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December 2007
Index of all
messages
from the Association President
All real estate is local; Denver may be poised for growth
By David DeElena
The recent NAR REALTORS® Conference and Expo in Las Vegas offered a theme for all REALTORS® and media professionals to bear in mind: that the issues facing the real estate community are local in nature.
Often, the media communicate the economic concerns of real estate on a national level. This information may be pertinent to some investors who hold interest in stocks based on mortgages and housing sector activity, but the overall impact on local buyers or sellers can be vastly different than reported.
The true forecast
Speakers at the NAR Conference compared this to a national weather forecast. Watching the Weather Channel and seeing the national average temperature of 76 degrees does little good to us in Denver if we are expecting snow.
Or how about another analogy? At the Conference, REALTORS® played a version of “The Price is Right” that showed how dramatically different the housing prices are from one area to another. Professionals from across the country were grouped into teams of four and asked to determine the price of homes from randomly-selected areas. The teams showed very poor ability to accurately predict the values of these homes. They illustrated the point very clearly – all real estate is local.
The whole story
Numerous reports in the various media dwell on the foreclosures, short sales and builder overstock as the conditions most influencing the Denver metro market. Although the information may be valid on the grand scale, as REALTORS®, we are well aware of areas and neighborhoods experiencing strong growth and limited inventories. Even in areas where the statistics are showing declining values and increased foreclosure activity, the potential for investors is huge! REALTORS® have the resources available to them to be able to provide their clients with detailed market information specific to their community.
A strong prediction
At the November Conference, NAR’s newly-promoted Chief Economist Lawrence Yun provided a detailed analysis of the various markets throughout the nation. Denver appears to be poised for a strong growth potential in 2008.
Builders have reduced their building activity and overall new building permit applications are down. This should allow for the resell market to gain some balance, reducing inventories and providing for some stabilization in pricing. Denver has continued to increase in population, jobs are being created and home sales have been sluggish. This creates an opportunity in which pent-up demand is being considered a valid scenario. Many buyers have been sitting on the fence waiting to see the “bottoming out” of the real estate market. Factor in other positives like Colorado’s moving from number one in foreclosure filings to number eight nationally and metro area real estate looks poised for some improved performance in 2008.
You can find additional information, including Yun’s entire PowerPoint presentation, at www.realtor.org by clicking the research tab. The presentation includes helpful slides that may be included in a listing presentation for your sellers. This helpful tool, along with many others, is provided to all REALTOR® members at no cost.
Get ready for a strong year ahead
So with an optimistic year on the horizon, how should we prepare for 2008?
Establish goals that require you to perform at higher levels than this year. Implement a daily routine focused on effective communication with your prospects and generation of new leads. Review your contact management systems to ensure they are vital, consistent and adding new prospects every month.
These steps may sound like the basics, but it’s often easy to allow ourselves to begin to believe the negativity of the newspapers, TV broadcasts and more. Your results for the upcoming year are directly related to the effort and focus on preparation that you apply to your specific business model.
Here’s to a prosperous and productive new year!
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