Sam DeBord

When talking to associates and the public about real estate topics, it’s important to be educated on the issues that we value most as REALTORS®.  Government fiscal and tax policy can be confusing issues that many REALTORS® don’t feel they have time for. Still, anyone working in the industry is bound to strike up a conversation that leads to the current budget shortfall and potential ways to fix it.  Reducing or eliminating the Mortgage Interest Deduction is often suggested.

REALTOR® advocates need to know a few quick facts to show our clients and our communities why this deduction is so important to homeowners, families, and the country as a whole.  This infographic makes the major points that every REALTOR® should be able to recount, without getting mired in the muck of too much tax policy:

The statistics make it plainly clear how valuable the Mortgage Interest Deduction is to Americans.  Roughly three out of every four homeowners with a mortgage claims the deduction.

With an average tax deduction of $2,713, the MID is a major savings for home buyers who are investing in their futures.  Without that deduction, we’d see some significant increases in taxes for middle-class Americans.

The typical taxpayer who claims the MID is under 45 years old, married, and has children.  Their household income is under $200,000.  This is the quintessential working family that is in the process of building a nest egg for their children’s future and long-term for retirement.  Saving those tax dollars each year is encouraging them to make investments in their community.

One of the biggest concerns with proposals to change the MID would be the effect on home prices.  Values of real estate across the country would be projected to fall 15 percent if the MID were eliminated altogether.  After finally beginning to recover from the previous downturn, real estate markets would be devastated by another such a drastic drop in prices.

Real estate is one of the biggest components of the national GDP, comprising about 15 percent of the total.  Consumer spending creates jobs and economic growth, and real estate has always been a leading driver for consumer spending.  Our national economic well being is, and always has been, tied to a healthy real estate market.

As REALTORS®, we’re obligated to speak up when real estate issues are on the table.  We know better than anyone the importance that the real estate market plays in every American’s financial well-being, whether or not they own a home.  Political arguments may espouse some lofty theories, but the real-world facts support our position.

Sam DeBord is a State Director for Washington REALTORS®, and managing broker with Coldwell Banker Danforth. Connect with his team at SeattleHome.com.

With vacancy rates modestly falling and rents moderately rising in commercial real estate sectors, market fundamentals have improved, but financing remains a challenge for small business.

By Melissa Dittmann Tracey, REALTOR(R) Magazine

Home buyers are sizing up homes with a long list of preferences.

The typical home shopper buys a home with three bedrooms and two full bathrooms, according to the National Association of REALTORS(R) 2013 Home Features Survey.

What feature did home shoppers report they most desire in a home?

Central air conditioning, according to the survey of 2,000 buyers on 33 home features. Central air conditioning was overwhelmingly the top home feature desired by home shoppers. A home that is cable/satellite TV-ready/Internet was also ranked highly.

What else should you be spotlighting on your listing ads for homes that you’re selling?

The NAR survey revealed the following eight interior design features that buyers ranked as “very important” in their home search:

1. Walk-in closet in the master bedroom

2. Ensuite master bath

3. New kitchen appliances

4. Eat-in kitchen area

5. Hardwood floors

6. Granite countertops

7. Kitchen island

8. Stainless steel appliances

What are your secret weapons in prepping a home prior to a showing and making it shine? Do you rub baby oil to make stainless steel shine? Or have you used kitty litter to try to remove oil stains on the driveway? As real estate and staging professionals, you’ve undoubtedly discovered several tricks of the trade in making a house shine and quick fixes to removing stains. Have you discovered a natural remedy for getting floors, faucets, windows, and mirrors to shine? What’s your trick for getting a more pleasing smell in your listing? What solutions have you found for removing stains?

Share your tricks of the trade in prepping a home for a showing! Your submissions will be considered for an upcoming article in REALTOR(R) Magazine. E-mail writer Melissa Dittmann Tracey, mtracey@realtors.org, and please include your staging tip as well as your contact information.

