A resource for real estate agents, brokers, buyers, sellers, and people interested in the most up-to-date real estate information.

HouseHunt.com takes great pleasure in sharing the success of our agents who are thriving thanks, in part, to our unique System for Success with their exclusive territory.

A Great Start

Troy Jensen is a Keller Williams agent who became a member on February 27, 2009 by picking up Salmon Creek, WA and Ridgefield, Felida & La Center, WA.

Troy began getting leads as usual while his websites went through production. The great news is that one of those leads was a buyer ready to move forward immediately.

Troy put that buyer in escrow exactly one month after signing up with our service.

Still in the beginning stages, Troy already has one deal under his belt and is more motivated than ever to succeed.

Surprising Sale in California

Keller Williams agent Melody Russell is no stranger to success and doing deals with HouseHunt. She has done very well working HouseHunt leads and this story is one more to her credit.

Melody shared with us that she received a buyer lead that listed $300K as their maximum price range. That’s lower than average in the Santa Cruz County, CA area Melody works, but Melody works every lead the same and stuck with this person for nine months.

The end result was the purchase of a $1.25 million dollar house. He was a cash buyer! That means the transaction will close in 11 total days because no financing is needed.

Furthermore, the buyer explained to Melody that after the deal closes, he wants to search for investment properties with her. This is all a great testament to the quality of HouseHunt’s leads, perseverance paying off, and never judging a book by its cover!

“Sitting back while our local consumers are pounded with national information – which may not present a true picture of our area – is not an option,” says the Metropolitan Consolidated Association of Realtors. 

Realtors nationwide are struggling to convince buyers that now is the right time to purchase a home. But with the media blitz of “doom and despair,” how can a real estate agent compete? In addition to pounding the pavement and building a database of buyers and potential sellers, Realtors should take a more aggressive approach in letting people know about their local market. Member agents of HouseHunt.com are quickly updating their Market Conditions Reports, in anticipation of the spring market (which begings on 3/20/09). With many Realtors reporting positives in their market such as More Buyers than Sellers and Sellers getting 95-100% of their asking price, buyers can make an educated decision on purchasing a home, even in today’s market. Local Market Condition Reports from Realtors nationwide can be found HERE.

In addition to marketing current local trends, Realtors can use a “Cost of Waiting Analysis” method to help a buyer “on the fence.” John Davis of Silverstar Finance, recently did a CWA for the Huntington Beach area. “I did a little research on the overall affordability of a home in Huntington Beach based on median price and average interest rate for a well qualified buyer. I based it on just two years ago, from Q1 2007 to Q1 2009. Here’s what I found:

2007 – $768,000, 6.25% rate, 20% down payment (74 DOM) generated a $3,783 principal and interest payment.

2009 – $595,000, 5.25% rate, 20% down payment (84 DOM) generated a $2,628 principal and interest payment.

That’s a 30% drop in payment!

I’ve shared with you in the past that every time I’ve run a ‘Cost of Waiting Analysis’ that assumes a 10% value drop and a corresponding 1% increase in interest rate, your buyer is better off to buy now, even given the future value drop.”

Consumers should view their local real estate agent as the greatest source of information regarding the real estate market, and not base their buying and selling decisions on what the national media is reporting. It’s up to the 1.5 million Realtors nationwide to take back the minds of the consumers.