GREAT FOR 08

Great for 08, could this be the new slogan, with the exception of all the current and proposed commercials for candidates, yes this will be a great year.

Finally after too many years to count we thought it time to take a family vacation and we did and it turned out to be a high point.  Where to go in the middle of a reasonably cold and snowy January?  Mexico, and Port of Vallarta or Nuevo Vallarta to be exact.  Excellent location for a winter vacation.  Of those of you who have not travelled to this area, give it a shot it is really nice.  Throw in a great condo, Villa del Palmar Flamingos, a bit of whale watching (Princes Vallarta), great food, great beach also, some zip line activity on the jungle canopy (La Vista canopy adventures) www.lavistaadventures.com  dinner at a restaurant precariously balanced on the top of a mountain, this is getting better all the time.  Take a short walk on the beautiful beach to the small fishing village of Bucerias to bargain with the vendors and you start to feel like you are really on vacation.  BUT the big item was the people, friendly, helpful and thoroughly trained in “customer service”.  I hope I can retain what I learned from them and apply it to you our customers.

So what about Real Estate for 08? Local vs. Regional will again come into play.  Each local micro Real Estate economy (LMREE) will be unto itself, so study that and understand what is going on in your market vs. what you hear on the national news.  As far as Montrose goes, I see up to 8-10 new listings just about every day and closed sales running about half or less, so buyers should have a good choice when searching.  Based on list price of these properties, it seems prices have not fallen or moved into the fire sale category.  BTW the internet is so handy and even on a great vacation; one can spend a bit of time each day keeping up with the market. 

A couple of very exciting projects coming up this first quarter.

Mountain Shores Development will be going to the City of Montrose for Sketch plan review.  This is the time the City looks at the proposed development as to overall design and infrastructure.  After Feb. we hope to start allowing reservations on lots. How to make money on new developments?  Reserve a lot a pre-release pricing; this is before the final plat.  When final plat occurs and we can transfer deeds and by then prices have usually escalated.  You have now some built in equity for a construction loan or you may want to resell and take the profit.  Keep this in mind and you will be updated on the progress of this project.

If you are a seller, read this carefully.  After a year or so of studying the market and understanding where buyers are coming from or not coming from, it was decided that to get Montrose on the map and get the buyers here we must take the preverbal bull by the horns and go get the buyers.  To that end we have developed and are implementing one of the most aggressive advertising campaigns I have seen or been part of.  We will target markets in Phoenix, Southern California and Nevada.  The target market will have the resources for second and third homes, vacation homes, commercial property or investment property.  A combination of consistent and enticing direct mail, major magazine print, major web site presence will be some of the methods used.  Again, I will keep you posted on the progress.

So yes, 08 looks to be a good one.