Purple Haze

Well I couldn't of predicted this a couple weeks ago. Two of the best football games I've ever attended were back to back, and the Pirates came out on top of both. Holding the #8 team in the country WVU to 3 points was something special, but the excitement of the last minute win against Virginia Tech was exciting as it gets. The Pirates now hold a #14 ranking in the AP Poll and Coach Skip Holtz has just signed on to another six years at East Carolina!I have to admit, it sure was fun to be back in Greenville. I've got some friends that still live there that are nice enough to put us up for the weekend. With the success of the football team this year, the hotels are getting booked faster than the ECU students who rushed the field.

So when I haven't been engulfed in football this past couple weeks I've been working. My BNI group I wrote about last week is taking off, we had 7 new visitors this week that are all interested in joining. One moving to the area so hopefully we'll be out looking at some homes soon. It really is a great time for people to be home shopping, the interest rates just made another drop as well.

But what do you do if you are stuck in a home that just won't sell? There is something you'll see more of in the future, but it's been around for ages, Auctions. I don't want to call it a trend or say this form of selling real estate will take over, but I do feel there are properties out there that will benefit more from this type of sale. In some countries this is the primary means of selling real estate. I've seen some around Chapel Hill recently, so I signed up and took a course offered by Auction First North Carolina, Inc. It was a 4 hour course on just the fundamentals but what I learned was really eye opening.

First of all, it is amazing the response a AUCTION sign gets over the regular listing sign. As well as the online response from all over the world, auctions seem to attract a whole different breed of buyer. A home on Franklin Street here in Chapel Hill was listed with 3 agents over two years and no sale. They hired an auction company and were offered over their last listing price, and the buyer was from China! I really feel that real estate auctions will only find success in hard to sell and unique homes, but it is a great option to have for my buyers and sellers. Regular real estate licencees such as myself are working with buyers and sellers in these auctions, now I too am armed with all this information. I'll be interested to see where auctions go in the future, but with homes sitting on the market so long here in 2008 don't be surprised to see a sign near you.

I'm currently serving on the membership committee for the Chapel Hill Board of Realtors. My responsibilities are to head up a social function or two through out the year. I'm in the process of planning the 2nd Annual Young Realtor event to be hosted by The Franklin Hotel in downtown Chapel Hill. Last year the 35+ crowd felt a bit left out, so this year the theme will be more based on if you "feel young". I do, so I'll be there. I also have my friends Whitney Long & Rob Hale sponsoring the event, it's easier to attract a crowd when you're giving out a few free drinks.