Mortgage Rates At 60 Year Lows

Mortgage rates have not been this low since 1951, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. Here are the latest rates quoted from the survey:

30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.19 percent with an average 0.8 point for the week ending October 14, 2010, down from last week when it averaged 4.27 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.92 percent.


15-year FRM this week averaged a record low of 3.62 percent with an average 0.7 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.72 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 4.37 percent.

5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.47 percent this week, with an average 0.6 point, tied with last week when it also averaged 3.47 percent.
 
So why aren't houses selling? In a word, jobs. There aren't any. Job losses continue to dog this "recovery" and until we see increases in employment numbers, or even a trend of fewer losses, we are unlikely to see the real estate market improve.
 
Robert Schiller recently pointed out that he thinks a second recession is possible. The logic goes like this: corporate profits have squeezed out all the gains they can from cost cutting and will begin to tail off. If profits get squeezed, the stock market will tank once again. Unemployment would worsen in this scenario because the only thing left for businesses to do would be to reduce payrolls further. Demand for housing would obviously evaporate if we head into another recession. The shadow inventory of forclosed homes would increase, and the numbers show that they are increasing to record levels at this time.
 
As depressing as this scenario is we have to face up to the fact that real estate is facing a new reality. To survive in a down market it will require us all to call on our innovative spirits like never before. To survive real estate agents need to do the following:

• Personal Marketing. Now is not the time to ignore personal marketing. There is a flight to quality in hard times as buyers and sellers want to work only with the best agents.   
• Use New Media. Having an Internet presence is no longer optional. At the very least you need a good website with information about your expertise and the markets you specialise in. Clients are going online and Googling your name before you ever get to the listing appointment. If you are invisible on the Internet, or worse a client complaint on Yelp is all that appears, you will lose the client before you ever get in the door. Having a presence on Facebook and other social media is also becoming a great way to influence your base and find new clients. A blog can establish you as an expert in your field by giving solid real estate advice online for those surfing the web.
• Stay in Touch with Your Past Clients. It always amazes me how many agents there are that don't do this. As opportunities for transactions diminish, you need to stay top of mind with the people most likely to use your services, namely, those clients you have already worked with. Make it easy on yourself and use one of the many contact management systems available. Most brokers provide these tools at no cost and many sales agents still don't take advantage of them.
• Have an Annual Marketing Plan. Create a plan and budget for all of your marketing efforts and STICK TO IT. Many agents send out a few mailings and when they don't get any results they give up. Frequency and consistency is the hallmark of a good marketing plan. Resources these days are thin for most agents, so planning how you will invest those resources is essential. Postcards to neighbouring homes for every listing can establish name recognition in your farming area. Yes, old media still works too.
• Network. Use every opportunity to get out and meet people. Make sure that everyone you know, knows that your are in real estate. Sit at open houses, go to events, become involved in your community. Make sure you collect and record contact information.

These are but a few things you can do to set yourself apart and survive the recession. Don't take it for granted that the economy is going to turn arouns soon and that the upturn will save your bacon. And remember, when the economy DOES rebound, and it most certainly will, continue to market yourself aggressively. That way you can survive and thrive in any business cycle.

More Than Just a New Website

The Salvation Army man sang out his cry for relief and clanged his bell as I walked down Michigan Ave. on a cold and windy Monday afternoon last December. In my arms was a box filled with the detritus of my career. A few awards, a few pictures, some files and some discs with work samples. I was elated as I headed for a new job and a new challenge as the new director of marketing for Koenig & Strey. My first task was to build Koenig & Strey a new website, one that would not only put K&S on the cutting edge and increase lead generation, but also one that would give their agents the tools they needed to expand their business.


In a sense I was coming home. Having been the marketing director at Koenig & Strey back in 2005, I was looking forward to seeing old friends. The times had changed and so had Koenig & Strey. HomeServices of America had just purchased the company from Brookfield. Doug Ayers was my new boss. Prior to coming on board Doug and I talked for hours about Koenig & Strey’s needs and how I would handle the marketing. His vision and mine were much the same and I admired him for his accomplishments and his marketing savvy.

We wanted to have a great website, one designed with the buyer in mind. The site had to be easy and fun to use so that that the public would keep coming back. But we also wanted an integrated business management system and marketing platform for the agents. Based on my experience, agents want better ways to manage client information, track their client’s online activity, communicate with them, create CMA’s and market to their sphere of influence all in a one stop package. After Lehman Brothers failed and the market bubble burst, a number of top performing agents came to me and asked how they could do a better job of marketing. Now they had to prospect and relearn marketing skills that had been second nature when they began their careers. Many did not even have a list of their contacts saved in a convenient format in one location, or in some cases any location.

Agents were also learning the need for social networking and blogging. They wanted customizable websites where they could stand out from their competitors. Agents know somewhere in the back of their head that they need these things. But often they don’t know where to begin and are working so hard to survive that they find it hard to find the time.

We also wanted a website that the public would enjoy using, one that would be “sticky” and keep them coming back. Studies show that the consumer wants , first and foremost, to search for properties. When they search, they want to see good photographs of the property and virtual tours. The site also needed to be FUN. We developed tools like our Buyer Tour, where consumers can map out a self directed home tour complete with printable directions. Our Property Investment Profile provides an automated valuation of a home. It uses a linear regression analysis with all of the issues agents dislike about Zillow. But consumers love these toys and we disclose the inadequacies. Our Market Tracker provides up to the minute neighborhood and city market reports telling consumers about pricing and sales volume in the areas they are interested in. Consumers can also rate their properties and share them using social media.

Our new website was also designed to give the consumer the ultimate in search variables. Site visitors can create searches with a vast array of search variables.

Generating leads is the most important part of a website, for if you are not generating leads nothing else matters very much. Because we use IDX, we do not require visitors to register in order to search for properties. To get their contact information we had to create value. That’s where the stickiness of our website is important. The fun and informative tools on our site are value added items we share in return for the visitors’ information.

Maintaining Koenig & Strey’s position at the top of the luxury market is important. In addition to our main consumer website we now have a standalone luxury website for our Properties of Distinction marketing program: chicagoluxuryhome.com. We also have standalone sites for our open houses and new home developments.

One of the greatest considerations was our search engine optimization or SEO. Tersely put, we needed to be on page one of Google for all of the relevant keyword searches. But this aspect of our site I cannot share and I hope the reader will understand. But I will give you three words: content, content, content.

The site we ultimately created includes all of the design features mentioned. This week we launched our new site and we couldn’t be more pleased. Our agents have enthusiastically accepted the new site, are a little overwhelmed with the depth of the new tools, and are excited about the new launches we have planned for additional features in the near future. One thing about electronic marketing is that the battle never ends. It is a constantly changing environment because technology is constantly changing. This is the best part of electronic marketing.