Thank You Veterans

Lately I've been travling a lot. It's a lot tougher than it was 15 years ago when I traveled almost every day of the month. I guess it's age. My schedule the past few weeks has been crazy. Three weeks ago I spoke at the Inman's Agent Reboot in Fort Lauderdale, the day before I was at a Fannie Mae Broker seminar also in For Lauderdale. The following week I was in D.C. speaking at another Inman Agent Reboot there. The week after I was in Orlando doing a seminar called Internet Marketing and Lead Conversion - The Truth. Finally, this past weekend, I spent three days in New Orleans at NAR and had a blast!

Why am I telling you all this? Because I am free. I am an American. I'm proud to be an American, but more importantly, I'm so proud of the men and women who currently and in the past have given their time and often their lives so I can live the American Dream. I travel freely around this country because of these men and women. I run my companies and will succeed or fail, but either way because I have the freedom to succeed and fail. Only because of these brave men and women I have had all the opportunities I have had the past almost 50 years of my life.

Have you ever thought what it would have been like if you were born in a different country? Can you imagine what our lives would be like if we weren't blessed to live in the United States? I think about it often, how lucky we are and have been for so many years. Without our soldiers, our warriors, none of this is possible.

Make sure you always thank a soldier and their family's. Every time you do it puts a smile on their face.

To all the current and past men and women who serve our country, Thank You! and God Bless America!

When is the best time to buy?

I hear this question probably 5 times per month, every month. We all want to know when is the best time to buy. The quick answer is when you need a house. However, since we know that's not what people mean when they ask, let's look at why I believe November and December are the best time to buy a home.

A funny thing happens every year in the Real Estate industry. 3/4's of the entire Realtor workforce takes from the second week or so of November off through the end of the year. Personally I have never understood why so many people take that amount of time off, but I'm not like most Realtors and Brokers. I work, I work all year. I do take time off for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Usually about 3-4 days for each holiday. However, most Real Estate professionals look at this time of year as a very slow time. The reality is, it can be a great time to buy a home.

Here is why: Since we know that most Realtors take the last 6 weeks off for the most part, the amount of showings on listings goes down dramatically. So here we are in the second week of December. Most showings of homes are very few and far between. As a seller, when showings drop off, it's a signal for buyers to come into the market. The reason being is that with fewer showings on homes, sellers are more apt to negotiate a little more liberal because of their desire to sell their home and their fear that an offer at this time might be the only offer they receive.

So why buy now? Between interest rates being as low as they have ever been (4.125% the other day) and home prices being as low as they have been in around 10 years, and add in motivated sales and it's the perfect storm to buy. If your goal is to get the best deal on real estate right now, this next 10 weeks may just be the best time for you to put a contract on a house.

One last thing, don't forget that at some point in the very near future interest rates are going to climb. How high? When? Who knows! I don't have a crystal ball, but if you are close to my age (almost 50, yikes!), you know that the interest rates are crazy low.... I've never seen them this low. However, in short order they will go back to at least 6% or maybe 8%. A $200k house at 6% is going to be about $400 more per month than the current rate around 4%. That's a heck of a lot more buying power now than in the future.

Don't miss the boat and be one of the thousands that are about to say: "I should have bought a house during the crash of 2006-2010.

If you need anything or have any questions, don't hesitate to call or email.

Have a great weekend!

4.25% Interest Rates

I know, I get a little smiley when I see a rate that I have never seen before! I know I have said this before, but with interest rates between 4% and 5% why would you not buy. With the exception of adjustable rate mortgages a few years ago, we just don't see rates this low. So when will they go back up? It's just a matter of time as we all know. However, whether you take advantage of this opportunity to buy a home, is up to you.

Ok, so I know you think I'm just saying this so you will buy a home from us during the downturn. The reality is, we sell a lot of homes and have sold homes to more buyers than any other real estate office in our county (out of over 350 offices). This has nothing to do with Tropical Realty selling you a home. This has everything to do with you taking advantage of probably one of the best opportunities to buy a home in the past 15 years or more! When you look at it, by buying today you are getting a $200 - $300 a month savings verse when interest rates go up.

