Deanne Goes to LA Part 2
March 21, 2010 Leave a comment
On our way home finally and spoke to a couple who were on their way to Sydney. They were from Seattle and this is their first trip to Australia – great incentive at the moment as the dollar is holding up well. They commented that their market is still terrible. Tax rebates have helped the economy $8,000 for 1st homebuyers, $6,500 for 2nd+. Around Seattle employment growth in the technology industry helped with the market and they do see a few signs of recovery, but the tell tale signs will be in May when the government tax incentives expire.
From what I have read and heard, 2010 seems to be the “Year of Recovery” for the real estate industry in America. Some industry facts of interest…
Characteristics of homes purchased
The median price of homes purchased in 2009 was
- $210,000 in the Northeast
- $158,000 in the Midwest
- $175,000 in the South, and
- $240,000 in the West
The typical home purchased was 1,800 sq ft in size and was built in 1991.
When considering the purchase of a home, commuting costs were considered important by 78% of buyers.
Characteristics of Home Buyers
The 2008 median household income of buyers was $73,100. The median income was $61,600 among first homebuyers and $88,100 among repeat buyers.
The typical 1st homebuyer was 30 years old, while the typical repeat buyer was 48 years old. 47% of recent homebuyers were 1st homebuyers.
The Home Search Process
9 out of 10 homebuyers used the internet to search for homes
Real estate agents were viewed as a very useful information source by 81% of buyers who used an agent while searching for a home.
The typical homebuyer searched for 12 weeks and viewed 12 homes.
Home Buying and Real Estate Professionals
77% of buyers purchased their home through a real estate agent or broker
10% of buyers purchased a home in foreclosure (up from 3% in 2008).
Nearly Home
Survived the 15 hour plane flight home – there was a big sign as we got out of duty free stating that Border Security was being filmed. We did not make a cameo appearance thank goodness!
How lucky are we living in this country. We all whinge and whine about our government, and the state of the economy etc but after our first visit to the States, we have so much to appreciate what we have here…
Real estate in America is a mixed bag and their degree of challenges vary from state to state, but they are looking at signs of recovery. I did hear that property management is nearly non-existent and people have been warned not to buy investment property if you do not live in the area as a lot of properties get trashed and have high rental arrears. I would like to know more about this, and am looking to stay in contact with the people I met at the Convention and see if I can get a better insight into what happens with property management in America.
Although I am slightly disappointed not to have learnt any new technologies or real estate practices in many respects that is a positive thing. I am now even more aware of how lucky First National members are – the tools that are available to us through the network are literally the best in the world.
Even though we are on opposite sides of the world, real estate services have the same fundamentals. How can we help our clients with their biggest transaction – how to assist them from moving from point a to point b. We become part of their lives so we need to concentrate on making their move a positive experience. We need to solve their housing needs. The Americans and Australians may have access to slightly different tools and have slight different methods to help facilitate this process but the person to person contact is the most important and needs not to be different from country to country – a ‘client for life’ is what we agents need to focus on.
I really appreciate the opportunity given to me by First National to be part of the Prudential Conference; it is something I will remember for years to come.
I will be using the next week or so to decipher notes, read and sort the newspapers and real estate magazines I collected, start putting into place my blog, become more involved in social media in a business sense, send a hello by email to the people I collected business cards from at the conference and analyse different ways we can make our client experience with our company more positive. The next thing for me to look forward to is the upcoming Property Management Conference in Sydney at the end of the month and of course our own National Convention in Alice Springs in May…bring them on!
