“The media perpetuates this horrible prognostication of the future, what with housing down and unemployment up. But in the last couple of months, we have been getting more property inquiries. We are getting sellers who are more serious about selling their property — i.e., more realistic on price. And we have a couple of deals in escrow.
"So I feel we’re just at the edge of a turn.”
That’s how Peggy Andrews, Broker Associate for The REAL Choice initiated our Daily Post interview this week. Continued...
Realtor Peggy Andrews in her office, looking forward to an upswing in the local real estate market. |
Peggy and REAL Choice Managing Broker, Brianna Jacobsen, formed their real estate business in November, 2003. They have adopted a somewhat unconventional philosophy for this brokerage.
“Our business model is one of team work. In a traditional brokerage, each broker works for him- or herself, and the environment is extremely competitive. Briana and I learned that if we worked together, we could do a two-for-one for our sellers — two brokers working for you. When one is out of town, there’s always someone here to respond to buyers. The team approach has a huge advantage. If she lists a house or I sell a house, everything is 50-50. If I’m going to be out of town when the client comes in, I’ve briefed Briana on all our emails, and she’s ready to show you property.”
And the two realtors have expanded the approach to the brokers that join their team and are selective in who they bring in. “I feel that’s been a key to our success in this difficult time,” said Peggy. At this point, The REAL Choice has five brokers: Peggy and Briana, Dave Leibson, Karen Gray, and Bill Delany. Continued...
Peggy poses outside the REAL Choice offices on Pagosa Street in downtown Pagosa Springs. |
Peggy moved to Pagosa Springs from New Mexico in 2002. She is actually a computer engineer by degree and worked in that industry for 22 years. She touts her claim to fame was the design of software for the space shuttle’s main engine back in the 80s. She entered real estate with land investment as her goal, but later turned to retail real estate.
Peggy’s investment background enables her to work with businesses and commercial transactions now. She currently represents the Cloman Industrial Park. She had assisted the investor who bought the property through the entitlement process and the final plat reviews up to final approval with the County. Now she has the individual lots listed. She enjoys working with business and commercial investors. Despite that, she stated frankly:
“Our market is mostly vacation and second homes and retirement homes. Generally speaking, due to all the amenities, the beauty, the activities, the hot springs, skiing and all that — mostly you have people who want to have a get-away, or they want to retire here. But the economic impact on retirement accounts and the inability to sell their houses in other markets has slowed us down here in Pagosa.”
Peggy described how Pagosa Springs depends on feeder markets, like Phoenix, Denver, Albuquerque, Texas, California.
 “Our market has been comprised especially of Baby Boomers and retirees gearing up for a nice place to retire or a second home for vacation. When they can’t sell their homes, or their home values have gone down to the point where they can’t get lines of credit against their existing house to buy a second house, that’s when our market is affected.” She also sees that “speculative buyers have gone away. “
“The volume of sales is down in residential, but the prices aren’t down nearly as much as the volume. We feel the sellers are realistic about their pricing and understand that the market has had somewhat of a correction. There are still buyers out there, but most of them are looking for a good deal. They aren’t necessarily investors. Some are people who are looking to buy a piece of land and build on it in the two-five year time frame. Now is a good time to buy in preparation for building down the line.”
In their listing presentation to a prospect, The REAL Choice team makes sure the seller understands exactly where their property sits with respect to the market — no fluff.
“We’re brutally honest about value and what sells in the market. If we take a listing and the price isn’t realistic, then we spend money on advertising, and it doesn’t sell — that’s a lose-lose. We try hard to communicate the appropriate price point at which they should list. We’re not in business to list. We’re in business to sell. No matter what the market is doing — boom or bust — we look at what is selling and price accordingly. That makes us a more efficient brokerage,” Peggy reasoned. “So we will take fewer listings, but they’re priced to move. And when on occasion a property goes without a showing for say sixty days, we’ll acknowledge that we need to regroup.”
Peggy had some candid advice for people looking to put their house up for sale:
“In this kind of market, if you want to sell, you either have to have an incredibly aggressive price or an extremely unique property with distinctive features: distinguishing floor plan, unique layout on the lot, unblocked view, dome greenhouse, solar-heated house, acreage, gated community. Sometimes unique properties can bring a higher price, but not necessarily,” she cautioned.
“If you don’t have to sell, wait. Or you’ll sell at a loss.”
Like others in the community, Peggy is hopeful that we’re off to the start of a better season. Let’s keep our fingers crossed!
The REAL Choice is open 9am to 5pm Monday through Friday ... but starting in June, they will be open Saturdays and Sundays, 10am to 4pm through the summer. And they’re always available evenings and weekends by appointment.
The REAL Choice is located in the East Village at 132 Pagosa Street, Pagosa Springs, CO 81147. You can reach them at (970) 264-3800, or at their website. |