The Great Demographic Correction

The Great Demographic Correction

Why your house isn't selling

The Nova Scotia Real Estate Market

   As I was thinking about what I would write about this month I thought of all my customers who are asking me about the real estate market. Sales are definitely slower than normal and many of my customers are getting frustrated trying to plan their lives around the sale of a house that doesn't seem to be selling. Most of my customers have been reasonable accepting that we as Realtors have no control over the market but only the ability to promote our listings to the buying public.

     Today over 90% of buyers start their home search on line and competition is fierce . Third party company's that do not service your local area often turn up in the search engines when you do your search. Many of these are in the marketing business only. They sell the leads they generate to local realtors. Listing information is quite often posted by these third party company's and technology has now evolved so companies with no local listings can populate their web site with other companies MLS listings. This gives the illusion that they have most of the listings and tempts buyers to call them.
      Most buyers today feel quite comfortable doing their own home search on line and only feel the need to call a Realtor to view a listing they like. This is contrary to the agency relationship promoted by organized real estate. In the old days organized real estate basically controlled the listing inventory through the local MLS system and buyers were only able to access the information through a Realtor. That has all changed and there is basically a free for all as companies strive to come up with a way to capture the hearts and minds of consumers on line where most of the searching for a home is done. Rogers spent millions developing ZOOCASA  since 2008 and abruptly shutting it down last month. This could be an indication that organized real estate is winning this battle as IDX and DDF technology has improved in recent years resulting in more current and accurate information on line for consumers. As third party sites have tried to down play the role of Realtors and their contribution towards a successful home sale or purchase organized real estate seems to be winning the war. The bottom line is it's hard to beat "BOOTS ON THE GROUND"  Your local Realtor knows your local area better than any third party could know your area. Including Realtor's from outside your area . I often tell my customers many times the first thing I have to sell is our community or local area. We compete head to head with other communities as a place to live. For local jobs and amenities our community is always in competition.
       I know I often blast government and Nova Scotia for what I think we don't do right. That's only because I want us to do better so our young people can stay home and families can stay together. Call it tough love. I love Nova Scotia and I sell Nova Scotia 24/7 via over 50 websites, blogs and social media sites. I've been through 40 years here as a small business person and yes it is tough to do business in Nova Scotia but it's tough to do business anywhere.
        In my opinion we are now facing one of our biggest challenges and I call it "The Great Demographic Correction".  Just a generation ago we had 5 to 10 or more children in a family growing up and buying houses and goods and services. Now we have 1.5 children in a family and one moves away to work. There are so few buyers. As a wave of baby boomers decide to down size inventory is increasing and home buyers are decreasing. Add to the mix the federal governments decision to tighten mortgage financing for what ever reason they want to articulate. Why can a young person walk into a car dealership and as long as they are breathing and have a job drive off the lot with a $50,000 car with nothing down ? Yet they can't buy a house ? Yes the interest rates are great but doesn't matter much if money can't be borrowed. I tell you this so at least now you know why your house isn't selling you can blame birth control and the government not your agent.  In fact you should give your agent a hug. He or she is working harder for less money than I've seen in my 40 years. I ask you what other profession invests their own time and money, follows your orders, puts up with sometimes daily demands, works 7 days a week all hours, eats more cold meals and misses more family functions for you our customers and you only pay us if we produce. Name someone else that will do that. Tell me we are not crazy PLEASE.  That's my rant for this month. Hope you are having a wonderful summer and if you are selling your house keep the faith by fall half of Alberta may be moving back.

Thanks and God Bless

Larry