Go ahead and take advantage...it's time you got a good deal isn't it!

Have a fun night!

Mitch

A sharp drop and then back to normal

Hey Everyone!

I hope you are all doing great this fine Sunday night. Business has been interesting the past month or two. We had 4 record months from March - June. It was pretty incredible but most of us knew it was not a real return back. It was supported by the first time home buyer and resellers tax credit. Once the credit ended, we saw one of the worst two months since opening our doors with regard to new contracts. I was expecting a drop off, but was hopeful, that with our interest rates around 4.5%, we might get lucky.

With all that being said. August will not be as bad as July and it seems like a lot more people are starting to come back out again. Hopefully we will be getting back to our new normal. What is the new normal? The new normal is 50% short sales and foreclosures selling at a decent clip and properly priced properties selling within 90 days too!

In a market like this, it would be understandable for Realtors to give up on the business. I'm sure that many of my Agents think about leaving on a regular basis. It's a ton of work, customers are cranky for the most part and worse, buyers and sellers still are not very realistic on home prices. However, my Agents have held up strong and continue to do a great job helping their customers. Not only do they work full time, a real full time, but they live and breathe this stuff. My job, as the broker, is to work hard to make sure my Agents are trained properly to help you.

You may not know that every other Tuesday we have our training sessions. These sessions can touch on things such as goal setting, our over the top customers service, how to find homes more efficiently for our customers and so much more. My beliefs are the better my Agents skills, the better experience you are going to have with Tropical Realty of Suntree. One of the flaws in this industry is that training, besides the mandatory 14 hours every two years, is not really present in most companies or this industry. I grew up with the work ethic and words from my dad that carry me through. He said, " no matter what you do in life, make sure you are the best and most honest at what you do." I have always lived by being one of the best and always the most honest and ethical Realtor in the business. My Agents are reflections of my beliefs. They are all wonderful people who care tremendously about their customers goals and needs.

So if you are out and about with one of our agents. Ask them what we have been training on lately. I'm sure they will be anxious to tell you. If you haven't met your Agent yet, take the time to look at a few homes with them. Get to know him or her as they can make your home buying or selling experience very positive and fun!

I look forward to helping you!

Mitch

Just another day

Hi Everyone!

I hope you are having a great day today. Being a broker can be very interesting. It can also be very boring. However, since I'm not just a Broker, I'm an Entrepreneur! I have been self employed most of my adult life and have had a ball. I've had many ups and many downs, but in the end, everything has happened for a reason and the experiences have been amazing!

So here I am the Broker of my Real Estate Company, Tropical Realty of Suntree. We have around 20 Agents and an awesome admin staff. We are one of the lucky Real Estate companies. We have survived the brunt of this recession. Has it been stressful at one time or another? Of course it has, it's been down right scary a few times! However, we have managed to keep on growing 20% per year, each year. The reason, great systems and most important, great people!

When I started the Brokerage I knew I didn't want to be like a traditional brokerage. On the outside we appear to be just like any other Brokerage. We offer a full service experience. However, the real success of our company comes not only from our great Internet Marketing program, but from our relationship with each other within our office. I've owned several companies and I've run others. I have never been lucky enough to work with this many great people who all get along like family. It's really very cool. I feel very blessed!

So why am I telling you all this stuff? I'm not sure. I'm in one of those reflecting moods where I'm just thinking about things. Sometimes, no matter how difficult things can be, you just have to look at all the good in your life. Sure the Real Estate business, no matter how well we are doing right now, is a tough ride especially emotionally. However we keep our eye on the ball and know that we do a great job for our customers. We do whatever it takes to help our customers have a smooth non-stressful experience. Our job is to absorb that stress, deal with it, and give you service with a smile!

Let me know what we can do to help. Take care!

Mitch

Tropical Realty of Suntree now accepting listings!

