Almost 100 cars. Perfect weather. Nice people. Is there a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon?
Almost 100 cars. Perfect weather. Nice people. Is there a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon?
I use Craigslist to post listings… I use Craigslist to cruise listings, too. And I get annoyed almost every time I open the site… I expect that you do, too.
The real estate ads seem to be the worst. And real estate professionals are right in the thick of it. I think it gives a bad name to all of us when so many of our peers have a flagrant disregard of the terms of use for the service. If they don’t like the rules, don’t use the site. If they still think that the exposure is valuable, follow the rules.
There are a few things that my peers do that are over the edge…
There are a few things that we (as real estate professionals) and you (as consumers) can do to turn the tide. We need to police ourselves so that we can all have a better experience.
When I talk with agents that use these tactics, they always give the same responses… they are doing it to get a leg up on the competition. So, we agents need to make a decision to NOT use these types of tactics. As brokers, we can stop our agents from using them. People post their ads over and over in order to keep them on page one. Well… if you post YOUR ad there 6-20 times a day, and everyone else does that too, you HAVE to post it over and over because there are now 6-20 times more ads.
As consumers… and agents… flag the rule breakers. When their ads go away, they don’t get ANY leg up. At some point, CL will start banning IPs from posting and killing accounts of spammers. Heck, maybe they already do. But, when these folks start having big issues with their “Craigslist Domination Strategy” and they get nothing because of their behavior, they will change.
And we all get a better experience…
One of the coolest things I get to do is to talk with school kids about business… Oddly, they seem to like it, too. We talk about taxes, business strategy and skills that may be valued in the future.
Junior Achievement is a great operation, which has programs for kids from kindergarten to high school. In fact, today, as this post is being released, I am in a classroom with 8th graders talking about making solid choices for the future.
There are a lot of folks that criticize our schools. They talk about how kids come out of school unprepared for life in the real world. Business and economics are a couple of the areas that many of those complaints seem to be about.
I am NOT the expert. I’m not the final word in any of these subjects. But, I have a different set of skills and experiences than the teachers. I would bet that you have a set of skills and experiences that could compliment what the kids are getting i
Market stats for Norcross GA, March, 2011 indicate that there were 399 properties on the market. Overall, there is about a 8.4 month supply of properties. January was a powerhouse… February continued the trend, although not quite as powerful. March was a breakout month (59 v 44 last year). This is one of the few market areas in Gwinnett to post three strong months in a row.
In the sub-$200k arena, there were 235 listings, with about 6.6 month supply. Sales are up sharply from a year ago in this segment, which is the main driver of sales in this area (43 v 31). November and December were weak, but January, February and March have shown a powerful reversal in that trend. And with an Absorption Rate in the mid-6 month range, this price/location segment is bordering on balanced. It has been quite a while since I have been able to say that…
Between $200k and $400k, there were 118 listings for sale, and about 16.1 months of supply. Sales had been down and slowing for the last few months, but lower inventory levels made things look better. Sales bumped up well above last month… and almost to last year’s level, so despite the increase in listings, the Absorption Rate dropped.
From $400k to $600k, there were 41 homes on the market. The absorption rate is around 10.3 months. Inventory has been rising for the last three months, as have sales (4 months for sales, actually). And the Absorption Rate has been dropping for 4 months. Still has a little way to go, but I love that it is getting stronger every month.
The range from $800k to $1m, there were no homes listed on the market and no sales… seemingly forever.
Above $1m, there were 3 properties listed. But because of the smaller numbers of sales, the absorption rate could be significantly impacted by just a couple of sales. The single sale in January (first since October) has pushed the Absorption Rate down to just 9 months of inventory.
Norcross, GA is a suburb of Atlanta in Gwinnett County. The population is 2000 was 8,41, but that only included the area inside the city limits, and it has seen tremendous growth since that census. The City of Norcross revamped their old town a long time ago, and it has served as a model for other towns in the area. It is also home to Meadow Creek and Norcross High Schools. One of the things that Norcross is known for locally is the beautiful older homes in the downtown area. They have maintained their historic flair quite successfully.
I have a page dedicated to Norcross Market Data.
Kind of odd that for a “Wayback” post I would talk about an upcoming car show… But the show happens around the first Saturday in May each year… and so THIS Saturday is the day.
Smokerise Baptist Church is having their 11th Annual Smokerise Car Show on Saturday from 9am until 3pm. Registration runs from 9am until Noon… so there might be a few cars that don’t show up until late. Judging runs from Noon until 3pm.
And check out this link for pictures from last year’s show. There were some pretty cool rides on hand… and that was with showers threatening all day.
BTW, the other car show mentioned in that post, Mud4Blood, will be on May 28th. That one promises to rock, too…