Real Estate Information Archive

Have you ever come across a website that you felt compelled to share with everyone you know?  That is exactly what has happened to me here.  Please visit http://www.city-data.com/forum/new-mexico/, and share your impression of this site.  I challenge you to spend sometime exploring this site.  Before long, you will that you like this website too. 

Now this is not unique to New Mexico;it covers all 50 states.  Great relocation tool!  The cool thing about it is, it's free!  To checkout information about yours or other states, visit www.city-date.com.

Regards

http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/real-estate/2009/06/08/best-places-to-live-2009.html

Great news for Albuquerque!

Being recognized as one of the best places to live in the United States is quite a big recognition for Albuquerque.  Upon my arrival here in 1996, I was skeptical about staying beyond my tour of duty in the military.  Nine years after my retirement, it was an easy decision…Albuquerque is home. 

The article highlighted some good things about the city, but let me say that the number one reason why I stayed was because of Albuquerque Academy (AA).  As a single parent of two boys, my primary concern was their education.  AA exceeded all my expectations in terms of rigor and excellence.  So while you are considering relocating to Albuquerque, if you have young children, give AA some consideration.  In terms of academic excellence, AA is in a class all by itself.    As a side note…both my sons plan to live in Albuquerque after college.  Visit www.aa.edu   

One of the first lessons I learned in the Real Estate business was that I needed to focus on listings.  “Without listings,” I was told, “you would never be successful in real estate.”  That appeared as a very plausible position, so my main focus was always to get listings.  But something has happened since fall 2005 and now.  Many of you will disagree, but I think with the onset of the limited service broker, the influx of lead generation companies, and the explosion of FSBO across the country, something has changed. 

From House Values dot com to Just Listed dot com, and even Zillow dot com,  these new players have caused a marked shift in the our industry.  Up until the summer of 2006 after which the market started to slow down, these companies were providing leads to help fuel the upward trend.  Many FSBO were successful because in my opinion, the market was demand driven.  So, when a FSBO decided to list his house, he had a good chance of selling it.  Often times the Realtor would end up doing the paperwork for both sides of the transaction.    

When the market slowed down, the shift occurred.  Now I do not mean to suggest that the above-mentioned factors are exclusively responsible for this, but they are contributing causes.  Here are a few observations that I have made:  Listing agents are now having to consolidate their efforts to stay afloat; homes are staying on the market quite a bit longer than before; if you are a buyers’ agent with a pipeline, you are not doing so bad.  So until the market turns, I don’t know that one can dismiss the notion that there has been a paradigm shift.  What’s your opinion?  

Now I don't know about you, but these days I am being inundated with offers from lead generation companies.  It's not like I haven't had my share of dealings with them, God knows I have.  The interesting thing is that everything is now repackaged and the exclusive buyer and seller leads are much cheaper than 3 years ago when I had my runnings with Top Producer, House Values and Agent Connect. 

I consider myself an openminded individual, so I would like to invite the comment of those of you who are currently using lead generation companies, those who have tried and then canceled their service, and those like me who are on the fence.

Let me say, I am not totally opposed to lead generation companies, but when you have a company in California trying to tell me about the realities of the real estate market in New Mexico, then there is a problem.  I live here, I deal with people here, and I study the market here.  The only reason I have considered lead generation companies is if I believe that they would provide an added layer of efficiency to my business.  In other words, instead of door knocking for three hours two times per week, I would buy 10 leads for example.  Three years ago when I got involved with these companies I actually drafted a series of questions that I provided the folks at Top Producer, if they wanted to generate viable leads.  The response I got was that they would have to charge a lot more per lead.  The fact of the matter is that I wouldn't mind paying more for a lead if the return on investment was adequate. 

So I pose this question to you:  If you had to pay $1000 per lead for a person who was going to buy a home for $300,000, would you purchase the lead?  Certainly you would!  Why then isn't there a company out there that is doing exactly that?  Or is there such a company?  Taking it one step further, if a lead generation company charges that kind of money for a lead, would they be willing to be paid at the closing table?  I am curious to hear what others have to say about this subject.