Is it just me or does it seem that year after year major road construction projects begin just about the time that all the “snow birds” start returning to Southwest Florida? And why aren’t these projects started during the Spring, when these same “snow birds” are leaving to go back up north to their homes?

Somehow our leaders, in their inimitable wisdom be they State, Country or City, seem to think that the best time to begin a project is when the roads are the most heavily traveled. Boy they sure must know something that I don’t because I simply cannot figure it out.

Now I fully understand that a project like the widening of US 75, (which just started,) is one that will take up to three years to complete, so maybe that isn’t as critical as to when when it starts compared to some of the other smaller projects. Still, having said that, I would have liked to see them begin when everyone is leaving, rather than coming.

Some how no matter what is said, no matter what the inconvenience no matter what the aggravation, nothing is going to change. I guess that it is just one of those things that we have to put up with living in paradise!

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I’ve always considered myself a ‘networker’ probably even before the term became a term. In real estate, we all look toward our happy clients for referrals, and actually it doesn’t matter whether whether it is real estate or not, any business can benefit from the power of word-of–mouth marketing.

A referral generated from this source is a better prospect because they most likely trust the source and are probably less suspect than a prospect generated by other means. Multi-national companies have learned to value the referral derived from word-of-mouth marketing and so should you. Many times we realize the power, but fail to direct our activity in that direction.

In today’s real estate climate, I believe that to remain successful we should be thinking ‘outside the box’ when it comes to marketing and promotion. Certainly one of the ways is to identify your most loyal clients and direct a campaign specifically targeting them for referral production.

We refer people daily to various businesses because it has been ingrained in our brain through slogans and other forms of advertising, so much so that when we hear it we immediately identify with that particular business. And so it should be for we realtors, whether it is a slogan or something else that makes us stand out. Our clients need to be talking about us in order to generate those referrals, so we’d better give them something to talk about!

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The current inventory in Collier County of approximately 5,800 homes and 4,800 condominiums remains excessive and the potential buyers out there seem to be firmly on the sidelines, waiting for the prices to decline even further. There is also disagreement among the ‘experts’ as to how and when the market will truly stabilize, causing further consternation.

With the housing prices down some 20% + it would suggest that it is a perfect time to buy, but again the buyers seem to feel that the market will drift even lower. Until they perceive the market stabilizing, they will most likely remain on the fence.

I’m reminded of the old phrase, “Sellers miss peak…Buyers miss bottom” and have been telling potential buyers that they need to get off the fence. Despite the disagreement about when our local market will bottom out, lower home prices, as well as historically low mortgage rates, (for those moaning about the recent rate rise, I remember rates at 18% +,) and the credit crunch easing a bit, I believe, like most, this to be the strongest ‘buyer’s market’ that we have seen in a decade.

I for one have been pushing buyers to get back in the game and buy, because it’s just sitting there in the palm of their hands!

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