Perrysburg Blog

It’s good to be with RE/MAX.

Fun facts:  RE/MAX Market share in Perrysburg in 1988, when my company started – 0%.  DiSalle was #1.

RE/MAX Market share in Perrysburg today? 28%.

Sulphur Springs has 18%, Welles Bowen 12%, Danberry 11%, Loss 5%, and DiSalle 4%.

Leadership – part of what you get when you hire Jon Modene and RE/MAX Masters.

Heads up.

Hold on.

Some would say . . . that sales are up.

And that means that . . . the real estate crisis is over.

Let me share some “field notes” with those who are predicting an imminent real estate recovery.

1. I just listed 3 new REO’s today.

2. I just received a heads up from 2 different REO Asset management firms to get ready for 10 or more new assignments.  Today.

3. One of my team members is showing homes to an out of country, non-US buyer.  With cash in his pocket.  Here from overseas to pick up 10 to 20 REO homes in Toledo.  Today.

4. I just completed an appraisal on a Perrysburg REO listing.  Today.

5. My team is also showing houses and selling houses – in Perrysburg – to regular “retail” buyers – and they remain motivated to buy.  But price and value are always in mind.

6. I was just given 3 new REO listings to start processing.  Today.

The upshot – look for more inventory to be on the market.   More pressure on prices.  More lenders moving foreclosed property.  More pressure on homeowners who need to sell.  More appraisers who are being tight with value.

Hold on.

Some real estate advice – from a guy who has sold a few houses and a few investments over the past 20 years.

If it sounds too good to be true – it is.

If someone who drives a Ferrari wants you to invest your money with him – run away.

If some sharp guy wants you to get you in early on a great real estate investment but, you know, the details are a little fuzzy . . . and he drives a Ferrari, in Perrysburg Ohio – run away.

(N.B. – this letter is PRICELESS.  Enjoy reading it before the U.S. Marshall takes it down.  You have to have chutzpah to make these Ponzi Schemes work!!!)

Now $50,000,000 is gone, 400 plus people are victims, and a couple of banks are in big trouble.  See this excellent Toledo Blade story for details.

Real estate investments often take time.  And effort.  And hard work.

They pay off with great appreciation if you buy right, great depreciation and tax benefits, great cash flow, and even -sometimes – amazing profits over the short term if you add or bring something to the deal.

One quick check on these birds would have told you if they owned real estate, were paying their rent on time at Levis Commons, or had legal problems.   I did – they were not even paying their office rent.

Think about that – people will invest their hard-earned money with some guys who are not even paying their rent.

Amazing.

You want to make money in real estate investing?

Beware the compelling, the likable, the personable . . . they seem to be suspect in the end.

Roll up your sleeves.   Do some hard work.  EARN your money and in so doing, you will keep it relatively safe.

For the month of July and as of today:  Perrysburg City and Township.

Active Listings

148 houses for sale.

Price Range $59,500 to $650,000

Contingent Listings

7 houses contingent on another house closing

Pending Listings

17 houses went pending in July.  $89k to $265,850

Sold Listings

49 Houses closed in July.  $52k to $480,000

Withdrawn Listings

8 Houses withdrawn from the market in July

Failed to Sell / Expired

19 Houses failed to sell in July and went off the market.

Median Price

$185,000 in July 2009

Days on the Market

95 Days on the Market for SOLD listings in July

Months Supply of Inventory

6.2 months in Perrysburg

My oh my!

Some better numbers!

Green shoots?

Nope.

Buyers remain very, very cautious.

We are seeing sellers who MUST sell and who are VERY motivated.

They can easily sell in today’s market.   But then – they always could.

I think we are back to a more seasonal pattern of sales.  I think that the panic is now gone out of the market.

I am always asked  “When will _____ (you fill in the blank: prices, sales, values, etc) come back?”

I always will answer:  when the JOBS come back.

Everything else is window dressing.  Goosing today’s sales with $8k credits, looser FHA standards, cheap money – not going to help in the long run and will help bankrupt our country oh, in about 2 years.

Jobs.  Get that right and the real estate market will ROAR back.

My one plus week hiatus occurred as I was attending a series of real estate mastermind meetings in Denver Colorado.

Now, being from table-flat Northwest Ohio, ANY trip to Denver is fun.  And I get to go there at least once a year since RE/MAX International has their HQ there in the “DTC” – the Denver Tech Center.

I took the Dear Wife with me.   We had a day or two to go to Pikes Peak, Ft. Collins, Boulder, Rocky Mountain National Park, the Broadmoor, and some other tourist things.  (Tip: Do the 13 mile, one-way, dirt road trail in RMNP – lots of fun in a rental car!)

But – and in all seriousness – I do not know where they get their oxygen from.   At 10,000 or 11,000 feet . . . that is thin, rare air.

So there are pros and cons of living at the bottom of the Black Swamp in Wood County.

Cons:  No vistas.  No mountains.  No way to see far away.

Pros:  Oxygen to breathe.  Humidity to lubricate your lungs, etc.

One of the most memorable exchanges was on the last day of the big mastermind meeting that I was attending.

Four panelists:  CEO of Prudential.  CEO of Coldwell Banker.  CEO of Keller Williams. (All large national franchises – think billions of dollars of solds).

Fourth panelist:  A producing Realtor from Philly – Allan Domb. (Sells A LOT of condos every year – think $100millions plus).

CEO’s all wanted more government help.  More tax credits.  Ban the banks from competing with us.  More stimulus.

One CEO told a funny story mocking Congressman Barney Frank.

I might want to “recalibrate” that strategy if I was him  . . .

The lone Realtor?  Told them off.  Market it not coming back.  Adapt of die.  Change or get gone.

Sellers are hurt.

Buyers are hunting.

The idea that a government program will “fix” things is foolish.

I found myself agreeing with my fellow Realtor.

One more thing . . . spent some time on Larimer Square.  In downtown Denver.  Great restaurants.  Great shops.  People strolling.  People enjoying the town.

Reminded me of downtown Perrysburg . . . but note the lights:

Now Perrysburg is not downtown Denver and we will never have pedicabs, and horse-drawn carriages, and Dianna Krall playing a gig.

But – note the lights!  What a great, simple idea.  The whole street was lit that way on Larimer Square.

Perrysburg ought to copy that.