Another Year Ending
As we almost come to the end of another we are entering an unknown marketplace. The market in 2009 was not as bad as the media tends to present it to the public. One has to keep in mind that every city has their own marketplace and even within that city each smaller community/subdivision has its own markerplace then one can even minimize that tiny market into indiviual streets. There are areas in HRM which have particular streets that sell better than others.
It is difficult to predict what will happen in the upcoming year. I expect the first 3 months of the new year to be a good indicator of what is to come. January is traditionally slower due to weather. People take a few weeks to recover from their holidays in December and adjust to the kids getting back to school etc. What I do in the first few months is start to acquire buyers for the next 4-6 months. We have some great stabilizers in our economy here one being the military. There are over 100,000 people either working in the military or with the military in HRM. This certainly helps create some stability. We also have a number of universities as well as other types of businesses and institutions that aid our economy here in HRM. I started selling in 1984 and truly only have experienced what I would call a hot market for sellers in the last 5 years. That has now changed and buyers are certainly going to be quite careful in how they approach buying property right now. They may try to negotiate harder than they have in the past few years due to uncertainty in the marketplace.
It shall be interesting to see what happens as the year progresses. I expect there shall be a reduction in the number of agents in the city as there are many who are having a hard time making a living. Real estate is not easy as many people seem to think it is. It is a very demanding business that requires years of hard work to become successful and actually survive long term. It isn't just showing houses and having a good time meeting people. There are many aspects to it which require years of experience to become proficient. I shall talk more about that as time moves on.
Sincerely,
Roz