FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Michael Schaller
CENTURY 21 Adobe Realty
(818) 338-1100
c21adobeinfo@century21.com

Local CENTURY 21 Office Releases Spring Survey Results
Agoura Hills, CA (Grassroots Newswire) June 22, 2010 - Many people dream of buying their first home or trading up to a new home that will better suit their changing needs. However, as the market begins to climb out of one of the most challenging economic downturns in recent history, the current state of the real estate market may be in question in many peoples’ minds. Is it the right time to make a move?
In April, two giants in the real estate market announced interesting survey results. Fannie Mae found that two-thirds of Americans (65 percent) are still bullish on homeownership, preferring to own a home despite the challenging economic environment and the housing downturn. Additional research conducted by Century 21 Real Estate LLC provides further insight.
CENTURY 21® First-Time Home Buyers and Sellers survey captured and compared the opinions of prospective home buyers and sellers who either purchased or sold their first home within the past year or are planning to buy or sell their first home within the next year. The majority of survey respondents had moved or intended to move more than 10 miles but less than 50 miles from their previous location, indicating current market conditions may be a catalyst for buying or selling homes, as opposed to a desire to dramatically change geographic location or relocate for a job.
“Buying a home, whether it’s your first or subsequent purchase, is the single greatest financial decision that most people will make in their lifetime,” counsels Rick Davidson, president and chief executive officer, Century 21 Real Estate LLC. “And, our research indicates that today’s market presents a generational opportunity for home buyers and current home owners looking to leverage their market position.”
Current Market Conditions
More than 80 percent of first-time home buyers and sellers feel the current housing market is more affordable today than this time last year. This is despite the fact that 40 percent of all respondents are more worried about the economy now compared to this time last year. Federal tax credits and solid mortgage rates have had a positive impact on driving people to take action.

Reestablishing Balance
A full market recovery takes time and current conditions continue to favor buyers. While buyers are excited about the opportunities in the current market, sellers note their main concern is losing money on the sale of their home and receiving offers near their asking price.
When will the balance between housing need and inventory return? The real estate industry typically considers six months of inventory to represent a balanced market. According to the National Association of REALTORS® the number of homes for sale currently represents approximately eight months of inventory and has decreased 21.7 percent below the record of 4.58 million homes for sale in July 2008*. First-time home buyers anticipate home prices will soon begin to rise and in fact, about half of first-time buyers (48 percent) expect an increase by this time next year, thereby reestablishing better market equilibrium.
Let an Expert Help Guide You
Whether you are considering buying or selling a home, 60 percent of first-time home buyers do not feel they have a good handle on the real estate process. Given the complexity and opportunity of today’s real estate market, 85 percent of both first-time buyers and sellers feel that using a real estate professional is important. Allow an experienced professional to help guide you to the home that is right for you, at a price you can afford.
The market is recovering and providing a powerful opportunity to act. Take advantage of positive price points and low interest rates today.
For additional information about market conditions in Agoura Hills, contact Michael Schaller at (818) 338-1100 or c21adobeinfo@century21.com.
*National Association of Realtors Existing Home Sales Report, March 2010
Methodology – Century 21 Real Estate LLC First Time Home Buyers and Sellers Survey
MarketTools, Inc. conducted a quantitative survey on behalf of Century 21 Real Estate LLC with 708 prospective home buyers and sellers who either purchased or sold their first home within the past year or are planning to buy or sell their first home within the next year. The quantitative study yielded results from 353 first-time home buyers and 355 first-time home sellers in the form of an online survey fielded from March 12 to 16. The margin of error for this study is 3.7 percent.

About Century 21
© 2010 Century 21 Real Estate LLC. CENTURY 21® Is A Registered Trademark Licensed To Century 21 Real Estate LLC. An Equal Opportunity Company. Equal Housing Opportunity. Each CENTURY 21 Office is Independently Owned and Operated.

The CENTURY 21 iPhone Application

The CENTURY 21 iPhone Application Coming October 2009!

We are pleased to announce that we are launching a branded iPhone application for real estate consumers in October, 2009!

