I have added it to my GarageHomesUSA site, and also put it up here. What do you think? I had to tweak it a little… just the hot rodder in me.
I will be using this logo with the new media buys we are setting up. As soon as things are solidified, I’ll announce it here. You might also see the logo in other places as well.
So, please feel free to share your thoughts about the new logo. At the very least, it’s got to be better than looking at my face…
There are things that tip us off to the coming conditions, and then there are things that we look at to confirm what our gut has already told us.
Leading indicators are things like the stock market. Stocks tend to rise before the associated industries post their gains. Rumor, innuendo and press releases drive stock prices up or down before confirmation.
Wait for the confirmation and you will be watching the boat sail while you are sitting on the pier.
Trailing indicators are the things that confirm what we already thought. The stocks went through the roof, and then the company announces their profits. We see that homes sales picked up two months ago. The government announces a recession or a recovery or an uptick in consumer inflation.
Yesterday, in Forbes, Colin Barr noted that Homebuilders are the hot stock so far this year.
Shares of the S&P Homebuilders Sector Spider (XHB), the exchange-traded fund that tracks the biggest publicly traded companies in the residential construction business, have risen 7% this year. That gain is noteworthy on its own, given the 7% decline in the S&P 500.
But what’s even more dramatic is the huge rally that erupted in these stocks in the middle of last month, right before the Federal Reserve started cutting interest rates in a bid to stave off a possible recession. The homebuilders ETF is up 29% off its early January lows, while components Toll Brothers (TOL, Fortune 500), Lennar (LEN, Fortune 500) and Hovnanian (HOV, Fortune 500) are up 40%, 52% and 96%.
So, is this a leading indicator, or is it an anomaly. Maybe it’s just trolling for bargains.
If it is a leading indicator, the property bargains will start drying up. There is a lot of pent up demand from the recent slowing of sales. If not, the biggest questions are when will the recovery take place, and how much downside is there for the local market?
I don’t see much more than a couple of points for Atlanta and Gwinnett County… and I really don’t see that happening.
I am a partisan… but not for either of the major parties. So, I don’t mind fun being poked at either of them. In fact, I don’t mind fun being poked directly at my beliefs and those whom I support… as long as it is really funny.
I think these are really funny.
And then this one…
I hope you enjoyed a little political fun. If you haven’t watched the videos, they are pretty short… about a minute each.I’ll try not to cheese tomorrow, and get some real estate back into the mix.
I can’t find a direct link, but I keep hearing about a survey of homeowners (possibly conducted by Zillow) that finds that 3/4 of homeowners nationwide (77% is another number I have seen) think that the value of their home has appreciated or at least held its value since 2006. About half of those people thought that the value had increased, and the other half thought the value stagnated in 2007.
I hate to break this to a bunch of people, but in most markets… the roughly 35% of people that think their home increased in value last year… are wrong. A few are right. There are some areas around Atlanta that went up and kept reasonable volume.
I’d love to see real numbers for this area.
If you are looking to sell a property in Gwinnett County, GA, I’ll give it to you straight.
I posted this video on my Active Rain blog, which is primarily targeted at real estate professionals. But, I wanted to get reactions from people that would be better characterized as real estate consumers. This is a short video from an agent in Chicago.
We Rock Chicago – Curb Cut Media – Chicago, IL 60646
So, the question is: As a real estate consumer, what do you think? Does this make you want to call this agent and see the property?I’m seriously considering adopting this style of video for properties. I think I would make some changes, but the basic template seems pretty good…