As many of you are reading in the newspapers and seeing on news on your T.V.s, we are experiencing a housing slump right now in most areas of the United States. 

Local Real Estate Agents in the Toledo area are going to feel the crunch.

Most Real Estate agents in the Toledo area are working with as many buyers as possible.  Many of us are trying new and different ways to try to market our listings. The old conventional ways just aren't cutting it.  By far, the newspapers ads are probably the worst  for getting the best bang for your buck.

Still the wave of the future in marketing homes is the internet.  But having your home up through a website that has the MLS, (multiple listing service), just isn't enough anymore. We are emailing homes to our large databases,  using national real estate websites like www.Realtor,com , www.ReMax.com, www.Yahoo.com real estate, www.HarmonHomes.com, and www.Google.com  real estate.  then there are the obsecure sites like www.Craigslist.com,  www.Localism.com,  and Point2NLS.  The list is never ending. 

Not only do you have to try to get your listings up on all these sites($$$) but to be successful you must have 15 photos, virtual tours, lengthy descriptions. 

This is just my opinion, but, I really do think we will lose a lot of Realtors in the next couple of years.  The average part time Realtor will have a very hard time competing. 

The good news is that it is forcing the agents to really hone their craft.  Competition has also been what makes our country great.  When we do come out of this slow down, it will be like opening the flood gates.  The general public will have so much information at their finger tips when they buy a home.  The entire business of selling real estate is transforming, it has been swept up into our high technology age.  It will never go back to the way it was even 5 years ago.

The Internet is Micro-managing the Homes for Sale

This is the hardest concept for the average home owner to accept or even believe that it exists. People look at homes on the internet and they are catagorized by Price, Style, Ammenties, Types etc. These are all fields the can be ordered up by the consumer. In a buyers market, this can be deadly. Only the best of the best in their price range will sell.  The others that are just so-so will sit.  Many get no showings at all.  The average homeowner has no concept of how this can happen.  They ask "if the Realtor is showing the home two doors down from ours, why isn't he also showing ours?"

The answer is, they have a finite list, and they are following that list.  They may have as many as 30 or more homes on their list.

Their are homes selling right now in the Toledo Area!  There are even more homes for sale.

Just giving you my opinion of this unusual market.  Is it going to last forever? Of course not.  The real estate market is cyclic, before you know it, it will be in full swing again.

Nancy  Lohman & Team, ReMax Preferred Associates,  419-369-4735

Bob Lohman, Nancy Lohman, & Brett Lohman