Carolina On My Mind

I took a trip to the State Fair yesterday. The weather could not have been better and the crowds weren't as bad as expected. I won this big ol' moose by throwing a ring around the neck of a bottle, piece of cake. We went on plenty of rides and saw sights like the eight-legged spider woman, who weren't all that weird in comparison to some of the folks you'll see at the fair. The food was good as always, I even went as far as trying the fried Snickers which was a delectable treat.

The rest of the weekend seemed to fly by. Saturday I spent watching some ECU football and it's good to see they are back to their winning ways. That evening we went to a haunted house put on by the Raleigh Jaycees. It had it's moments and was worth the admission, even someone as big & tough as me flinched a few times. After that it was off to a surprise party for my friend Chris Raynor. We had a swell time and even ended the night with a limo ride thanks to Chris' girlfriend.

So one question a lot of agents have been getting asked recently is "what are you doing to keep yourself busy?" It's a valid question, as the number of buyers and sellers is down significantly. Other than keeping my current clients as happy as can be, I've been working a million different ways to improve my business. I'll give you a look into just a few of the things I've been working on.

New Look for my Business

So I'm finally making my way out of the standard issue products everyone uses here at my office. That ranges from our company issued business cards to photography I use for marketing. I'm working on branding myself a little more, taking the focus off "Fonville Morisey" and putting it on myself. I've recruited the help of John Paredes, a graphic designer and photographer in Chapel Hill. He has created a design that looks great and I'm really excited about. With that & my new photographs he took I'm looking forward to having a new image for my business.

Building Relationships

Knowing people in the community has to be the most important part of building a referral business. Lately I have been trying to get my tail to every networking event I can. I have been building my BNI group, which has grown beyond everyone's expectations so far. You'll find me at the local Chamber leads group and every Business After Hours event they host. I am attending all the Realtor workshops, serving on our boards' membership committee and planning young Realtor events. If there is someone out there I don't know, it will only be a matter of time.

Discovering New Products

New real estate products are coming in everyday, most of them web-related. Our IT department has been great in helping me target these new sites. I have been looking into all the sites that get the most consumer traffic, creating profiles and posting my listings there. This gives me and my homes the extra exposure I can use. For example I recently joined Zillow.com, which has some great tools for me as an agent. Millions of consumers are using this site to search for real estate, and even though I find their "zestimates" to be very flawed information, it helps to put these consumers and agents like me together. Now when I sit in for a listing appointment, are you going to list with Billy Bob who advertises in the paper or an agent that will spread your listing across all the major real estate sites?

So that's just a glance at some of the things I'm doing to improve business, I can't have you knowing everything I do. Plus I need to pack my things and head up to the UNC campus soon. James Taylor is playing a free concert this evening I'm pretty excited about. Live music has to be one of my favorite things, I can't imagine life without it. It surely wouldn't be as sweet.

Economy Woes & TV Shoes

Howdy everyone. I hope your having a great day. I have been so far, just got done playing a round of golf at The Governors Club with my boss and some other agents. It has to be one of the nicest courses I've ever played. I am pretty darn bad at golf but I enjoy playing. I trumped my normal goal of getting one par on the day, with a whole two pars. That called for some celebrating at the clubhouse after the round.

Speaking of achieving goals, many of you know my friends Heba & Ed are on The Biggest Loser this season. I went to the viewing party they hosted Tuesday and got to see them win an RV! I think everyone see's them as a big threat for how many challenges they have been winning, let's just hope they can keep it up. Tuesday nights at 8:00, make sure you are cheering on the orange team.

So last time I wrote I was going on about ECU football. Well that has taken a turn for the worst if you hadn't noticed. I really hope we can get it together and win the rest of our schedule, I'd hate for us to be some early season flash in the pan. I had to skip the game in Greenville this past weekend. Between showing houses and dog sitting for my old pal Delilah I couldn't make the trip. I was living with my friend Matt at the time he got her and for 2 years after, so it was fun getting to spend a weekend with her.

Right now my business is still moving, but the market is not making it an easy job. I am working with one buyer at the moment looking at foreclosures. There are plenty of these on the market right now, with a handful of them being good opportunities. The home we ended up pursuing is a short sale. The way a short sale works is a bank owes more than they are selling it for, they simply want to cut their losses. These tend to be better investments than other foreclosures. There are lots of situations where banks have given 1st & 2nd mortgages for close to the value of the home. When prices were increasing, this made sense. Now with prices stalling or falling, there is no way for the banks to recoup all their money; with no real investment opportunities in these homes they will sit on the market with the rest.

With all the money banks now have tied up in these homes, there is a limited amount of funds to lend. With the economic bailout plan set to be voted on today, the goal will be to put these funds back in place for the American consumer to borrow. It is a harsh reality to see now what has occurred, and the economy has learned a tough lesson. I suggest reading this article from 1999, which shows some seeds being planted that spurned this mortgage crisis.

I have seen some pretty creative ways to sell a property in recent months. Real Estate raffles seem to becoming quite popular with homeowners. I may buy a ticket for this house, $50 seems like a good price for a waterfront home. Other homeowners who can't sell will have to face the reality of foreclosure. I've sat with many of these homeowners where there is no solution in site. I find most people are more concerned with what their neighbors think thank their own financial future. In other news of note, I've recently put in my application to do some substitute teaching. I have a pretty flexible schedule so I look forward to being able to do this once or twice a week. I went by my old elementary the other day and let all my past teachers know, I'm pretty excited to be going to back to Ephesus Elementary now and then. Have a great weekend.