By Lawrance Morrissey
Every month I attend a CIRIA meeting (Central Indiana Real Estate Investors Association) and without fail, Bob Nice, a prominent real estate attorney asks me how the real estate market is. That might seem odd to some people since the only thing reported on the news is doom and gloom. Bob, a highly educated man has the same access to market reports and T.V. channels as the rest of us. But Bob has discovered something that others have not! He refers to our expertise as having our "pulse on the real estate market." - And he's right. We do as much volume as about four medium sized real estate brokers (or 100 agents) combined.
The last two times Bob has asked for an update, I've told him the market is alive | and well! A surprising answer indeed amidst "the sky is falling" mentality reported daily. Even the Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtors (Mibor) statistics continue to show that prices are down, sales are down, and listings are up in most areas. Those statistics may be true for some brokers, but they certainly are not for us. Several clients have called in the last few months to report they're under contract. We sold about a dozen homes in the first eight weeks of 2008; a very similar pace to years past. March was booming with activity as evidenced with the number of new listings we took on and homes that went under contract.
Perhaps we need to segment the market into two groups: traditional real estate and progressive real estate. One is not working so well. The other is working great.
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