Breaking news this late afternoon- the AZ Dept of Real Estate is going to perform an audit on RE/MAX 2000, as reported by azcentral.com. RE/MAX International is also interested in performing their own internal audit, but owner Robert Klein has yet to agree to that.
The purpose of the audit is to insure that the trust accounts were handled correctly. Specifically, funds were not commingling between the Sales Divisions and the Property Management Divisions. As of right now, the Property Management division is still open for business.
The article states that owner Robert Kline informed RE/MAX International days before Christmas that their agents’ commissions checks were going to start bouncing. Agents and employees were notified two days before Christmas that they were closing their doors.One agent estimates that there are over $111,000 in commissions that are supposed to be paid out. Kline is instructing title companies to cut the checks directly to their agents, instead of to the brokerage itself.
Now, I will not reveal my sources, but I have been told by insiders in the industry that this brokerage has been known to bounce it’s agent’s commission checks occasionally. This has been happening for quite a while (read, years) before this entire incident surfaced. Read the original post earlier this week titled "RE/MAX 2000 Closes Down in Gilbert, AZ". It’ll be interesting to find out what happens.
I just came across an article posted yesterday over at azcentral.com. Apparently RE/MAX 2000 closed down on this past Friday, leaving 350 agents and 20 salaried employees without a job right before the holidays. 13 Offices closed its doors just 2 weeks after their company Christmas Party. One agent, quoted in the article, "did not see this coming". What a nice Holiday Gift for everyone, huh? Dax Watson, the attorney for the owner, stated that the company just wasn’t producing enough revenues to outperform the expenses. Keep in mind, this is one ‘branch’ of RE/MAX, it’d be equivelant to a handful of McDonald’s or Arby’s closing down specific locations. It’s still pretty shocking nonetheless.
It is my opinion that to be able to stay alive in the Real Estate market, you must be able to stay flexible, and adapt to the changes in the market place. This means not only staying up with technology, but adapting to the supply/demand issues presented. Learning the foreclosure process, how to get short sales approved, and bankruptcy law is going to become common ground for any agent wishing to survive this market. Finding deals for themselves and for other investors would certainly keep many alive and going strong. However, I know for a fact that there are some agents out there who have learned this, and are doing more business now than they ever did before. That’s encouraging to know the investors and foreign buyers are flooding into our marketplace.
Here’s a great article on Countrywide Financial. Basically, reports remain optimistic about the future of the company- and they are expanding while they are downsizing. Sounds like a smart move to me. That way as they turn the ship around, the foundation will be larger and even more powerful once it gets back on track.
The same thing goes for buying investment property. You gotta buy when it’s down, and hang on for the long term. No one can argue the value of Arizona Real Estate over time- it will continue to rise in the next 20 years or more, easily. So if you’re picking up foreclosures and short sales, you’re set for the future. Most intelligent investors dumped their property at the peak of the market, and are jumping back in now to rapidly expand their portfolios while the prices are near bottom. Talk about building wealth.
For those who don’t know, RL Brown is deemed as ‘the man’ in our housing market. He supplies in-depth research on the housing market to nearly every major home builder in the state, as well as predictions on things to come. He’s one of the most respected and knowlegable stats and figures men in the industry today. He put out reports on the current state of the Phoenix Housing Market, which you can subscribe to at www.rlbrownreports.com. Pricey, yes, they are. However, if you’re looking for the best analysis of facts and figures, it’s well worth the money.
In this issue he states…
October’s new home closings are showing signs of stabilization, with a “tally of 3,186 representing a very slight uptick from the previous seven months”
closings are down 23% from last year, and permits slumped 25% from 2006.
13% of our resale homes are to out of state buyers, with 50% of those going to California. Buyers from Illinois bought 35 homes while Canadians bought 21.
Only 20 resale transactions in the City of Maricopa out of the 1140 active listings- that’s a 57 month supply!
the new home market is expected to hit a supply-meets-demand type situation in the upcoming 5-7 months. At that point, the downward pressure on pricing might begin to slow down.
In an upcoming post, I’ll give my own statistics on Maricopa county. It’s no secret that our market has dropped. The key here is what do YOU do about it? Sit around and wait, or, take action NOW and capitalize on the outstanding deals out there? I, for one, know what I’m doing
Here’s an interesting article from CNN.com- Here’s an excerpt- The gross domestic product, the broad measure of the nation’s economic activity, grew at an annual rate of 4.9 percent in the three months ending Sept. 30. That’s up from the 3.9 percent growth rate in the government’s initial estimate for the period released a month earlier, as the revision matched the consensus forecast of economists surveyed by Briefing.com. Despite all the doom and gloom out there- seems as if things are actually going pretty well! I keep saying it, and I’m going to say it again- NOW’S THE TIME TO GET BACK INTO REAL ESTATE! Every major investor I know is capitalizing on this market, picking up foreclosures and rental property left and right! They’re not waiting for the media to report it and react to it, they’re picking up the best deals before everyone else figures it out. Here’s a great clip to reinforce my feelings on it… Feelin’ the Flow
