Thread: Market report??

Has anyone else seen a huge slow down?
Usually our area stays slightly ahead of the decline. I hope this doesn't mean that some of you have less work than me, because it is really slow around here.

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Kevin - I feel your pain. I'm pretty slow, too. Now, I haven't been doing this long enough to really build up a name for myself, and my marketing is minimal (so I deserve it, to some extent). I'm sure some of the inspectors around these parts who have been inspecting for 15 or more years probably are ok. Fortunately for me, I don't have a lot of debt or a bunch of kids in college, etc. Hey, my wife even brings in some $$ every once in a while!
Have you ever noticed that realtor$ never admit that things are slow? I think they're taught to always claim to be real busy.

Around our area, it has slowed down somewhat. I blame it on the weather though. We have had a rainy month.

If it is bad on the weekends, people just don't get out and house hunt.

Also with interest rates on the rise again, its keeping some people on the fence on deciding to buy or not.

The Fed has a history of raising and then lowering rates, and right now I think most are just waiting for the decline in the rates somewhat.

There is also way too many foreclosures on the market which hurts the RE market.

Its also vacation time, and a long weekend for the 4th.

It'll come back, always does.

I've been in pretty good shape volume-wise all year. The phones have been more quiet the past couple weeks but I am fortunately booking jobs for the majority of the calls I get. I haven't gotten any calls today which is odd for a Monday but the holiday is a couple days away so people are likely vacationing.

John, I actually had a realtor tell me last week things have been slow for him this year.

I'll bring the market back next week, I'm going out of town. Never fails, I try and pick a good slow week and I'm lying on the beach booking calls. We usually end up coming back a day early because not scheduling is driving me nuts. My poor kids, they'll understand when it's time to pay for college.

I can also make it rain when ever I want. All I have to do is leave my windows down or my coveralls in the back of my truck.

Anyone else have these magical powers? Or some may say dumb luck.

Kevin - That is the Universal Law of Perversity you're describing. Like City Hall, you can't fight it.

whever it gets slow here. I go to the golf coarse. The phone never fails to ring during one swing or another. My handicap is going down this month.

Originally Posted by Kevin VanderWarf

I'll bring the market back next week, I'm going out of town. Never fails, I try and pick a good slow week and I'm lying on the beach booking calls. We usually end up coming back a day early because not scheduling is driving me nuts. My poor kids, they'll understand when it's time to pay for college.

I can also make it rain when ever I want. All I have to do is leave my windows down or my coveralls in the back of my truck.

Anyone else have these magical powers? Or some may say dumb luck.

My kids learned several years back to figure out how many inspections it takes to pay for something. "Oh, so that will be two inspections!"

If you want the phone to ring, go sit on the toilet.

I haven't seen it. I'm having my best year ever.

It really seems like a regional thing.... some areas are up when others are down. In the end I think we all feel it sometime or another. My company is down pretty sharply from what we were doing a couple of years ago during the 'frenzy'.

The real scary thing in my area right now is the number of new inspectors. The state certifies us so you can track how many new guys are out there. The number of new licenses in the last two years is staggering. All my regular realtors have told me storied of getting bombarded by coffee, dohnuts and chocolate baskets at their open houses..... and in a related turn of events I seem to have lost all of my heavy realtors..... hmmmmm. Sorry, couldn't resist.

It does get worrysome at times but like the previous poster said, it always comes back.

Rick referenced lots of folks not wanting to go house hunting in the extremely wet weather we have been having.

In Houston, this is the best time to go house hunting. Helps with analyzing flood potentials.

As I stated before "It always comes back."

We booked 12 calls today. We have had more calls the last 2 days than in the last 2 weeks.

Calling it the buying rush before school starts month.

I’ve personally have had a slowdown in new home and resale inspections compared to the last few years. We have been in a booming real estate market here in Houston for several years now so maybe we are past due for a cooling off period. Other local inspectors I have talked to however seems to represent a mixed bag.

Some tell me that they are slower than last year, some tell me they are doing better than last year, and some tell me they are about the same as last year. I guess I personally am falling into the "slower than normal" category this year as far as the buyer/seller real estate transaction type inspections are concerned.

While TREC regulated inspections may be down for me personally, my TRCC inspections this year have just about doubled over last year, energy tune-up inspections are also up for me this year and my work as a TDSHS licensed Mold Assessor Consultant has remained steady.

We are only at the halfway mark for the fiscal calendar year so all bets are off on how the year will end for any of us financially. Welcome to the wonderful world of home inspection and the unique pocket sized market environments we live in!

Originally Posted by Rick Hurst

As I stated before "It always comes back."

We booked 12 calls today. We have had more calls the last 2 days than in the last 2 weeks.

Calling it the buying rush before school starts month.

