Tony & Darcy - The C Team's Blog

Well the weekend is nearly over and congratulations to the Milwaukee Brewers, 26 years since Harvey's Wall Bangers squared off against Whitey Herzog's Cardinals!  The White Sox still have some unfinished business, and the Twins await if they win.  More to the point 4 Top 10 College Football teams lost this weekend (counting Thursday). 

It just goes to show a couple of things: one it isn't as important where you begin, it is much more important where you finish.  The second point is that it doesn't matter what the experts think, hard work, a good game plan and self confidence can level the playing field.  It was a crazy weekend and the regular season in baseball wound up today and the post season will shortly begin.

It should be an exciting play off season, and I would almost be poetic justice if the Tampa Bay Rays and the Chicago Cubs played for the World Championship.  One other thing that applies to Real Estate, it isn't over until it's over!  I just had to get a Yogi Berraism into a discussion about the World Series.  Anyway have a Great Week!

Sitting here at the office doing floor or opportunity time can be slow in the first part of the morning.  I took the time to put together some numbers for our area over the past 3 years.  I went from September to September for each year and some things are obviously proven by the math.  Between September 2005 and September 2006: 892 single family units were sold, average sales price $236,076, average Days on Market were 117 and the average list price was $245,005.

From September 2006 to September 2007 the numbers were: 660 single family units sold, average sales price was $239,000, average list price was $249,319 and average Days on Market were 151 days.  From September 2007 to today the numbers are: 509 single family units sold, average sold price $224,818, average list price $240,050 and average days on market were 154 days. 

The numbers show that this year we are selling roughly 57% of the houses that we sold in 2005-2006 at 95% of the sold price at a 132% of the time that it took to sell at the peak of the market.  I found these numbers to be very interesting, we are selling fewer units and taking quite a lot longer to sell them, but we have really only lost 5% across the board on our prices from our peak sales year (number of units sold).  We dropped 7% from our highest priced year of sales (2006-2007) and our days on market are roughly the same from that year.

I honestly thought that things were a lot worse than they are currently, I expected the average sold prices to be down in the double digits, and while any reduction in the average sold price of homes is not good, when you take into account what has happened in other markets; our looks relatively stable.  If we could just convince buyers of this fact!  Our overall number of sold units is down dramatically, but looking at the numbers, there should be a lot more consumer confidence in our local market.

Anyway, I just was trying to stay busy on a Saturday at the office.  Everybody have a Great Weekend and Week next week!

Last night our 17 year old got invited to the Homecoming Dance at her high school.  It was an excitng evening for her to say the least. She still hasn't stopped bouncing off of the walls.  Homecoming at her high school is a formal dance.  I didn't remember homecoming being a formal dance, but her high school didn't exist when I was in high school, nor did I live in Cedar City at the time. 

The dance is next Saturday, so we only had a week to find a dress and have the alterations done so that it looks perfect!  We were pleasantly surprised at the great selection of dresses that she liked.  Darcy and I have vastly different tastes in clothing than our teenager, so we had no problem finding dresses that we knew that she would look good in, the trick is finding dresses that she likes.  She is also an unusual teenaged girl, she hates to shop for clothes, she especially hates trying on clothes.

The moral of our story is that it pays to shop locally!  We found a great dress for a good price and there is a lady here in town that does the alterations that promises to have the dress ready before the night of the big dance!  We tip our hats to Occasions and the Renae, the seamstress! 

Just had a Broker's Council Meeting today with all of the ERA Brokerages from within the State of Utah.  We had Everet and Anna King, from King Real Estate in Alabama come and give us some training.  They were incredible, they had some great insights and advice.  One of the biggest things that they had to say was that Real Estate is still work, so get up off of your A#$ and go to work.

It was a great opportunity to learn from not just the Kings as well as from the top producers from each office in the state.  The consensus that we got was that everyone needs a web presence, including a blog.  Active Rain was brought up as one of the great places to blog and learn from other agents.  It was also a huge opportunity to network and meet other agents from other markets in the state. 

In all it was well worth the day that we invested in the training.  One key component taught throughout the day was that we absolutely have to get as much continuing education as we can.  Not just the state recognized continuing ed, but also training in Sales Training and product knowledge.  Another key point was to get as much information and training as possible on FHA financing.  It was a great training and we are better agents for attending. 

I am sure that I am not  the first nor probably the last to comment on the end of an era in Baseball, goodbye to Yankee Stadium!  Whether you're a Yankee fan or not, it is a bittersweet moment for baseball fans.  The house that Ruth built will house no more baseball games, nor concerts, nor football games nor anything else that occurred in the great old venue.

Whether you love the Yankees or hate them, you had to enjoy the ceremony that closed the stadium. I found it enjoyable to watch the youthful gleam in the eyes of the old greats, like Yogi Berra, Don Larsen, Whitey Ford, as well as the looks that the current players had on their faces, they looked like children upon meeting their heroes. 

I should underscore that I am not a Yankee fan, but I am a fan of baseball and recognize that the many of the greatest to ever play the game called the stadium home.  I feel a little remorse to see the old ballpark go, I had wished to go take in a game, but the market changed and making the house payment became more important than taking a trip just to see a stadium. 

I smiled at Don Larsen taking dirt from the mound in Yankee stadium, good for him!  I also smile for Jose Molina, now he will always be mentioned with the immortal Babe Ruth as the player to hit the last home run in Yankee Stadium, while Babe Ruth was the first.  Congratulations to the Yankees for having the Babe's daughter throw the first pitch out.  My only wish is that a relative of Joe DiMaggio or Lou Gherig could have attended to represent them in the ceremony. 

We will never see another park that will host as many World Series winners as Yankee Stadium did.  The economics of baseball have made it very difficult to buid a dynasty of that proportions again.  The Yankees of the past 13 seasons made it to the post season 12 years in a row, only to produce 4 World Series winning teams, a terrific feat, but as we have seen, with the extension of the play off system, it is increasingly difficult to get to and win the World Series on a continual basis. 

I guess that it is goodbye to a familar old foundation of baseball, and hello to a new era!  Have a great week, and I can't wait for the post season!