Real Estate....the good, the bad and the ugly

"How's the market....really?". I hear it a lot. I think most of us answer that question with such trepidation. Is it better? The answer is complicated. We aren't selling 2 bedroom ranches w/ no basements for over $300,000 and Capes aren't selling for $420,000 anymore BUT, houses sell. Every single day something sells. Buyers are pickier and sellers have been beat up. When homes are selling well, prices are controlled b/c when a seller controls price, they don't need to accommodate any other factor. Everyone can price their colonial for $500,000 whether you moved in last year or have owned it for 30 years. But when a buyer controls the market, the seller's personal motivation plays a HUGE part in the process. People who have owned their home for 20 years can be much more flexible than a couple who bought their home in 2006 and that is why we such discrepancies in price....all over the board really. Very rarely are sellers ABLE to list their home for the price I think will work. They just don't have the financial flexibility. The best thing about a seller's market is consistency. This current market is completely random.

Sometimes I think people think we miss the old market b/c it was "easier". But truth be told, my "best" years have come after the peak. Here's what most of us miss.....the JOY of real estate. I miss checking MLS every 20 minutes b/c we were waiting for that perfect house to come on the market so we could POUNCE! I miss seeing buyers fall head over heals w/ a house b/c they have been waiting to live in a certain neighborhood and now here's this house....finally! I miss seeing sellers thrilled at the price of their home. I miss the excitement that would come from an offer on one of my listings being faxed over and just dying to see the price (of course, almost every offer came in high...so not a lot of mystery but certainly a lot of excitement!). I miss calling my sellers, barely containing my own joy, that they have an offer. (Now when I call with an offer, I often have to start slow and easy b/c the number is a painful stab in the gut.)

BUT....here's why I still do it!!!! People can buy a house now who didn't have a chance before! Every year I still have clients that feel more like friends than clients and their happiness is my happiness. I still believe in the HOME. I still believe that this commodity that I manage to broker is STILL one of the greatest dreams come true. I still believe that what I sell isn't a building....I still get excited when I get a new client who is vested in the process....b/c believe me, it's a process. There's almost greater satisfaction at a closing when you and your sellers have traveled through many challenges to be able to sit there at that moment knowing WE DID IT! I still love to sit at the closing table and more times than not, we sit there sharing a bond that makes sellers and Realtors more like family.

The ups and the downs....there are pendulum swinging moments for sure. They can swallow you up. I have been in downs that are really tough. There are dark moments for every Realtor who feels helplessly held hostage by our current market. But for every "down" moment, I have had the ups too like seeing buyers tearful w/ joy that they FOUND their home....they are home.

Would I rather make a living singing folk music and traveling around the country with my band? Sure would. But until then, this gig ain't too bad!!!