At Prudential we are constantly working to better understand the business. A few years ago now, we got some software to set-up and track showings. This allows us to looks at such things as what price range is seeing more activity, to see how many showings it takes to sell a home, compare year to year and so on. The value to the client is that you price appropriately, gauge how long it should take to sell and how many showings, etc.

Here's what we discussed yesterday at our sales meeting: for the same period as last year, between 1/1 and 2/15, showing activity is up a around 10%. That's all good but the surprising stat is that the number of those showings that Closed or are under contract is up 170%. Wow. It confirms what the real estate community is feeling, that its getting a little better out there and that we're probably hitting the 'real' bottom of the market. It also is showing that the number of showings it takes to get a home under contract has been cut in half which signifies that we're better pricing properties. Curiously, days-on-market remains the same at about 250 which we may attribute to some stagnant properties that have been lingering on the market for a long time.

So, the stock market continues to move forward, new housing starts we're the best in january that they've been in 20 months and the housing market is starting to show signs of life.

Good stuff but I'm not nearly busy enough, so let's chat and see if we can take advantage of some of these REO properties.

Cheers, Seb

Good News/Bad News: There are some awesome deals right now in Durango but its due to increasing foreclosures. Good time to buy.