My Blog

Wow!  Where on earth did this week go?  It’s been hectic to say the least and I’m glad to have the work.  The Nashville real estate market had us all spoiled (real estate agents, brokers, home sellers, builders, and even home buyers) until about 2 years ago and then we started feeling some of the pain that the rest of the country had already been complaining about for several years ahead of us.  Nashville never experienced a big price increase like other areas though. We just stayed our normal steady course of 4% appreciation per year on average in most areas (not 20% to 200% in a one to two-year time frame like I’ve read about and heard about in other areas).  So … when the downhill slide happened, we didn’t experience that either.  At least not in the extremes it was happening in other places.  It all made sense, really.  We weren’t part of the BIG bubble, so we weren’t part of the BIG bust either. 

In fact, for a long while after the bust started, our values were still going up at the same rate as before.  We never really felt anything until mid-year 2008.  Even then, it was a slow, steady adjustment.  Our appreciation rates just started slowing down little by little … then by the end of 2008, we started seeing things just staying flat … and then they fell a little.  By “little” I’m talking in the neighborhood of 2% to 3% in most places and up to 20% on the higher end homes.  Not too bad considering that the east and west coast were seeing numbers in the 50% to 60% range on their adjusted values. 

I’m not bragging about that, mind you.  My heart absolutely aches for the untold number of people who have been affected by that crazy market bubble, not to mention the many other unpleasant factors of this economy.  We were lucky … and we knew it.  We were all holding our breath, too.   The last 12 months have been a test of the true mettle of the local agents.  Even the 30 year veterans are saying so.  But things are starting to look up again and this time I think it might actually be a real market revival of sorts … not one that’s been brought on by false indicators created by government incentives, etc.  It’s definitely good to have the phone ringing regularly again and to feel like I’m not just pounding the pavement every day toward a dark, dead-end.  I wonder if it’s time to break out the “I survived the real estate market of 2008-2010″ T-shirts yet ???  I sure hope so!

Who knows for sure if that’s REALLY happening, but if it is, then the moral of this story is … if you’ve been waiting until the market hit bottom to do something … I’d say you’d better not wait much longer!  Or, at the very least, keep your eyes peeled right about now.

I’m meeting with a client tomorrow who is starting to look for her first home, for the second time.   I had originally met her a couple of years ago and we’d spent a few weeks shopping around then, but her job ended up taking her out of the country for an extended period of time, so we had to put the house hunting on hold.  Fast forward two years … she’s back now and ready to resume her house hunting expedition.   Things like that are not all that uncommon in the life of a Realtor, actually, but I am glad that she liked me well enough the first time around that she remembered me decided to call me again when she returned.  That’s always a nice compliment!

But I also have to give some of the credit where credit is due on this, too.  I think that one of the key things that helped us stay connected was the availability of my automated listings system.  I absolutely love it and so do my clients.  It’s such a great way for them to stay on top of the new activity in the market … and it does a great deal of the leg work for me so I can truly keep my clients informed while they are still positioning themselves to buy (for whatever reason) … even when they are half way across the world.   I know sometimes technology gets in the way of building face to face relationships, but this is one example of how I think technology helps build relationships, to some extent. 

My clients know that I am going to provide them with all of the resources they need to make an informed decision about their future home and this is just part of that process.  If you are not sure what I mean by automated listings system and you’re thinking about buying a home in Nashville or the surrounding areas, feel free to check it out on my website at www.homesearchtn.com.   It gives you direct access to the entire MLS for this area (not just the listings for my company).  It’s free for you to use, but you do have to register with your e-mail address so that the system can send you the properties that match your search.  

And don’t worry … after you sign up, I promise you’re not going to receive any calls from some telemarketer while you’re in the middle of dinner, and you won’t be signed up for a bunch of SPAM e-mail. I can’t stand that sort of thing either … so I don’t do it to people who sign up on my site.  You’ll only get the listings you want from this system.  

I’m actually really excited for this client for a couple of reasons.  I love working with first time buyers, first of all, so there’s that.  They’re just a lot of fun.   But in this particular client’s case, I also really like the fact that she will actually get more for the money now than she would have two years ago and she is most definitely going to get a better interest rate than she would have if she had bought then.   It’s just great when you know it was worth the wait and you can give somebody some GOOD news in this business every now and then.  There’s been enough bad news in real estate in general lately, so this just feels good.

There is so much inventory to see now, we still have a good challenge ahead, but experience always comes to the rescue on that end of it.  I love helping clients sort through the clutter of thoughts and emotions they are experiencing at a time like this and bringing them to a place of clearly identifying the key factors in their home buying decision. Ultimately, my goal is to find the home that brings a smile to their faces, comfort to their wallets and peace to their minds.  Wish me luck … off I go!

Okay, okay!  Uncle!  I’ve heard, “you need to start a blog” about a million times now, but I guess I’m just a rebel at heart.  Actually, I’ve always been a private sort of person and this idea of ‘bearing my soul’ to the entire world has always been a bit unnerving to me, but I’m feeling a little braver these days … and life’s short … so here goes:

Anyway, I’m a Realtor and I love what I do AND where I live, which is Nashville, TN.  I serve 11 counties in Middle Tennessee (also known as the ‘Greater Nashville’ area).  My goal with this blog is to keep it lively, informative and entertaining … so you’ll have to let me know what you think (and what you want to hear more about) as we go along.  There’s never a dull moment in this job, so most of what I write about will involve the ups and downs of deals that work and deals that don’t (yeah … it happens).  From time to time, I’ll share some stories about some of the people I meet along my journey, as well as information about interesting things that go on around here.  For those of you who are analytically minded ‘numbers-geeks’ like me, there will also be some factual information and data and even an occasional spreadsheet or chart (I know!!! Right?)!    I also love animals, music, the arts, people (especially kids) and things that make me laugh … so we’ll probably get into all of that somewhere in here too.

At the end of the day, I’m here to help you.  I want you to feel like you can count on me if you want to know more about Nashville in general … and I want you to feel like you HAVE to call me if you are planning to buy real estate in Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin or anywhere within an hour’s drive of town.  (C’mon … you know you want to … and I promise I don’t bite)!

Come back and visit me from time to time and leave a comment or two!  See you again soon.