Time to Put My Head Down & Sprint to the Finish (the end of the year!)

You may have read that I was in a “funk” on Thursday, well I’m much better now, thank you very much. I took a couple days to be crabby & feel blah and today I’m determined to change my attitude, my circumstances and my vision. Its a new day and its actually a beautiful day for October in Iowa.

So I’ve realized that several times each day I’m asked the questions “How’s business?”, “How is real estate?” or “How is the market?” I usually answer with something to the effect of “Still doing good” or “A little bit slow, but still good.” But I’ve begun to wonder if that generic “I’m surviving and haven’t quit yet” answer is what people are looking for or if they actually want to know how the market really is?

Currently I have 25 listings, which is down from a high of 38 this summer. Of those 25… 1 is a condo, 2 are duplexes, 3 are acreages and the rest are single family homes. My listings are spread all over central Iowa from Jewell to Elkhart and Zearing to Madrid. They are priced from $54,000 to $359,900. The average listing on the Ames MLS is taking 111 days to sell and they are selling at 94% of their final asking price.

As for buyers, I would describe this year’s buyers as nervous & cautious. There are plenty of buyers out there but they are doing their homework, they know what they want and they are willing to wait if they don’t think its a good deal. Of my 25 listings, 9 of those sellers plan to purchase another property right away but have to sell theirs first. I have 4 serious buyers that are ready, willing & able to purchase immediately (nothing to sell) if the right property came along. I have another 5 buyers who will list their homes as soon as they find the right property. I have 6 first time home buyers actively looking for properties and about 30 buyers in my pipleline that I estimate will buy in the next 6-12 months.

All of that said, my business is down a little from last year, but still doing good! I think I’m doing very well considering the media tells me how bad the market is every day when I watch the morning news. So instead of winding down into the fall & winter market I’m actually trying to ramp up my business. I’ve concocted a plan to “Sprint to the Finish” (ok, its not a new idea, I stole, I mean borrowed it) and will be focusing on certain business activities each week for the next 6 weeks.

This week the focus is on…recalibrating & requalifying my datase. Did I mention I have over 700 people in my database? I have to go now, I have a lot of work to do!