Tag Archives: joe spake

Memphis Real Estate Sales Report for September, 2008

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Memphis Real Estate market statistics for September and 2008 year-to-date have been released by the Memphis Area Association of REALTORS®.

The report shows only a 3.1% decline from September, 2007 sales, but total sales for the year are off 18.4% (2007: 13,152; 2008: 10,733). Median price is off 12.9% from 2007, and average sales price is off 13.2%. Inventory showed a significant drop from prior months, which, to me says that fewer homes are going on the market, or homes are being pulled off the market, or expired listings are not being relisted. Whatever the reason, based on the Law of Supply and demand, this is a positive sign.

Remember, I am not one to get up on his soap box and preach that now is the best time in history to buy a home. That is a consumer decision, however, in helping my clients weigh their options, the market seems favorable. The only way we will know we have hit bottom is when we have passed it, and prices are on the up-trend. Homes in certain price points and parts of the area seem to be doing pretty well. There are more important factors than getting a “good deal” on a house. Stay on top of what’s happening in the mortgage market as banks continue to tighten up on their requirements. For home sellers, the 3 timeless rules apply: Excellent condition, great price, super marketing.

A market I have continued to look at, even though it probably has very little bearing on the overall market is the $1 Million+ range. Based on 2008 sales and the amount of inventory, there is 56 months of inventory of over $1M properties. I am, hereby, dubbing that number the Spake Index – yet another index for pundits to track. The Spake Index for September=56.

Review the full report at http://www.spake.com/downloads/September2008stats.pdf

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It’s Hard to let go of Interruption Marketing

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I wonder if we Realtors can differentiate between the old style hard sell interruption and the softer sell of permission marketing.

Interruption marketing is the old school, shove-it-down-their-throats technique, still taught in many or most real estate marketing featuring cold calling, direct mail, email blasts, print ads, trade shows, and TV/radio ads. We are very comfortable with our one way messages and believe that our advertising time and dollars are well spent employing these age-old selling techniques.

Permission Marketing, the term popularized by Seth Godin, embraces customer buy-in to our marketing concepts and features SEO/SEM, blogging, social media (such as FaceBook, LinkedIn and Twitter), RSS, video, free tools/trials and a more transparent marketing atmosphere. It’s a soft sell, because if customers don’t like the message they can turn it off or tune it out.

Yet I find many sales people dabbling in the social media and trying to use them as interruption marketing tools. It won’t work, at least not for long. Real estate blogging often holds onto the concepts of interruption marketing, presenting new listings, tired how-to articles, and sales lures. If a potential client reads my blog and finds nothing but listing advertisements, information about me, propaganda about why this is the best time in the history of the universe to buy a home, or cut and paste boilerplate, she is likely to move along to a blog with relevant content to her real needs.

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Reflections on the educational sessions at the TAR Convention

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Factoid: 70% of the over 1.1 million REALTORS® in the USA make less than $12,000/year.



Last week I attend the Tennessee Association of REALTORS® annual Convention in Chattanooga.

None of the national speakers/trainers I attended, including RealTrends boss, Steve Murray mentioned social media.


Per Murray: It is in the best interest of real estate companies, owners and brokers to keep the real estate licensing standards low (It is much harder to become a licensed hairdresser in Tennessee than to get a real estate license). DOJ has also stepped in to keep entry standards low. Only the consumer can demand higher standards in the real estate industry.


The modern real estate consumer is more likely to believe data she finds on the internet that the agent who is telling her “this is the best time to buy” and is more likely to have researched at a number of online sources.


I wasn’t made aware of any new earth shaking trends in the way we do the real estate business here in Tennessee, and, hearing the legal issues presentation, it also not likely that we will see any business plans like Redfin in the near future.


Ask your REALTOR if he/she Tweets, has a Facebook or LinkedIn presence, or knows what RSS stands for.

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