November 28, 2007
By Dale P. Zahn, Chief Executive Officer
Recently, while on Official Business attending the National Association of REALTORS Convention, I got a call from ‘back home’ here in West Michigan . One of our members had been approached by a local newspaper that was in ‘hurry-up’ mode to do a story on the ‘glut of homes for sale’ in the marketplace and how bad the marketplace supposedly is. Great, another doom and gloom story. The old saying is, ‘it sells papers or ‘bad news sells.’
Within minutes I was on the telephone, 2000 miles from home talking to a reporter. It was quite cordial but I really don’t think I provided the slant on the news that the reporter wanted to hear. Why? Simply because my approach was POSITIVE and not negative on the marketplace. We, in the industry, and our friends in the media need to put an end to the negativism and look at the upside of life and housing in West Michigan . We must not buy into the doom and gloom. We need, as I see it, to toss the negative attitude to the wind!
At last report, and somebody may correct me if I’m wrong, people still need a roof over their head, right? The American Dream of Home Ownership still ranks high in terms of basic human wants in this greatest country on the planet. That being said, let’s look at reality first. Reality today is that there are in fact more homes for sale today than last year at this time……reality today is that prices may not be as high or steady as they were a year ago at this time……but there’s possibly a more important reality. It’s called OPPORTUNITY ! My own wife and I have had this discussion a number of times lately….let’s take a good hard look at upgrading or buying a piece of acreage with a home on it, NOW, yes in TODAY’S MARKET. Why? It’s called OPPORTUNITY ! I speak from a position of experience, having been in and around the real estate industry for over 33 years, more than ½ of my lifetime. I do not list and sell anymore; I manage Michigan ’s finest real estate trade Association offering members superb services at reasonable cost. But, if I was listing and selling real estate, this is the kind of market I’d thrive in. Knowing that, it’s the kind of market I’d want to be BUYING or INVESTING in. The opportunities available today are fantastic. True, in selling a home one might not get all the $$ they want or think they should get, BUT they’ll gain a distinct advantage when the buy because some other seller will be ‘not getting all the $$ they want or think THEY should get!’
Here’s the point – TREMENDOUS INVENTORY + VERY LOW INTEREST RATES + A WIDE VARIETY OF HOUSING OPTIONS = O P P O R T U N I T Y!
For a home seeker or investor, today’s market place is golden, it’s almost a dream come true. For today’s REALTOR that works hard and is focused at helping people with their Opportunity , success is waiting for them. For the REALTOR that is waiting for business to land in their lap or be as good as it was when they didn’t have to work as hard during record high markets, they’re in trouble. For property owners that want pie-in-the-sky prices for their homes, they’re in trouble. These are just the stark realities we have facing us. The market can be great, full of opportunity or it can be very dismal. I’ve frequently said that some would give me a medal if I stated things are bad or told the press that things are really terrible in the housing market. I won’t do that – why? Because I’d be lying. Today we have a GREAT MARKET full of OPPORTUNITY !
I encourage people to take full advantage of it.
