Fillmore Celebrates - Sales Up 37% Q1

Fillmore Real Estate was excited to report that closings were up 37% for the first quarter of 2010 as compared to the first quarter of 2009.  I am the first one to want to celebrate, and I will enjoy telling everyone the great news, but we must all remain grounded with the reality of the market that we are traveling through right now.

Will this trend continue, or is this just a simple blip in the market?  One might argue that the low interest rates, the government incentives and more realistic sellers have created a more favorable marketplace, and I would agree that this has been true here in Brooklyn.  Many of the affordable housing has been moving rapidly, and we are even seeing the trickle up affect picking up steam as the move up buyers are now able to sell their previous, more modest homes.

Fillmore can attribute some of the increased activity due to our successful Home Buyer Tax Credit Sale that was held in March.  Thousands of visitors came to our newly created site www.brooklyntaxcredit.com and found out more about the $8,000 and $6,500 advantage of purchasing before April 30th.  In addition to providing seminars and education, we had a special effort where we achieved 240 Price Improvements, resulting in 45 Million Dollars in reductions.  These reductions got sellers motivated and buyers excited about presenting more offers. 

We combined the education and pricebreaks with a special open house weekend event where we hosted 140 Open Houses;  which is 40% higher than a typical weekend.   The number of new prospects registered to our company for that week was also 40% higher than normal.  Offers were made, more clients came to Fillmore, sellers saw activity and agents were busy being active and excited.  Everyone enjoyed the buzz created and we can see that this month is going to be amazing also due to the picked up activity that has begun.  I wouldn’t be surprised if this month of April is a real record-breaker for our company.   Momentum is on our side.

There is the reality side of the situation that we’re very conscious of as well.  We are trying to do the absolute best that we can now, because we are uncertain of what the market will hold in the next few months.  There are just too many variables for anyone to know for sure.
How fast will interest rates rise?
What about the shadow inventory that has yet to be released by banks?
How are the unemployment and underemployment pieces fitting into the ability to purchase?
Will banks tighten up without federal backing, or will they start to release more funding options to the consumer?

There is a lot out of our control.

Our strategy is like that of a squirrel and we are gathering our nuts while we can.  We’ll have enough to hold us over if the market doesn’t improve like we want it to, and if the market picks up and starts sailing…we’re even better.

MESSAGE: Create activity in your company.   Any kind of activity to get agents moving and motivated, and the business will follow.  We have a few different contests going on right now and the strategy seems to be working.  We are seeing more agents come out of hibernation and getting back to doing the things that they do best…and that’s a good thing!