If you’re not used to seeing news of life insurance companies lending into new construction projects, you’re not alone.   The life business is shy around multifamily projects for reasons of institutional culture — life companies would rather not risk ending up as landlords to their own beneficiaries with all the potential PR disaster that might entail when it’ time to evict a tenant.

Office projects also tend to show down lender enthusiasm  in that sector, with tenants again the reason, albeit in a different way.   Unless the office leasing is done in full ahead of time, the project takes on a speculative flavor in the eyes of the guys and girls who play with actuarial tables for kicks.

Lenders generally are also looking at financing more retail and office development, “although one of the themes of 2013 is strong preleasing,” said Bill Cotter, the northeast division manager at Wells Fargo Commercial Real Estate. “There won’t be much spec construction; you won’t see any empty office buildings.”

Against the backdrop of a persistent credit crunch, life insurance companies are increasing their stakes in new construction.

Life insurance companies, having largely disappeared from the scene during the darkest days of the recession, are also starting to become more active, according to Tim Wright, senior managing director for Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP. There were five large insurance companies — MetLife, Prudential, Nationwide, Lincoln National and Principal Financial Group —  making construction loans before the bubble burst.

“When the market came back there was really one or two out there,” Wright says. “But slowly the market is starting to deepen. Right now there are three to four legitimate life insurance companies starting to consider permanent construction financing in new developments.”

Atlanta Leading The Way?

As usual, national trends are unevenly spread, with some markets showing distinct compositions that we haven’t seen since before the recession.  In Atlanta, a set of major projects describes what happens when banks back off their central role of allocating capital and life insurance giants step up:

Among the life insurance-financed projects in metro Atlanta, Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. is the equity partner and lender for a 23-story mixed-use tower with 330 luxury units at 12th & Midtown, the $1 billion mixed-use development at Peachtree and 12th streets involving Daniel Corp. andSelig Enterprises Inc.

In west Buckhead, MetLife bought the luxury apartment known as “The Rocca” and an adjacent site to develop a similar project. It spent a combined $23.1 million. MetLife is the capital partner on the redevelopment of The Rocca and the adjacent site, and Daniel Corp. will handle the development and management.

In central Buckhead, USAA Real Estate Co.and developer JLB Partners L.P. formed a joint venture on a 375-unit apartment building that has been under construction for months. The five-story building at Pharr and Peachtree roads will be known as Village at Buckhead and could be completed as early as this fall.

After a construction boom that created a glut of empty intown condo towers and office buildings, metro Atlanta has seen a historic slowdown in its development pipeline, and lenders remain selective about what projects they will touch.

The moral of the story: when credit gets tight, expect opportunity from unusual places.

• Florida Life Insurance Companies Being Accused of Fraud
• Bill specifies procedures for life insurance companies to search for beneficiaries
• Know the benefits of life insurance in its various forms
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• How To Decrease Your Life Insurance Costs

In the wake of devastating tornadoes which have caused so much damage to our friends in Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Association of REALTORS® formed a relief fund to assist REALTORS® and their families. Please click on the link below to read more about the efforts being undertaken and, if you have the means, consider donating to this newly formed  501 (c)(3) charity.

http://www.oklahomarealtors.com/about-oar/oklahoma-realtor-relief

A big THANK YOU to the Oklahoma AOR for showing the country the REALTOR® family is willing and able to help each other in this time of need.  Our thoughts continue to be with those affected.

Realtors® who practice commercial real estate have reported an increase in annual gross income for the third year in a row, signaling the market is on the road to recovery.

Darryl Davis salutes your resilience as a real estate professional, being able to make it through the lean years and come out on the other side. He also recognizes that when one problem in real estate is solved–such as a foreclosure crisis–it’s usually followed by other difficulties, such as the inventory shortages that real estate professionals are having to deal with across the country.

Credit: Steven Depolo

“You thought you had to smile when the market was bad?” Davis says. “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

But Davis isn’t all about doom and gloom. The speaker, trainer, standup comic, and real estate professional is on a mission to get real estate professionals smiling more.

