Consumer confidence had been very low for the last six months and consumers’ attitudes about the nation’s economy and their own personal financial concerns rose greatly into positive numbers this past month.

The national consumer confidence index soared up 14 points to its highest level in almost nine months just in the past 30 days alone. That jump is incredibly important for the future of home buying and selling. With this change hopefully people will no longer be staying on the sidelines and will finally decide that now is the perfect time to buy.

The second indicator for the improved consumer confidence came from the National Association of Realtors’ monthly home sales report which showed that sales of single family homes including townhomes, condos, and Co-op’s rose close to three percent this past April.

New home building permits and starts are also on the upswing after many months in negative territory. California’s new home starts increased by almost 22 percent in April over the previous month which was the largest jump since October of last year.

With the monthly increases in sales, builders are beginning to clear out inventories that have been sitting stagnant for quite some time and are now building again.

Old beliefs about marketing:

Most people think of marketing as aversive and painful. They make comments like, “Why can’t I just do my work and have the clients come to me? I hate marketing.” This is because most people have old beliefs about marketing. Some of these are:

- Marketing is phony

- Marketing is begging

- Marketing is pushy

- Marketing is drudgery

New beliefs about marketing

Since our beliefs create our reality, it makes sense for us to reprogram any beliefs that would interfere with our success.

Here’s some way to think of marketing that will actually make you feel passionate about marketing.

- Marketing is an authentic expression of who you are. If you are doing what you love, then expressing what you do with others is authentic.

- Marketing is actually the opposite of begging. It’s a gift. If you give a presentation to a group, write an article or take a prospect to lunch, you are giving.

- Effective marketing is not based on being pushy. It is based on the Law of Attraction. Imagine yourself as a magnet, drawing appreciative clients for your services.

- Marketing is not drudgery. In fact, it is a great way to meet new people, an adventure into new friendships, and connections.

–

Maya Bailey, Ph.D.,author of, Law of Attraction for Real Estate
Professionals, integrates 20 years of experience as a psychologist and
12 years as a business coach with her expertise in the Law of
Attraction. Her powerful work creates a success formula for real
estate professionals ready to double and triple their incomes. Get Dr.
Maya’s free report, 7 Simple Strategies For More Clients in 90 Days,
by visiting www.90DaystoMoreClients.com.

Consumer confidence had been very low for the last six months and consumers’ attitudes about the nation’s economy and their own personal financial concerns rose greatly into positive numbers this past month.

The national consumer confidence index soared up 14 points to its highest level in almost nine months just in the past 30 days alone. That jump is incredibly important for the future of home buying and selling. With this change hopefully people will no longer be staying on the sidelines and will finally decide that now is the perfect time to buy.

The second indicator for the improved consumer confidence came from the National Association of Realtors’ monthly home sales report which showed that sales of single family homes including townhomes, condos, and Co-op’s rose close to three percent this past April.

New home building permits and starts are also on the upswing after many months in negative territory. California’s new home starts increased by almost 22 percent in April over the previous month which was the largest jump since October of last year.

With the monthly increases in sales, builders are beginning to clear out inventories that have been sitting stagnant for quite some time and are now building again.

A tear-streaked Tracy Orr sat in the back row of a foreclosure auction watching bidders in the front row vie for her 4-bedroom home in Pottsboro, Texas at a much-reduced rate from when she bought it back in 2004. Orr, who lost her job only months after the purchase, has struggled to keep her beloved home ever since, finally losing her grip after having sold some land to satisfy arrears. Her last-ditch effort was to make the 80-mile drive into Dallas for the auction with an investor friend, who cancelled the plans at the last minute, so Orr sat at the back of the auction with her family, her home in the catalog without even a photograph in the listing, fighting back her tears.

That is when Marilyn Mock sat down beside her, asking Orr if she was there to buy a home. At this point, Tracy Orr lost her battle with tears that now flowed freely as she explained: “That’s my house.” On the blind, Marilyn Mock jumped into the bidding action and bought the home that was once bought by the Orr family at $80,000 for the bargain of $30,000. Mock, a business owner who deals in flagstone and other rocks in Rockwall, Texas, decided to guarantee the sale with one of her dump trucks as collateral. She had come to the auction with her 27-year-old son to purchase his first home and once finished, stumbled upon Tracy Orr.

Marilyn Mock is one who loves people, never giving up the opportunity to speak with others around her. She claims that you can always find out interesting things when you are open to people, and in striking up a conversation with Tracy Orr, she felt she HAD to do something to help. As for payment for the house, Mock is willing to see how much Tracy Orr can pay for the house so she can have it back with a comfortable payment arrangement. When Mock went home and told her husband that she just bought a house for a complete stranger, her husband did not flinch. He is used to her Good Samaritan nature. She cannot walk past a homeless person on the street without offering at least something.

