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I've been a Realtor here in Orlando for over five years now. When I first started out, sales were a little slow, since we were coming out of the post 9/11 recession. But, as many of you know, slow periods are a great time to learn a new trade. After a year or so, I finally started getting business through word of mouth, and I started making a respectable income.
2002-2005 were great. I was listing and selling houses left and right. Here in Orlando, it seemed like as soon as you put a home on the market, you got an offer for a home that was greater than the asking price. I won't lie, I was making money hand over fist for little work. I was averaging a closing or two a week.
Then, in 2006, things started slowing down here. Thankfully, prices hadn't started dropping yet, and there were still plenty of buyers in the market. But I was starting to notice that it was taking longer and longer to sell a home. And the inventory was growing and growing.
In 2007, the subprime mortgage crisis hit, and suddenly my buyers couldn't get approved for a mortgage. I don't know about the rest of you, but it seemed like this hit us almost overnight.
2008 is just horrible. My sellers refuse to budge on their prices, either because they can't afford to go any lower, or they are still holding out on prices from three to four years ago. Buyers are being way to picky with their house choices (they can afford to), and are putting in offers that the sellers can't accept. I haven't closed a house in months, and I'm living on maxed out credit cards. I'm not sure when my next closing is going to be, and I can't find a decent part time job to tide me over.
I don't know what to do, nobody is buying, and sellers are unrealistic. I've burned through my savings, maxed out my cards, and can't find a part time job. I've heard that some hiring managers turn their noses when they see Realtors submit for jobs, and I'm starting to believe it. I'm at my wits end.
I'm just hoping I'm not the only one suffering out there.
Can you get out of the contracts on those sellers who will not budge and are costing you money? (the unrealistic ones) If so, you could cut your loses and focus on only taking clients on who are willing to play the ball game the market now is. (And by this I mean being upfront with them when you meet for a listing...)
If you are truely good at this, then you shouldn't be wanting to bail out. Have you lost focus somehow? (just asking, not making a judgement on you)
I am not a realtor but am working on getting my license. I am working on my game plan right now. Luckily my husband is the bread winner and is not in sales so we can live on his income and we have been saving for my first 2 years in the business...
Anyway, I feel for you. I really do. Good luck. I am sure you will get a lot of good info from the agents here.
I am so sorry to hear of this, but, no, you are not the only one. I live near Portland, Oregon, and the realtors I know are feeling the pinch. My builder has simply stopped, and cannot sell his specs. He's having trouble closing the pre-solds, as well. Several big builders have gone bk. Lots are being unloaded. Some of the building tradespeople are also in trouble, and our forest products industries are seeing serious job cuts. All the numbers, inventory, DOM, selling price, etc. look bad. Homes are simply sitting on the market, in all price ranges.
I was having dinner at a restaurant recently, and our waitress turned out to be a realtor, who is not getting any sales, and had to go back to waiting tables. It's not your fault, it's an enormous economic dislocation. I wish you the best and hope you find a job soon.
Sorry to hear this, but there are thousands of Realtors, Appraisers, and Loan Officers around the country in the same position.
Having gone through this sort of thing before, all I can say is (and it's like shutting the barn door after the horses are gone, and now the barn is on fire) if you are going to be in real estate or a real estate affiliated profession, prepare for down turns. Most financial people tell you to have 6 months expenses in savings before you invest in anything. In real estate, you really need a year or two in savings.
If you are single, take a close look at the market data on City-Data for various cities, and relocate to a city where they did not experience the bubble. This will be mostly the midwest and Oklahoma, Texas, etc.
If you aren't single, and you have a family that you have to feed and shelter, I would suggest you downsize as much as possible. Get a job of any kind. Even waiting tables will put food on the table. Keep your license and CE up to date. This will be over in a couple of years. Once the economy turns around you will be in a position to get in early.
You are in an unenviable position. Be positive now and make the tough decisions now so you are not put in front of the economic steamroller. Once you are behind on things it makes it five times as tough to break even and recover. Hanging on now can put you under I'm afraid, so move now while you have some assets left.
