I hope to inform and entertain anyone who drops by, looking for information about the Santa Clarita Real Estate market (just like they taught me in Journalism School at the University of Colorado).
While The Gallatin Group has been in existence for 10 years, and authored plenty of opinions on Trulia.com as well as Yelp and Zillow, this is my first BLOGGER post...
Below is a quick composite of thoughts first written on the other sites, starting with a simple meek reply back in 2009, from Sona Gallatin, Lead Realtor:
A reader asked about DOM and DCOM on the MLS...
Our simple answer:
DOM = Days On Market
CDOM= Cumulative Days On Market
PLEASE check the stats of your listing with your agent and see just how long and how many times a property has changed status. This is SO important!
Cancelled escrows? Property on and off "Hold".... This is a problem, and if you're trying to do a short sale, this is seriously what you need to be looking at.
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Another post spoke about Realtors in general, back in 2012:
ALL SHOW AND NO GO
There are many RE agents on Trulia who claim to be best-selling agents and top real estate professionals. But what you really have to look at is not the words they say themselves but the words of others who have worked with them. For instance, recommendations are what can really show you who is to be trusted and who is to be avoided. Recommendations are to real estate what Oscars are to actors.
Dozens of agents in the Santa Clarita Valley are represented here, but how many have garnered any recommendations?
When someone is willing to take their time and create a recommendation on the site it speaks volumes. So, in true Oscar fashion, I'd like to thank those who have made this all possible, such as the professionals at Kingway Properties, Keller Williams and my clients, who have sought to find the home of their dreams
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A post from 2013 urged prospective buyers to pick a side: mover or sitter...
TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE
No one wants to remember much of anything about the year 2008. Those that sold their homes that year certainly don't, and as an agent, I don't either. They stayed on the market for dozens, sometimes HUNDREDS of days. Fast forward to May 2013. They are on the market for dozens, sometimes hundreds of HOURS.
The moral: If you get in, GET IN. Be ready to move, to scramble, to......make offers, accept offers, make counters, accept counters. Sellers, your prospective buyers are bidding on multiple homes: don't take them for granted.
Buyers, your sellers are receiving multiple offers: be ready to make yours, if you want that property. It is a feeding frenzy out there, with sellers purposely listing their homes for bargain prices, and watch the bidding war ensue. You need an agent who moves fast, and you need to be ready when they are.
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A post from a year ago reminded people that we are in a "Golden Age" of interest rates:
Interest Rates Up .005? Who Cares?
We are in a comparative "Golden Age" when it comes to interest rates... The infographic below reminds us that rates actually sat above 12% during our lifetimes! I don't know how buyers were able to pull the trigger on a purchase with rates like that... So if you are one of those who loses it when you see the rate jump around from 3.45 to 3.49... Look at the bigger picture and select something more important to fixate on, such as.... Well... that list would go on and on and on....
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And finally....in March 2014, When I heard about the upcoming merger of Trulia and Zillow, I got on my high horse:
Legwork: The internet only takes you so far.
Business Week has an article about the Trulia-Zillow merger.. It talks about how the combined company will begin to streamline the home-buying process.. the founder of Zillow, Rich Barton, basically demolished the travel agency industry, with his previous site, Expedia. I am sure there are a lot of travel agents who would like to shake his hand... (Not really.)
He realizes that the real estate industry is different-- for now. He hopes to supply so much information online that the need for agents and brokers is eliminated. He has to realize one big thing stands in his way: LEGWORK.
No iPad is going to take the place of an agent who physically goes to a property for you in advance, hears the neighbors next door screaming at their barking dog, while tossing a bag of trash out on their porch to be dealt with later. That iPad won't caution you that the house down the street has been on the market for 180 days because the owner won't sell their house until they find a house that has a 40 foot high oak tree on the property, and they're willing to wait. No iPad can... well, you get the idea... Agents do these things for their clients.. At least the good ones do. A house is part of a NEIGHBORHOOD, and no website yet in existence is capable of digitizing an entire neighborhood.
People who read the article commented that 70% of the listings on Trulia and Zillow are outdated and misleading, while others say that agents are the outdated item. No iPad has to go through hundreds of hours of classes, exams and licensing renewals either...
These are just a few thoughts we've published over the years that we don't want lost when we switch to a brand new website... Hope this post finds you well...
-Chris Gallatin
