Out with the old, In with the new. THINKING that is...

As most REALTORS® are experiencng, I'm finding myslef almost grasping at straws, looking for new ways to sell my Port Orange and Daytona Beach area real estate listings. We all know it's a buyer's market, and home buyers and investors can buy houses or condos at superbly low prices! And yet they only seem to want to buy the cheap properties, even though some of the best buys are found in the luxury market. I personally have a 4 bedroom, 3 bath house with a full in-law apartment and swimming pool, located on a lake in a fabulous, gated, Port Orange community, listed for only $499,000!

I was just reading a blog post by Sheldon Neal... Actually, it was the post he wrote for Sally Cheeseman's "Spring Fresh" contest. One portion of Sheldon's post could not have more perfectly stated what REALTORS® everywhere are experiencing, learning, and doing for their clients.

Here are Sheldon's words... "Out with the standard thinking of how to represent my clients and the way to market their homes and my services. In with FRESH new ideas including blogging, SEO enhancements, network strengthening - both online&offline, and an embracing of the changed environment we work in, including learning the nuances of new business opportunities such as short sales and strong buyer representation." I could not have said this better myself. So I didn't.

Selling real estate in this day and age is like being catapulted into a whole new world... a topsy-turvy world full of contradictory reports and annoyingly negative media! The learning curve is difficult, and the obstacles are astronomical. This is most especially true for listings like the one I mentioned above, being that it has the additional difficulty of being in the jumbo mortgage market. The old ways of doing business do not work anymore. And any agent who thinks they can be effective, using yesterday's methods is not only disillusioned, they're an embarrassment to our industry, and they're doing a huge disservice to their clients.

So what do professional REALTORS® do?

• When working with real estate sellers, we never stop using every marketing strategy we know; both new and old. And we never stop looking for new ways to market our real estate listings.

• When working with real estate buyers, we scour through thousands of MLS listings to find the house, condo, townhouse, land, or whatever property best meets their needs.  If necessary, we preview properties on behalf of our buyers. (This is often necessary in Florida, since so many of our buyers are from other states and countries) Sometimes we take additional photos or video of the listings we preview, if the listing agent did not do a thorough job for their sellers. We then can e-mail or upload for viewing, these photos and video for our non-local real estate buyers.

Why do we go to these lengths? Because we're professionals and this is a career. When the market changes, we change with it. We may be down, but we're not out. Many people are desperate and depending on us. So we do the best we can, and we keep learning, keep trying, keep praying, keep changing, and never give up.

I guess we really must love what we do! So did I miss anything?

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Lisa Hill, Expert REALTOR® for Daytona Beach, Port Orange, and all of Volusia County. A Daytona Beach native with experience selling real estate in every city in the area!