Monday, December 15, 2008

Are You IN the Middle of a Rip Current?


After reading the warning sign and taking precautions by standing back a few feet from the warning tape I looked up to see big breaking waves on the shore and the whitewater rushing back out to see. Rip currents are DANGEROUS. The powerful, channeled currents of seawater flowing away from the shoreline, through the surf and past the breaking waves will take you out to sea quicker than you can bat an eyelash.


There is no doubt that conditions change and we need to take heed to the warning signs.
The housing market and real estate industry is constantly changing and has been for some time. Though it is known that the market is LOCAL and every area has different statistics I think I can safely say that there is no housing boom going on.


In October, there was Good News! October Statistics for Oahu's Housing Market! Then, The Ripple Effect From Our Hawaii Tourism Industry took a dive and many restaurants and industries are closing down. For the month of November, our home sales declined but our prices here on Oahu are still stable and hopefully this decline will last just a short while.
Needless to say, the Rip Currents are dragging many out to sea and everyone is out there trying to grasp at every straw to stay afloat:


  • Buyers are backing out for no reason ....or maybe they were just too embarrassed to say why. (i.e. family problems, lost jobs or whatever the case may be)

  • Loan Officers are promising the world and can't deliver when it comes time for processing. (giving a preapproval without taking everything into consideration ....in hopes it goes through)

  • Realtors® are nagging at sellers to list their home. (Who knows how they got the private cell number of the owner....yes this just happened to my seller)

  • Realtors® are giving bad advice to the buyer for the sake of a sale. (i.e. bank owned and no warranties, inspections or recourse)

  • Sellers are thinking that it's still a great market (and thinking that they can play hardball when there are few and far between buyers)

The majority of us have kept afloat with great marketing skills and a niche we have created for ourselves. We listen to our clients and only after listening to their needs first do we give back sound, straighforward information and advice. We follow our Code of Ethics which can be compared to our every day behavior following our personal beliefs, morals and values in this game called life. We hold our heads high and sleep VERY well at night knowing...we lived each day right and didn't step on anothers toes to get there.


The rest will be sucked out to sea by those dangerous rip currents.
And You?
© 2008 Celeste "Sally" Cheeseman, All rights reserved