This business is just crazy sometimes.... You barely work for 2 weeks and then the phone rings off the hook. In the last couple months we've had more ups and downs then I can ever remember. We'll go into a week with 20 scheduled and end up doing 22 or start with 4 and end up doing 25.

Like Larry the Cable Guy says..... 'It's like wipin' before you poop.... it just don't make sense'

Booked 3 full inspections and 2 draw inspections the day I returned from our little beach trip. Never fails.

Markets are trendy, dependent on where you live. Today the repo's are being auctioned off in masses. I contend that within the next couple of months most will become rentals, or to be saved as investments and the balance will be flips, therefore bringing back some of the business. Several things have happened.

Rule of thumb, they got to spend it to make money flow.

The market was glutted with greed by lenders, banks and other unforeseen issues. Those that got in, flipped and got out, faired well the others have had to unload the portfolio or lose the property. We also are coming in to an election year where historically everyone holds their breath, and purse closely. I believe it will be a spotty market in many areas that have had their hay day and to follow the trends, such as Utah and Alabama where people are having to commit to buying a home or markets are attracting people to move to.

Marketing well, holding firm, and it may take a year or more for many markets to pick back up to speed.

As we watched LA after the last earthquake and migration to LV and parts beyond, same for New Orleans, they have to move somewhere. It took a few years for that market to come back and never did come back as it once was. The hay days are over but hoping for some stability in the market to happen soon.

Spreading the truth about flips, remodels and the consequences of liability issues that can follow and how inspections are so valuable to the transaction can market you greatly as well as a great report.

Pacific NW is doing fine although last week was very quiet. The first 6 months of the year were right on track for us and if we can maintain the pace we should do over 330 inspections. I still worry when we get a quiet week but it always bounces back......

As I tell my partner/wife - when its slow, market, when its busy, market!!

//Rick

Originally Posted by Rick Bunzel

Pacific NW is doing fine although last week was very quiet. The first 6 months of the year were right on track for us and if we can maintain the pace we should do over 330 inspections. I still worry when we get a quiet week but it always bounces back......

As I tell my partner/wife - when its slow, market, when its busy, market!!

//Rick

I agree we are overall doing okay... but that being said this year has been pretty up and down, certainly nothing like the 'boom' of 05. Funny that you were slow.... we had our best week of the year last week. But, there were weeks in May and June that had me wanting to call the phone company to see if things were working.

I'm sure sick of hearing the term 'despite the horrible housing market' at the end of every report on the overall economy. There's got to be a certain number of scared Nellies out there who listen to the news and don't buy a house becuase of it.

Ya gotta take the bad along with the good.

Sometimes it's hard to decide which is good and which is bad. Such as this occassion.

Kentucky Home Inspector goes Marketing!







--

Erby, that is the beauty of being your own boss. I am not a fisherman, but the scenery was great.
Jim

Seems the fish only bite when we're busy. They sure don't when I have a day off.

Here is a couple of fish that my brother and myself caught last week at Santee.

Of course, he cut half of my fish off when he took my picture.

Market may be picking up.

A house in my neighborhood which was on the market when we bought ours about 1-1/2 years ago just recently sold. Don't know what it sold for, but it was originally listed for over $850k.

In the last two days I've seen some people looking at another house in our neighborhood just around the corner from us, that one has been on the market about a year, it was originally listed for $450k, but that For Sale sign is still up ...

The one diagonal to our rear yard (touching at the rear corner) is still on the market for $650k, but it just went on the market a few months ago.

So ... looks like at least some activity has started.

Don't know what things are selling for, supposedly the average home sales prices here went up 25% last year, but are only expected to go up 7% this year.

Better to have prices up than like in South Florida where we were, saw a news article saying home sales prices had dropped 30% from Jan 06 to Jan 07 and were still dropping. Glad we sold when we did.

Better to have prices up than like in South Florida where we were, saw a news article saying home sales prices had dropped 30% from Jan 06 to Jan 07 and were still dropping. Glad we sold when we did.

Thats when I bought my condo in Pompano Beach. Hopefully I am in it for the long haul!

We are having a good year. About the same as the last couple. We did our 301st inspection of the year today and expect to end up around 525 for the year. Many realtors here are saying it is slow but we have been getting alot of word of mouth referrals from our past 5 1/2 yrs so we are still doing well. The market matters, but you can always improve your position. Market to your past clients. We get every clients email address and send them monthly newsletters to keep us in mind and it pays off.

Erby, that was a great story. We should all take your make lemon aide out of lemons attitude. Very refreshing.

Frank,

Your comment about marketing to your previous clients is so true.

Some may think they don't want any future contact with their prior clients because they are afraid they might just hear their complaints.

Do you job correct, and you won't have that problem, right.

Many only worry about how to contact new clients and don't realize those that know how well your service might be is your best advertisement. Stay in touch with a newletter as you mentioned is a great idea that many should consider.

Rick