September Contracts: A Modest Fall

Single-family contracts continued the downward trend in September, falling to 497 for the month. Through nine months of 2011, we remain on pace to finish the year slightly ahead of 2010 but behind the 2009 total. There was a lot of interest in our markets at the beginning of September; it was a noticeable increase from the end of August and much of the summer. The rest of the month seemed pretty active too, so

Sharing the Misery

The real estate market right now is not a lot of fun. By that I mean that I’m seeing a lot of behaviors out of buyers and sellers that have me scratching my head. Another agent mentioned to me the other day that she’s starting to lose faith in humanity based on some of the garbage that she’s seen and dealt with this year. I was glad to hear that I’m not the only one

We Buy Houses Too

This story continues my fascination with the “We Buy Houses” signs throughout the region. My first attempt to reach out to one of these buyers did not go as expected – it was far more successful. I decided to call on one of the handwritten signs, though it was one that seemed fancier than some of the others, if that’s possible. It seemed more like a one-off than the type of sign that gets plastered

100 Years of Inflation

As part of our home’s 100 year birthday celebration, we learned that the original cost to build the structure in 1911 was $8,000. Starting with that data point, I tried to do some figurin’ to see how much that is in today’s dollars. Doing the calculation in my head was a very bad idea. Without actually thinking about it very much, I jumped to the conclusion that the $8,000 was “like a million bucks” in

We Buy Houses

I see signs all over town advertising for people, or companies, that are willing to buy homes. There is a great diversity in the type of signs. The two examples here highlight some key decisions that go into creating the signs: 1. Do I get it printed, or do I write it by hand? 2. Do I spring for a toll-free number, or stick with a local number? 3. Do I mention cash? Most signs