There has been a 10% decline in housing inventory.

Existing Home Sales

Existing home sales slowed in January. According to Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, this is mainly due to the lack of urgency with the extension and expansion of the first-time buyer tax credit in November. January sales of 5.05 million remain 12 percent above the 4.53 million-unit level last year.

Median Home Price

Existing-home price was $164,700 in January, 3.4 percent below December and unchanged from January 2009. Distressed homes, which accounted for 38 percent of sales last month, continue to skew prices downward as they typically are discounted in comparison with traditional homes.

Inventory

The supply of homes continued to shrink, falling 0.5 percent to 3.27 million, representing a 7.8-month supply at the current sales pace. Compared to a year ago, there are now 10 percent fewer homes on the market. This is the lowest level of competing homes on the market since March 2006.  (Source: Keller Williams Realty)

I was speaking with one of our Charleston Short Sale specialist’s; he was very frustrated with how Indy Banc handled a recent short sale.  The agent had been working the short sale for over 4 months with a “clean” cash offer of $130K and Indy Banc decided to foreclose on the property.  At the foreclosure, the bank got only $60K for the property.   It seems to me, that the bank lost $70K on the deal, the seller lost by having a larger judgment, and the 1^st buyer lost by not getting the property even though he was willing to pay $130K.   What would prompt Indy Banc to foreclose when they have a cash offer for twice as much?  What do you think? This transaction does not make sense and is part of the crazy world of Charleston real estate.

Yesterday the Charleston Real Estate agents in the Bold class completed their 5th successful week in Bold.  For the week, they listed 42 more properties and placed 36 properties under contract. Bold is helping both the new and experienced agents.  One new agent placed one home under contract and listed 2 homes in one week.  One the experienced agents listed 5 homes in just one week.  Bold is having a positive impact on our Charleston real estate agent’s careers.

The Charleston Trident Association of Realtors (CTAR) has completed a nice video summarizing the Charleston Real Estate market in 2009.  It explains the gains that have been made in the local real estate market and areas that we still to improve on to have a strong real estate market. What do you think of it?

How would you like to improve your Internet lead generation by 60% in just 12 weeks?

Real Estate Agents who have completed this course have improved their Internet lead generation by over 60%!

Each week, we will address a different topic providing in-depth discussion and solutions to improve online lead generation.

Next series of Charleston Real Estate Technology Classes are starting February 2nd.

Time: 11am to Noon every Tuesday.

Location:

Classroom: Training Room 8992 University Blvd, Suite 300 North Charleston, SC 29406  Click here for Directions

Online Classroom: Fuze Meeting login For audio dial 1-775-269-3893 and select Room# 262501

These classes are open to all real estate agents.

Class Schedule

Feb 2nd: The Master Plan – Starting with your Website

Feb 9th: SEO with Google

Feb 16th: SEO with Bing and Yahoo

Feb 23rd: No Classes — At Keller Williams Realty Family Reunion

Mar 2nd: Optimizing your Listing Portals (Realtor.com, Trulia, Zillow)

Mar 9th: Blogging for Leads

Mar 16th: Blogging using Video and Photographs

Mar 23rd: Developing Clients using Facebook

Mar 30th: Developing Professional Relationships and Clients using Linked-in

Apr 6th:  Broadcasting to Sphere of Influence using Twitter

Apr 13th: Tools to Improve your website (Walk Score, Dwellicous,Technorati, Real Estate Wiki etc)

Today at Noon, we will be teaching agents how to build their real estate business clients sphere of influence by using Linked-in.   Here is what we will cover:

• What is Linked-in (  or “Facebook for Business”)
• How build relationships with professional clients on Linked-in
• How to set up an Linked-in account
• Learn Linked-in built-in tools
• Tips for maximizing your lead generation

Time:  Tuesday Jan 26th at Noon

Location: Charleston North Training Room or Online at:
To join the web meeting from your computer :
Click or copy and paste this URL into your browser:
https://www.fuzemeeting.com/fuze/214353de/1048421

To join the audio portion of this meeting:
Toll and international dial-in #: +17752693893
Room #: 262501

The President has signed into a law a bill (H.R. 4462)  to allow 2010 charitable contributions for Haiti relief to be deducted on your 2009 return.
The deduction is allowed on the 2009 return if:
[1] You make it between Jan 11, 2010 and March 1, 2010,
[2] It is a cash contribution (if you use your phone to text a donation, save your telephone bill for your records.)
[3] It needs to be for the earthquake victims through a qualified charitable organization.

This law will help the people of Haiti and reduce your 2009 tax bill.

The Town of Mount Pleasant is seeking your input to help shape the future of our great town.  I encourage to check out the new web-blog WWW.ideasformp.com.

They have great information and photos on the Town of  Mount Pleasant.  There are 2 simple surveys for both businesses and residents.  Help shape the future of Mt Pleasant by completing the surveys.

Mount Pleasant – Business Community Survey

Mount Pleasant Residents – We Want Your Input!

Jim and Jeff Reitzel  built a large real estate business by focusing on real estate workshops.  Learn from them how to build your business.

Hear the interview with Jim and Jeff Reitzel:  ReitzelInterview

Results:

Jim and Jeff Reitzel had 79 sales from the workshop in 2009

How they do it:

• Investor Workshop – 8 times a year
• 1st Time Buyer Workshop – 8 times per year
• Always the same location, same time, and same day each month 
  • In Charleston the best day of the week would Thursday or Tuesday Evenings
  • Weekends are too busy, Mondays catch up day, Wednesday- church night

Major Points

• Mindset Change: From Real Estate Sales Agent to Real Estate Consultant.  Change from being a sales person to being a professional consultant.
• Be Consistent:   Deliver the same message and program every month at the same time and location.
• Be Focused:  Become the workshop expert in Charleston SC
• Follow up:  After the workshop,  set up follow up one on one meetings to discuss each client needs and wants.
• Provide Value to the Client:  Hand out the MREI book, Your First Home, or the e-books for 1st  time buyers. 

Links:

Investor Seminar:  (To be  added shortly)

First Time Buyer Seminar: (To be  added shortly)

Millionaire Real Estate Investor Book  (To be  added shortly)

FLIP  (To be  added shortly)

Your First Home  (To be  added shortly)

Ebooks  (To be  added shortly)