Seller's Market?

With dwindling inventories due to reluctant sellers, fewer foreclosures and increase demand, the Triangle housing market is heating up. 

To show this, I first want to explain a little bit about supply and demand in real estate.  During buyers' markets, homes may sit on the market for a while before selling, so sellers become more flexible and may even drop their prices.  During sellers' markets, homes sell quickly and sellers have a lot of pricing power. As a result, prices rise more rapidly than at other times.

In real estate, the relationship between supply and demand is calculated as "available inventory." At the current sales pace, how long would it take to sell the total number of houses available on the market? That is how the real estate industry measures inventory.

Inventory is measured in weeks and months. Longer inventory times are associated with buyers' markets. Shorter inventory periods are associated with sellers' markets.  Six months of supply is average.  If there is less than six months supply, this means that it is a seller’s market with many buyers competing against each other to buy a limited pool of properties. The greater the months of supply, the converse is true.  Months of supply is calculated by dividing the total number of homes for sale over the number of homes sold in one month.

The overall Triangle market is doing great.  The numbers for June 2012 of the four major cities in the Triangle are  all showing a seller's market at less than 6 months of supply as follows:

• Raleigh (27601, 27603-27617):  4.3 Months of Supply (Down 50% from June 2011)
• Durham (27701, 27703, 27704, 27705, 27707, 27712, 27713):  4.8 Months of Supply (Down 38% from June 2011)
• Cary (27519, 27513, 27518, 27511):  3.4 Months of Supply (Down 46% from June 2011)
• Chapel Hill (27510, 27514, 27516, 27517):  4.8 Months of Supply (Down 38% from June 2011)

There are other sub-markets within the four major cities that are seeing months of supply less than 4% such as:

• Southwest Durham (27707, 27713):  3.7 Months of Supply (Down 46% from June 2011)
• Lochmere (27518):  2.8 Months of Supply (Down 75% from June 2011)
• North Raleigh/Midtown (27609):  3.7 Months of Supply (Down 52% from June 2011)
• West Chapel Hill/Carrboro (27516, 27510):  3.9 Months of Supply (Down 41% from June 2011)

As you can see, things are looking up in the Triangle.  If inventories continue to stay low, and demand continues to get better, we are going to see home prices rise and the market to get hotter and hotter.  For more great stats and information on the Triangle real estate markets, check out Fonville Morisey's Market Minutes Reports.

Brandon L. Penny
bpenny@fmrealty.com
http://www.facebook.com/fonvillemoriseydurham
(919) 402-1201

Great News! The Triangle Real Estate Market is Still Getting Better!

Here's a look at a Triangle real estate market Infographic for June.  Things are still heading in a positive direction!



Triangle Real Estate Market June 2012 Infographic

Brandon L. Penny
bpenny@fmrealty.com
http://www.facebook.com/fonvillemoriseydurham
(919) 402-1201

Tech Bytes: Video! Video! Video!

According to Cisco's Visual Networking Index Report, by 2015, the world will be watching 3 trillion minutes of web video per month.  Web video is currently 40 percent of all Internet traffic and expect to be 62 percent by 2015.  As a real estate agent and marketer, what should this tell you?  It should tell you to make sure your real estate marketing approach keeps up with this trend by adding video to your marketing efforts.

There are many ways you can market your business using video.  Here are some examples the kinds of videos you can make:

• How your services differ from your competitors.
• Homes you'd like to highlight.
• More general real estate information buyers and sellers would find helpful.
• Client testimonials.

You want to create video with topics your target audience would look for online. 

Your videos do not need to look like a TV commercial.  You don't need an expensive video camera or expensive video editing software.  I prefer to use my iPhone 4.  A large portion of consumers don't trust conventional advertising, so using a "pretty" video could feel more like advertising than informational in nature. 

Some people like to just turn the camera on and go for it, but a majority like myself can not.  I like to create a script or outline of the topic I want to cover.  A script can help you overcome use of the "um" and "uh" fillers, or the rambling on that could confuse your audience. 

Every video needs a star.  Many real estate agents will make videos telling the world how awesome they are!  And how they are #1!  PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS!  Consumers are online for 2 reasons - gather information or solve a problem.  The product you are selling is a home, subdivision, builder, information or process.  Make a video about that, and not yourself.  If you want to brag about yourself, let your clients do it in a client testimonial video.

Make your videos as visible to as many consumers as possible.  Place them where consumers will look for them or stumble upon them.  Put them on Youtube, Google, Yahoo, Bing, Vimeo, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.  Embed your videos on your website and blog posts.  Make sure that your videos are optimized to be played on smart phones or other mobile devices. 

Please be sure to end your video with more than a small.  Use a call to action and get your target audience to do something.  Have them call a number, or send and email, or click a link.

And lastly, have a personality.  No one wants to watch a 2 minute video if you are boring.  Raise your voice and use hand gestures.  You are human, so don't act like a robot.  Even if the topic is boring, you don't have to be.  Use personal stories and experiences to keep your audience engaged.

Here is an example of a great video by Jessica Edwards out of Wilmington, NC



If you are a forward thinking real estate agent, you have a unique opportunity right now to grow your business with video.  Most of our competitors are not doing it right now.  Don't worry about what you look like, the consumer just wants your information.  So get out there and get to marketing!

Brandon L. Penny
bpenny@fmrealty.com
http://www.facebook.com/fonvillemoriseydurham
(919) 402-1201