I know, two post in one night. I want to chat real quick about our new listing program. You can go to www.ListWithEase.com to check out the program.

In 2006 I made the decision to stop taking listings. Most in the industry thought I was crazy for doing so, but as a business person, it just didn't make sense. Sellers were not realistic in their expectations and homes were not selling. We had a ton of listings and our Agents, and myself, were getting daily calls from our customers yelling at us. Was it our fault? Absolutely not. The market fell like a rock! No matter what we told our customers, they told us we were wrong and we didn't know what we were talking about.

Just a quick example. I ran into an old customer, well potential customer, from 4 years ago. He practically ran after me at the golf course. Mitch he says, I just have to tell you something. Four years ago you told me that my house would sell for $550,000. I had other Realtors that insisted I could get what I wanted, $650,000. After 3 years on the market, and not listening to you, the house sold for $350,000. If I had listened to you, I would have made $200,000 profit. Instead, I lost money. This story is true and not the only one I heard. I have heard it several times.

So here we are now, May of 2010. The market has leveled for about a year now and finally consumers are realizing that their homes are going to be worth whatever the neighbors foreclosure or short sale sold for. Those homes are part of the value of your home now no matter what the consumer believes. Consumers are finally listening.

So why list with Tropical Realty. The biggest reason of course is that for the past 4 years we have helped more buyers buy homes than any other real estate office in Brevard County. In the end, the most important ingredient in selling your home is buyers. Our Suntree office alone has almost a 9% market share out of about 400 offices in the county. Between our Suntree and Merritt Island offices, we have about a 15% market share. Pretty impressive numbers but that's just the beginning. Here are some more stats:

Monthly Visitors to our websites - 75,000 +

Monthly Unique Visitors - 20,000 +

New Buyer Leads Daily - 60-120

Average "clicks" on each of our listings - 250 + times per month

Database of Buyers - 59,000 and counting daily!

In the end, why would you list your home with an agency that just lists homes when you can list with an agency that sells homes. It's really simple. Those who have the buyers rule this market. Tropical Realty has more buyers than anyone else! It's that simple!

If you are interested in having Tropical Realty evaluate your home, please feel free to call us directly or go to www.ListWithEase.com and we will be glad to help you. If you owe more than your home is worth, we also can help you with the short sale process. We have sold tons of short sales over the past couple years. We are experienced! I look forward to helping you!

Mitch

Home sales are up and interest rates are down!

I hope you are all doing well. I feel like I open these always apologizing because I haven't written in a while. The reason, as always, is we are swamped! That's a good thing of course!

In March and April we had two of the biggest months we have had since we opened our doors in 2005. We helped 58 customers in March and 46 in April. Our record prior to this was 44 customers in a month. Not to shabby! Was the tax credit the reason for the increased sales? I'm not sure. I do know however, that our marketing has produced a ton of new buyers coming into the area. Even though May, which is usually a slow month for us, is slower, we are seeing a lot more buyers come out who are looking for higher priced homes. The inventory of the low end homes continues to evaporate and prices have definitely leveled for quite some time.

So, with all that said, there is a lot of excitement in the market right now. Our bookings (people coming in to view homes) for June and July are extremely high. That should mean very busy months for our office and our Agents. Luckily we have some of the best Agents in the area working for Tropical Realty. The always put their customers first before their commission. We always talk about how important it is to help our customers. I'm blessed to have 20 + Agents that have the same moral fiber I do when it comes to this business. We love helping our customers!

As of today, interest rates were down under 5%. According to the news, the problems over in Europe are actually helping to keep our rates lower. Foreigners are buying our bonds which keep our rates low. This really is the perfect situation for buyers. Prices are at their 8 year low and interest rates are at their 50 year low according to the news today. What are you waiting for?!

As always, we are here to help you. If you are seriously thinking about buying, this IS the time. If you have been thinking about it, then this IS the time to make your move. It won't be long before this perfect time becomes the past time.

If you have any questions. Always feel free to call or email me.

Have a fun night!

Mitch