Century 21 This iPhone app will be a highly functional tool that is Gold Standard, bringing CENTURY 21 innovation to life. It will deliver local listings and community information through GPS. With the touch of an iPhone button, you will be able to review all the listings and open houses in any neighborhood. Buyers researching local neighborhoods or pondering a cross-country move can enter any location nationwide and view neighborhood information, property values and school ratings.

With this new app, you can use the built-in camera to take photos of properties. You can also add personal notes and attach them to the saved listing. Most importantly, you can easily find a local CENTURY 21 Office, and easily call the office to start a dialogue.

The CENTURY 21 iPhone application is well positioned to be the most dynamic real estate iPhone app available!

CENTURY 21: The Gold Standard.

Using Social Media To Find A Home

Using Social Media to Buy or Sell Real Estate


The first thing that comes to mind regarding social media is friends, connecting with friends. You can ping a message to everybody. Telling your friends via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or any other social networking site that you’re looking to buy a house or sell your house or get into investing.

When you get to the core of social media it’s just a way of communication. You can use that form of communication to connect with people and send a message.
You might have friends that are realtors who would love the opportunity to help you. You may have friends of friends who are realtors. I’m sure someone you know understands real estate. They could be Investors, mortgage brokers or maybe even a construction person. The point is, using your net work of friends, family and business associates in your quest to find the perfect home.

If you live under a rock and are not participating in social media, you can reach out to people in traditional ways, like calls, visits, mail, and email.

So, what do you think would be the best way to use social media to buy or sell a house?

The new cardinal sin

John Steinbeck's shockingly realistic social commentary, The Grapes of Wrath, set during the Great Depression, rails against its villains of sloth and greed which threw millions of honest, industrious Americans out of work, into poverty and into bread lines. Now, exactly 70 years after its publication, it might perhaps ring its poignant bell loudest in this recession.

One of the most tragic scenes in the book full of gloomy depravity is when crowds of hungry families gather around a river as greedy, capitalistic farmers discard their orange crop, soaked in gasoline, to re-inflate prices. As a nation starves, they let such precious resources slip through their grasp, declaring the message of the scene: in times of hardship, waste becomes a cardinal sin.

So to explain why that's relevant: we at Century 21, as the nation's largest relocation company, enjoy a lot of corporate support that we seem to take for granted. Our industry rejoiced in a boom where "volume can cure a multitude of sins" (Michael Schaller) but as of these hard times, a new vigilance must be resumed.

In addition to the delicious apples that always seem to be floating around our office, our 21online service offers many useful tools that a majority of our agents seem to not be taking advantage of.

Contact Management: the site offers a customizable organizer for all your contacts, clients and others (like Outlook, but much more comprehensive). You can input thousands of clients and set up, within minutes, a system to automatically send birthday, Christmas, and anniversary greetings, or little flags to remind you to make a quick call to keep in touch. As callous as it may seem, it cuts down maintaining personal relationships with your clients to a science.

Why that's useful? National statistics show that after finishing a transaction, 70% of buyers would probably or definitely use their real estate agent again. Sounds great, but few of them actually do. The only thing that can happen is they lose touch and by the time they want to buy or sell again (an average of four years), the agent that provided them such excellent service is now long gone into the abyss of memory. With 21online's contact management system, you easily stay in contact with satisfied clients so that they return again and again and even have the presence of mind to recommend you to others. As Century 21 Adobe owner, Michael Schaller puts it, "Most agents stay in their first year of business every year." With the right tools, you don't have to.

Customizable presentations: Everyone knows how hard it can be sometimes to win over a client. Century21's corporate support artillery releases dozens of customizable presentations (PowerPoint or paper) that can boast everything about you from your reliability and experience, your entrenchment in our national network of over 140,000 professionals, to the numerous pitfalls of selling home yourself (misguided For Sale ByOwner's). All the tools and presentations anyone would ever need to win over a client are accessible on 21online with the click of a mouse.

So as real estate as an industry recovers, many more opportunities will become available to those who care to optimize their available resources and stop soaking their oranges in gasoline.