Think About It

..I was sitting at my desk at RE/MAX HALLMARK, doing some paperwork on a listing of mine that was going through the "sold conditional"stage when I got a call from a prospective buyer asking about the same property. After I told him the status he quickly switched to other available properties in the same area. After a few minutes he made it clear that he wouldn't be signing a buyer agreement until I found him the property that he wanted. While that makes sense on the surface, once you sit back and realize what the prospect has said you quickly come to the conclusion he has put himself in a self defeating situation. The odds of finding the right property fall off rapidly because there is no commitement to find the property. Lets take it a step further, if that caller had signed a buyer agreement a week earlier he would have had an excellent chance of landing the property he was calling about. He would have had a working knowledge of similar properties in the same area, he would have been prepared . This is a big investment, it's hard to understand why some buyers want to leave such an important purchase to chance and not carefully explore all options. The serious buyer signs and agreement with a Sales Representative and lands the right property, the "tire kicker" hopes luck will smile his way.

DON'T LET THE FACTS GET IN THE WAY OF A GOOD STORY

It is fascinating to watch after so many years in TV and Radio newsrooms, just how long it takes for the real story to emerge. From the pages of "The Toronto Star" Thursday May 21st, the headline reads "Realtors making merry in May".The caption says it better and more accurately,mid month transactions are up 3% and house prices are on a par with a year ago. All of that of course is true. I might stand corrected but I doubt it, some of my blogs said as much over the past few weeks, yes there are fewer listings, money is oh so cheap to borrow and many first time homeowners have hit the market. All of this fuels multiple offers and higher prices for those looking to sell. Simple economics yes, but very effective. You have to love the economics of the housing market. It is self correcting, too bad some of our other issues can't say the same.

The Power of Positive Thinking !

It is my favourite time of the year. Spring has sprung, the golf course is open for business and the Real Estate market like everything else perks up. While struggling through an early round at The Summit Golf and Country Club I came up with this thought. It seems that those of us that struggle in the mid 90's always come up with a shot or two per round that drive us back as soon as we can get out again. Think about that. 94 shots fired and only two are carried forward as building blocks to a better round. So here is the thought, why can't we carry forward that same optimism in everything we do. The Baseball Hall of Fame is full of players that were able to record a basehit 3 out of 10 times, 2 out of 94 shots for some of us is the tonic we need. Something to think about the next time a situation appears more negative than it actually is.