2007 Is Off and Running

The world of real estate, that is the business of real estate, is not a carefully controlled or predictable, or rational place. Certainly not one for the faint of heart. The tail end of last year was a really dreadful experience for most of us, and a serious drain on capital for those who share our advertising philosophy, namely maintaining a high level of exposure regardless of market conditions. Since everything seemed to favor the market, at least technically, the only thing lacking was the active participation of people. We were convinced that people were going to stream back into active behavior with the introduction of some catalyst, and boy were we right. We have no idea if the simple change of calendar from '06 to '07 is the only catalyst, but lacking anything better to point to we'll accept that. Both of our offices are on fire, listing, showing , selling, and mortgage refi activity is up as well. Are we "stoked", as one of our agents describes her feelings? You bet. To steal a line from an old joke, if I were to die right now it would take the undertaker a week to get the smile off my face. What does this mean to individual buyers and sellers? As silly as it may seem, happy people are easier to negotiate with, the process flows more smoothly, agents are less likely to be "urging" you to action and more likely to be considerate of your wishes. All winning teams enjoy a much higher support level from their fans, and all highly supportive fans enjoy greater efforts from their teams. This circularity is true in business as well. You support us because we are successful. We are successful because you support us, and it makes us work even harder. Serendipitous, and are we ever grateful. We think this is the beginning of a very good real estate year, not simply a minor surge. Further we don't think it's a return to the nonsense of escalating prices as recently experienced. Simply a strong, healthy market serving the buyer and seller equally. Please keep in mind that our comments are reflective of our market area, generally Butte, Glenn and Tehama counties in California. If you're reading this in New York, I haven't a clue what's going on in your back yard.
As always, thanks for visiting.