Real Estate has changed forever and if We are going to continue to build a business around the buying and selling of homes, We must change our thought process.  There are many things that are different from 2004, some of them good and many of them bad.  For instance, the over leveraged homeowner has taken an ease in many cases.  Banks are unwilling to loan a bad buyer an overpriced home.  Also, the internet has made the home shopping and marketing process much more client friendly and taken the unnecessary control out of the Brokers hands.  But have we stopped to think of the mindset of a buyer today and will it ever be what it was 10-15 years ago?

 

1.  Value-When home shopping with a first time buyer with a good job and great credit, they have been programmed to look at value.  The “american dream” of owning a home has to be proven again.  With the ability to rent really cool apartments and houses with flexibility and low maintenance, We must educate them the long term benefits of homeownership.  And equity probably is not it….

2.  Student Loans-More and more we are hearing the affect of student loans on professionals in the market.   Student loans have given grads the mindset that they are already way over their heads in debt, how can they afford a house.  A professional that would have come out of school years ago with minimal debt now is burdened with a lifetime of loan payments, that directly cripples their buying power.  Neighborhoods in the 70’s and 80’s were built on young families ability to buy a nice home early on with available credit.  Today the student loan is the new mortgage and until that becomes a better balance, the new young grad professional won’t be my target market.

3.  Reality-The truth is that so many renters had friends that lost homes or boo hooed about the home they couldn’t sell that it has become unattractive to many.  Owning a home is a big responsibility and as unstable as our jobs market is, why risk it all on a home that they don’t really need.  Owning a home is not glamorous to many but well worth it to the ones it has worked out for.  As our new economy shows its uninspiring face, we will have to overcome the reality that buying a home is not for everyone and selling a home just doesn’t happen.

This new market is great for the established full-time agents but to truly succeed, it will take a focus and innovation that most just aren’t capable of.  Good luck out there…

-curt