Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Extending The First Time Home Buyer Credit - A Good Idea?

As we approach the shut off date for the First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit, people are asking: Should the credit be extended? Has the credit been a help, and if so, to whom? Just take a moment and express your opinion about Extending The First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit.

Thanks, we'll be posting the result in a few weeks.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

It's Amazing - The Turnout for the Massachusetts Real Estate Salesperson Classes

Tuesday turned out to be an amazing day at Annex Real Estate School in Quincy, Massachusetts. When I drove up to the office in the morning, about 15 minutes before the start of the first midweek September Real Estate Salesperson class, there was no one waiting to get into the school. Well, that has happened before, last minute arrivals. We had just finished an intensive Weekend class that was about 3/4 full. I was totally unprepared for what followed.

At ten minutes before the start of class, three students were in class. Five minutes before the start of class, there were ten students. Then, suddenly, the room filled up. We needed extra chairs and tables. What a surprise! We did not even have enough text books. Fortunately UPS showed up an hour later with the extra books we had ordered and the class went smoothly.

There was a similar story with the evening class. What a surprise! I surveyed the students and found that each felt that there is an opportunity in real estate sales. Most of the students have a reasonable expectation of the local real estate market....not a boom, but never the less, a gradual recovery.

This is very encouraging as we are also seeing a definite improvement in the actvity in our affiliated real estate office, Century21 Annex Realty .

I know that the National Association of Realtors is urging an extension of the first time home buyer credit. This would be good, as there has been a lag in the program getting underway and it being used. One deterent that has been eliminated in many states isthe ability to use the credit at the closing. Signs of good things to come!

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Real Estate Salesperson Class Starts Today

We're'll be heading to the office and Annex Real Estate School to open up. This is for the morning session of the Massachusetts Real Estate Salesperson pre-license course. The response has been almost overwhelming.

Between the registration for the morning and evening, we've had to order more text books. We'll have to find out the motiviation of the students. Why have they decided to go for their Massachusetts Real Estate Salesperson license, now? What do you think?

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Real Estate Weekend Class Starts Tomorrow

This week's weather makes it easier to get into the Weekend Class that will be starting at Annex Real Estate School, tomorrow night, September 11. The response has been very good, so we've had to order more text books from Dearborn Publishing. This is because we have both a day and evening class starting on Tuesday, September 15th, and our original book order was on the conservative side. We're even receiving Applications for the October classes.

Thursday, September 03, 2009

Good Weather, Good Real Estate Activity, Good RE School Enrollment

Here it is, almost the start of the Labor Day weekend, and the outlook for local real estate is good, good, good! The sales activity at our real estate firm, Century21 Annex Realty is definitely a plus. It's not just here in Quincy, MA, but a good part of Boston's 'South Shore'.

We're also seeing an upswing in the registration at our school, Annex Real Estate School. There is increased enrollment in the midweek programs that have both morning and evening classes. We're also seeing the popular accelerated Weekend Class fill up. It gives us a positive indication about the sentiment of the local market. Increase class size is an reflection of the attitude that the market is going to recover.

Now, we would like to see increased activity at our marketing sites, the Annex Bookstore over at Amazon as well as the general Annex Real Estate Source.

Wishing you all an enjoyable Labor day Weekend