I have a listing that’s been on the market since June 15. I know, that’s only a bit over a month… not too long in today’s market. But, this is a gorgeous, well appointed house in a great community, with really smart sellers. They keep the home immaculate, it shows beautifully and it’s priced well, comping to or even less than what the same model in the same subdivision sold for last autumn, after last summer’s rabid housing boom in Phoenix had ended. We didn’t try to edge the price up, like so many sellers are still trying to do. And the house has been marketed well. I’m proud of the differentiating factors we bring to our marketing. I’m not talking about the typical post-in-the-ground, ad-in-the-paper and flyer-in-the-box, but the kind of marketing that I believe Seth Godin might give a nod to if we were on his radar.
When I met with the sellers last night, I couldn’t give a good explanation as to why the house hadn’t even shown since the end of June. Sure, the market has slowed. But there are still folks out there buying houses. Perhaps conventional wisdom would have them lower their asking price, but I don’t believe price is the factor. I explained that theirs is a move up house and until someone lower on the food chain is able to sell his house, he won’t have any freedom of movement. My idea all along has been that this is a great house for a relocation. Yesterday Greg posted this from the Business Journal of Phoenix:
A new report by a research group called Federal Funds Information for States ranks Arizona first among states in terms of economic momentum.
And the day before, this came from from the same publication:
Quick, what do Mesa and Milwaukee have in common?
The two tied as the least vulnerable to natural disaster among the nation’s 50 largest cities. But Mesa wasn’t the only Arizona city to land near the top of the list created by SustainLane.com. Phoenix and Tucson tied for the No. 3 spot along with Cleveland and El Paso, Texas.
So anyway, Phoenix has great economic growth and no natural disasters. So this must mean people are relocating here. We know they are. And, we do very well on Google with relo-centric keywords. What we aren’t are the real estate giants that Russ Cofano mentions in his “Yet Another Agent Referral Site” article on RealtyObjectives.
You see, agents are scared and rightfully so. They see brokers like John L. Scott and Coldwell Banker Bain supercharge their web sites with new consumer friendly tools like interactive map searching and “sold” property data. They see the future… and it is not pretty. Big brokers are beginning to realize that the online home buyer is going to get captured somewhere and by capturing those buyers, brokers can monetize that relationship via their agents as well as their affiliated businesses (title, lending, escrow, etc)
But my take of his article is that he recommends Realtors work within those mega-Brokers, and as Greg has already pointed out, we at BloodhoundRealty.com never transact in dual agency, and so by necessity, though this is not the exclusive reason, we cannot be part of those communities.
So, where are all those buyers who are relocating to Phoenix, and how do we get them to look at this house? Any ideas will be more than welcomed. In fact, I’ll pay! I’ll donate $50 to Noah’s Ark, or to your favorite charity, for each fresh idea.
Technorati Tags: arizona, arizona real estate, phoenix, phoenix real estate, real estate, real estate marketing, relocate, moving, move to phoenix, move to arizona
Russ Cofano says:
Greg
Thank you for referencing my article. I must not have written it well enough because I did not mean to imply that agents should work for big brokers, that big brokers were better than smaller brokers or vice versa.
The point of my article was that brokers and agents are now competing to see who can capture the online relationship with prospective buyers and sellers whereas in the past. This competition is going to change the agent/broker dynamic. The point of the article is that agents and brokers can be even more productive if they find a synergistic way to work together online versus against one another.
Cheers
Russ
July 20, 2006 — 9:30 pm
Cathleen Collins says:
I’m sorry I misunderstood you, Russ. I thought your article was excellent and appreciate the clarification (even though it may have been needed only by me).
July 20, 2006 — 10:11 pm