I wish things were different but times are tough. I keeping seeing property sell, but it must be at 2002 levels, and most sellers won't go there.
If people continue to hunker down this downward spiral will continue.
I believe that there is pent up demand, people want to buy. Fear keeps people from doing the right thing, living life like there is a tomorrow. The sooner people can see a reason to be optimistic then the downward spiral will stop.
Just like the downturn starts in one area and spreads to others the upturn will start and spread.
Today is my wife's birthday, we took much of the day off. We went for a bike ride around town. We stopped by two of the properties we sold earlier this year. Both were being updated. As a result of real estate sales, the rest of the economy gets a boost.
Here's hoping for a brighter future.
I'm starting to see agents names on foreclosure lists that I get every week. You are not the only one.
Quite frankly, I have taken about 1/4 of the listings that I have in the past. I won't take any seller that isn't realistic or motivated. Why are you spending your own money? That makes no business sense whatsoever. No offense, but I see this all over my town as well, and we aren't even as close to as bad as Florida is.
I've been fortunate to more than make up my listing loss with buyers, but I know that is not true for many. What did you do before real estate? How about temp work? I'm thinking any job would be better than no money at this point.
Orlando Regional Realtor Association (http://www.orlrealtor.com/Main/Main.asp?CategoryID=3 - broken link)
That doesn't look 'that' bad, although I understand what you are saying. Some of the agents in my office (east coast, between St. Augustine and Daytona) have only had two sales this year while others are banging them out. I'm doing ok, but branched out into some commercial property management to get me through and supplement me. The sales I have are in the lower price range so I'm working harder to keep up the income...not a bad thing, at least I have an income!
How are you doing online? Is your website bringing in buyers? Change your customer base. There are plenty of buyers out there...be 'tough' with them to get them realistic, get more of them...as we all know it's a numbers game. Appeal to the buyers ready to buy...your investors, first time buyers, snow birds. They are out there and they are buying. Your area is a fantastic second home area. But you've got to be online with a website that is out there, being seen. Go after lower priced homes, HUD homes, bank owned homes, approved short sales since that appears to be what people want.
Get into rentals. Rentals can be an excellent income base to keep you going during the down times. Property management is another excellent source of income. If you aren't with a broker handling those things, change. We have a couple of franchise places here that would never touch rentals or management and just recently this year they added those services, expanding so they can survive and be more full service.
I feel for you, I really do. I never was making money 'hand over fist' but I know a lot who were and are devastated right now. It's scary. But I really think if you modify what you are doing, you're going to make it through.
Correct me if I am wrong, and this isn't anything on the OP, but I have a question since I am getting into the business. If one is making money hands over first, shouldn't a portion of every home sale be allocated back into your business? Like If you make $20K on a sale, shouldn't $5K be put into a business account that will help offset your expenses? Then some of the remainder should be used to pay off what you spent on marketing that home? And then the remainder of that be put into savings and for personal use? Am I wrong in this thinking?
That would be ideal, yes. But often times, because of the up/down of the business, especially when starting out, that isn't possible. Take me for instance...I moved here, had those expenses, started in real estate, had those expenses, wasn't crazy busy because I was just starting out so had 'carrying costs' and for quite some time was playing catch up. Got caught up. Then changed brokerages for good reason, but that produced another lull. Then we had hurricane seasons that scared the bejesus out of buyers even though they weren't in my area, that produced a lull and was completely out of my control. Stuff happens. So, is your plan the ideal? Yes. But, sometimes it's not practical. For the op, she said she had her savings. I'm quite sure she was living within her means thinking she would be able to carry it through a downturn. Sometimes downturns are longer or more drastic than you are thinking. Sometimes an unexpected expense occurs. Sometimes you don't modify what you are doing quickly enough to adjust to the market. If you read what she's written, she's never been in a down market before. It's a learning experience for quite a few of the Realtors® out there. For the old timers it's a little easier...they went through this just starting out, the up, the down, the coming back up, the 'new' technology, and then more new technology but through all of that were building a solid base. It ain't easy.
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