Davis expects his new book—How to Design a Life Worth Smiling About—to be available by the time NAR’s annual conference rolls around in November. Until then, he’s determined to get the word out about why people should start smiling more. I saw him in action at NAR’s Midyear Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo in Washington last week, and I have to admit that I’ve been smiling more ever since.

He cites studies (like this one as published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology) that show that smiling actually makes you feel better. Even when you’re having a tough time, a smile can fool your brain into mitigating your negative attitude with natural chemical stimulants such as serotonin, endorphins, oxytocin, and dopamine, Davis says.

“The smile is a trigger, like a light switch, to tell the brain to produce these chemicals,” Davis says. “It tells the brain, ‘Hey, hello! I’m happy down here; give me some of those chemicals.’”

Davis also mentioned studies that found smiling people are perceived as more attractive and tend to have longer life expectancy. But the benefits go well beyond one’s own well-being. Davis says smilers can spread the love like a contagion.

“It gives people permission to smile,” he said. “Our smiling is our tail wagging… it makes you more approachable.”

Davis’ 40-minute talk was part of the Leadership Express sessions at Midyear, created especially for people in leadership positions, including volunteer leaders, association executives, staff and membership. Davis’ message wasn’t exclusively for leadership, but he did acknowledge that wearing a smile as a leader can make an especially important difference in the work environment.

“You can’t lead people if you look like you were weaned on a pickle,” Davis joked. “Smiling is so important to the success of a human being that really it is a leadership tool.”

But what if you just can’t crack a grin? While Davis strongly believes you should “smile, especially when you don’t feel like it,” he’s got a trick up his sleeve for the forever frowny: Bite a pencil. Using those same muscles might just fool your brain into thinking you’re smiling.

Then again, you might look sillier with a pencil in your mouth all day that you would if you just smiled. But hey, whatever makes you happy, right?

Dave Robison

By Dave Robison

“Who Moved My Cheese?” by Spencer Johnson is an easy but great read. The narrative is a simple story that describes the trials and tribulations of two mice—Sniff and Scurry—who always rely on getting their cheese from the same source. When the cheese source is moved, they wonder why it disappeared and promptly go in search for more. But cheese was easy to find when they knew just where it would be, and Sniff and Scurry had much more trouble locating food once they weren’t sure where to look.

And so it is with the real estate industry, especially as it relates to REO/short sales. We had some mice who were in the right place at the right time and knew exactly where to find the cheese so they could feast. In this case, the mice were some advantageous REALTORS® and the cheese was the REO/short sales market. In my opinion, the REO/short sales industry seems to have come and gone. When the market flourished, the top producers of the REO/short sales boom were certainly finding their cheese, (and why wouldn’t they? They knew exactly where to look). Today, with the boom waning, the REO/short sales top producers are telling me they’re going to have to sell real estate the “normal way.” What’s the lesson learned here? Now that they’re not sure where to find the cheese, they’re having much more trouble making a sale.

What are the clues as to when there will be cheese and when the cheese will be gone? Marilyn Wilson with the WAV Group recently spoke to our Utah Associaiton of REATLORS® and left many clues. The following are statistics she quoted from her research, (mainly conducted in the Houston area):

1. Based on her own survey results, when the general public of Houston was asked about the first company that comes to mind when they hear the words “real estate,” the most common answer was Zillow.

2. Only 12 percent of those surveyed said they would rather work with a REALTOR® instead of a real estate agent.

3. WAV Group called 1,000 listings and only reached 30 percent of agents immediately. Another 30 percent never even returned the phone call.

So, if you’re type of mouse who banks on the fact that cheese—or the latest hot trend in real estate—will never go away, you may say these facts are interesting and move on with your life. However, if you’re the type of mouse who knows the importance of dwindling cheese sources in the real estate industry, you may sense the winds of change from these bits of information. Which type of mouse do you want to be? Where do you see change happening now? What’s the latest real estate trend ready to disappear?

Dave Robison, known as “Utah Dave,” is broker/owner of UtahDave.com Neighborhood Experts.