Editor’s note: Inman News called upon agents and brokers, technologists and industry executives to let us know about their real estate predictions, items on their real estate wish lists and/or their real estate resolutions for 2010. This final segment features a collection of the responses received. Click here to read the first segment, and click here to read the second installment.
Wish List:
My hope and wish is that the institutional memory of this financial crisis will linger and affect the lending business for years to come. We need to remember the economic devastation that followed the practices adopted and products offered during the boom years. Lenders must consistently practice zero tolerance for fraud.
Next, while I’m always wishing for more and longer convictions in mortgage fraud cases, I would also love to see a reduction in the number of mortgage professionals who commit fraud just to obtain or keep a client. If you’re going to commit fraud and risk a prison sentence, don’t do it for a few hundred bucks — at least make a huge pile of cash on the deal!
Finally, I wish prosperity and good health to all of my friends and colleagues in this industry for the New Year and the years to come.
Rachel Dollar
Editor
Mortgage Fraud Blog
Santa Rosa, Calif. …CONTINUED
Wish List:
That agents find sellers to be reasonable and buyers to be sane.
Resolution:
To find a way to blog more yet stress less.
Jim Cronin
Founder
The Real Estate Tomato …CONTINUED
Predictions:
Google will make a serious, and expensive (as defined by mere mortals) entry into the real estate listings search space.
In December 2010, we’ll still be talking, a lot, about foreclosures and short sales.
More people will be walking away from mortgages that are seriously underwater — consequences to their credit or internal ethics regarding honoring contractual obligations be damned.
Resolution:
Be a better father, husband and real estate broker.
Jay Thompson
Designated broker
Thompson’s Realty …CONTINUED
Predictions:
The market will continue to be opaque and unpredictable, so the ones who will be successful in 2010 are those who run counter to that trend. It means using the Web to connect with consumers and being transparent about the market facts and realities. It means giving consumers open and free access to data and providing them great tools to help them make sense of it all.
In 2010, online real estate will still be a battlefield at a national level; but I think the more interesting fights are going to take place at a local level. That game is more meaningful in the long run and is still anyone’s game.
Wish List:
My real estate wish list for 2010 includes a healthy but sane market and an end to all the fear. Oh yeah, and an iPhone that can go a day with out a dropped call.
Joel Burslem
Partner
1000Watt Consulting …CONTINUED
Wish List:
More competition for Google. I’m finding that I’ve become dependent on Google’s solutions for me and my clients’ basic business functions, including e-mail, documents, traffic, browser, contacts, sync, mapping, calendar and, of course, search. I sure wouldn’t mind if some other players stepped up to the plate to provide more compelling solutions in some of these areas.
Resolution:
My resolution is to focus on one "big" project this year. I had a blast in 2009 taking on a variety of projects including starting Spinnio (an entertainment marketing company), speaking at many real estate events, developing and implementing social media strategies within the newspaper industry, managing many software development projects, and developing social media strategies for a number of online real estate companies. However, it scattered me too much. In 2010, I’m going to focus in one area and hit it hard.
Dustin Luther
Founder
4Realz.net …CONTINUED
Predictions:
Consumer confidence will continue to improve and pent up demand will cause the number of sales to improve. The extended and expanded tax credit will support this increase. Inventory will continue to decline and interest rates will remain at all-time lows. I expect that sales in our marketplace will increase by 10 percent and the average sale price will improve but by less than 5 percent. The improvement will be due to the mix of business with more high-end homes beginning to sell.
Wish List:
My wish list for 2010 is that more consumers will realize that now is the time to purchase a home due to low interest rates and the tax credit from the government. I wish that sales activity will return to normal levels and our salespeople will have plenty of buyers and sellers with which to work. Additionally, I would love to see more Gen-Y young adults consider real estate as their primary career. It is this group that will move our industry forward in the coming years.
Joan Docktor, executive vice president of sales
Prudential Fox & Roach Realtors/Trident
Devon, Penn. …CONTINUED
Predictions:
We believe that 2010 will continue to provide challenges in the commercial sector of the market, locally and across the nation. Leases and commercial purchases are increasingly difficult for brokers to close, as is securing financing for commercial space and small business growth.
In Chicago, our residential Realtors will continue to see the correction of the market, as distressed sales continue to flow, along with traditional sales trying to hold their own.
Wish List:
The one thing we wish we could see in 2010 is more than 70 percent of Chicago’s Realtors closing two sides or more on the new year’s transactions.
Ginger Downs
Chief executive officer
Chicago Association of Realtors
Chicago, Ill. …CONTINUED
Predictions:
I believe we will see an increase in overall home sales in 2010, but growth will be at a moderate pace. Continued high unemployment and fear of unemployment will continue to have a negative effect on consumers’ willingness (and ability) to purchase homes going into the new year.
On a positive note, the extension and expansion of the homebuyer tax credit will continue to help consumers make the decision to purchase or build. Prices seem to have stabilized in many markets and some areas have even seen modest increases. Only the markets hurt most by high foreclosure rates will continue to struggle.
Who knows, if interest rates and/or home prices nudge up, consumers who have been waiting to purchase at the bottom of the market may be prompted to buy, lest their monthly payments become too high.
Wish List:
The first item on my wish list is for the national housing market to stabilize. Enough said!
Secondly, if mortgage interest rates remain low, more consumers will purchase new homes, refinance existing homes and maybe even purchase vacation homes.
More wholesale channels/outlets would allow mortgage brokers to be more competitive.
I wish for the secondary market to come back in the jumbo loan arena.
Timothy Dwyer
President and CEO
Entitle Direct Group
Stamford, Conn. …CONTINUED
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