Tracy Orr was in shock at the turn of her luck in several seconds’ time. Her restored faith in life and humanity has given her the strength to keep going and hold her head up high. Her house is located near a popular Texas fishing spot and Mock’s passion for fishing is satisfied for life, for she has a lifetime friend with a home to stay in on all future angling trips.

The virtual tour sparked interest a few years back but lost traction during the real estate boom when properties seldom stayed on the market long enough to warrant creating the tour and posting it on the web. However, lately some agents have revisited the use of virtual tours in hopes of standing out in a sea of listings.

Approximately 80 percent of home buying begins on the internet, and information about a home, including the virtual tour, helps prospective buyers to become better prepared in the event that they make an offer. According to the most popular real estate website, www.realtor.com, listings that provide a virtual tour generally receive 150% more visitors than the listings that do not. But just how effective is the virtual tour as a boiler-plate resource? What about the case of a downtrodden fixer-upper whose appeal lies more in its affordability and potential than in its current aesthetic? The agent and seller’s discretion should determine whether or not a virtual tour would enhance the listing for a particular house.

One should consider that the image quality and lighting in a virtual tour will make or break the practical use for the tour itself. Case in point: if the lighting is blown out or too yellow, chances are that the virtual tour is not accentuating the details and positive attributes of a property, thus defeating the purpose. In short, if the tour is not well-produced, perhaps it is unwise to expose something that does not show well in this format. Specialized software that includes music, text, and even voiceover capability is available for a monthly fee to agents at www.visualtour.com. Additionally, there are professional virtual tour production companies whose sole purpose is to produce the most seamless and attractive tour possible, and they tend to be reasonably-priced. For the higher-ticket listings, it may be worth your while to employ one of these companies that guarantees their work and will deliver a tour that only enhances the listing to a polished perfection.

These homes have the kind of stuff you thought of as a kid. Like movie theaters and secret trap doors that lead to them. The other stuff is super-modern and adult friendly. Simple, computer protocols operate self-heating pools, walkway lighting and security systems. You can listen to satellite radio while you shave or shower and get weather and news updates on screens stationed throughout the house.

Of course at this point the average Joe or Jill must continue dreaming. However, luxury homes like these are great testing grounds for the inevitable day when some really cool and convenient modern concepts and technologies will be affordable and commonplace for the everyday citizen’s home. Who knows? Maybe someday you’ll be able to take a shower while JAMES, the home computer system, keeps an eye on the pot roast and the lawn mows itself.

Perhaps inspired by such television shows as “Date My House” and “Sleep On It,” home sleepovers are becoming a real-world phenomenon in the modern real estate transaction. It makes sense if you consider that most buyers visit a home upwards of four times before making an offer. In the case of a sleepover, a buyer is seeing the house from all angles and at all times of day. He can even experience just how quietly the house settles in at night, what neighborhood activity there might be, and all pros and cons of the house from the point of view of actual inhabitance.

Not all sellers and agents are amenable to this sort of arrangement, however, citing that in spite of a prospective buyer being able to take in all the positive attributes, there is the chance that negative aspects could reveal themselves as well. And of course, even if the buyer falls madly in love with the house after the overnight, there is still a chance that it isn’t enough to make the sale. Whether or not this unconventional means of home selling is for you or your client, it is advised that, as always, some sort of written agreement is in place before engaging in an overnight stay arrangement. Both insurance broker and legal counsel should always be consulted to help create or just reinforce the infrastructure of such an agreement.

Since almost the beginning of 2009 many people in their 20′s are now making offers on properties. With record low interest rates along with the available money from not only the federal government, but the state as well, agents have been working overtime processing offers for this Generation Y group.

President Obama’s tax credit, part of the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is available to those who buy their first home in 2009 provided the purchase is completed by Dec. 1st of this year.

Many people are making offers now rather than later because this large influx of young buyers has created a one to two month lag time between the initial offer and the closing of escrow.

The current tax incentive is designed so that the money does not have to re-paid as long as the homeowner stays in the house for a minimum of 3 years which was not the case for the $7,500 tax credit that came out in 2008.

Last Tuesday the National Association of Realtors released a report that stated pending home sales in April were up nearly 7% from March which was the largest monthly increase since October 2001.

It’s expected that real estate activity will increase in the months ahead now that economists are seeing encouraging signs that the demand for housing is coming back. It should be noted that mortgage rates are beginning to rise which will begin to make homes less affordable for many young borrowers if they don’t jump in soon.

At the beginning of this week the average rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was at 5.3% compared to last week when it was at 5%.

With the U.S. housing market just one key factor in the economy, as sales begin to recover, prices may take longer to stabilize because of a large inventory of unsold new homes. One thing that is in the favor of today’s young buyer is that prices will most likely not increase until foreclosures begin to decline which most likely won’t happen until the end of 2010.

Recent loan activity has indicated that close to 50% of today’s mortgages are for first-time buyers which can be credited to the latest government tax incentive.