We’ve all been hit lately…

From the Jack’s Winning Words Blog - “Everyone has a plan until they are hit.” (Evander Holyfield). Certainly Evander’s words apply to almost everyone in the real estate world lately, whether buyers or sellers or agents.

Many buyers have been socking away money for a down payment for years, only to see that money (if it was invested in almost anything) melt away in the current financial mess. All of a sudden they have less than the 20% that mortgage companies are demanding these days. There are still programs available that require less of a down payment, but the limits on what one can borrow are lower and the credit requirements are likely higher than they were a year ago.

Sellers are the “punch-drunk” participants in this process, having been hit with a combination of punches – falling house values (BAM), ARM’s that have reset to alarming levels (BOP), and fewer buyers out looking (BASH). It’s a wonder that any are still on their feet. Indeed many have gone down for the foreclosure count and some have just said “No Mas,” thrown in the towel and walked away from their houses. The ones who remain on the market look a t lot like Rocky Balboa at the end of his first fight with Apollo Creed.

And what of the Realtors involved in all of this? Well, quite a few have exited the arena and many now have day jobs to try to make ends meet. I’ve opined here a couple of times about dealing with part-time Realtors who have full-time jobs, so I won’t go there, now. Let’s just say that the remaining practitioners are working harder and making less than they were before all of this mess started. Some have turned themselves into REO specialists (that stand for Real Estate Owned, the term that applies to foreclosed, bank-owned properties). Others have become (or purport to be) short-sale specialists (I have a Web site dedicated to that, for instance – http://www.mishortsales.net/).

Many Realtors, and I am one, are focusing more upon the buyer side of the equation. Why? Because, to steal a phrase from famous bank robber Willie Sutton; who, when ask why he robbed banks, replied, “That’s where the money is.” It just makes sense to work with the only people in the game who are bringing money with them to the process. Of course many sellers are having to bring money too, but that’s another story.

I still take listings and go out on 1-2 listing calls a week; however, the number that I take is down, because I won’t take a listing if the seller is unrealistic about the price. It just doesn’t make sense to take overpriced listings in the current market. Listings represent costs to a Realtor – the costs to advertise in support of marketing the place. If the Realtor can see, up front, that those expenditures are going to be wasted on a house that won’t sell at the listed price, then why take it in the first place? Some Realtors will take bad listings thinking that they can talk the client down later; but, they just end up "chasing the market down." Some take listings just to get signage exposure; hoping that their signs will attract buyers they can work with or maybe a few, more realistic listing clients. I don't buy into either of those strategies. If I take a listing it is to sell the house, period.

So, that’s my plan and I’m sticking too it…until I get hit!