Many realtors in today’s marketplace might think their asset is the property they are selling, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Your asset is the relationships you have and the reputation you’ve built as a trusted advisor and friend.

Do people think of you when they’re looking to buy a property? Do they think of you when they want to sell a property? Do they think of you when they have money to invest?  Do they tell their friends about you? More importantly, what do they think of you?

It seems that many realtors talk to people only when they have to - when the phone rings or when someone walks in, followed by the obligatory form Christmas card.

The most successful realtors genuinely treat their customers like friends. See if this helps - insert the word friend for “client” in the following scenarios?

“What property would best suit my friend? “  Do I have that property? If I don’t, I should find it for them.

” What stage of life is my friend in, and how can I help make the next part of life great for them? ”   Are they ready for a vacation home? An investment property to build a college fund? A down-size at a later stage in life?

 ”And hey, how is my friend anyway, maybe I should call to say hi and see how they are. “

I’m always amazed at realtors who don’t know what kind of car their client drives, what golf club they play at or where their kids are going to college (what if they wanted to buy an investment condo where their child is going to college…)

Remember when you call, the responsibility is on you to be educated about your craft -know what markets and neighborhoods are strong, have data, have news and have sources that are useful to your client.  

As markets fluctuate, it’s time to reach out to our friends, and make more. New clients are increasingly hard to find, but friends tell other friends, and a network of great relationships can be born.

Some suggestions to get you thinking:

• 700,000 retirees will relocate this year, are any of them your friends?
• Over 2 million graduating high school students will start college this fall - might any parents want to purchase an investment property for them?

Just 35 minutes South of Huntsville, Guntersville is at the head of the 69,000 acre Lake Guntersville, created by the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1939. The lake enjoys 950 miles of winding shoreline, and is touted by ESPN and other fishing aficionados as the Best Bass Fishing in the country. ESPN hosts a minimum of 2 of their BASSMASTERs tournaments on the lake annually, and dedicates an hour of airtime each year to representing the lake and its best fishing spots.  

Because a certain water depth must be maintained for river navigation, Guntersville is one of the most stable TVA reservoirs, fluctuating only two feet between its normal minimum pool in the winter and maximum pool in the summer. While most of the Southeastern lakes have been ravaged by recent droughts, Lake Guntersville has remained steady and accessible regardless of weather impacts, under the watchful eye of TVA.

The town was originally settled in the mid 1800s, but grew in popularity in the early 1940s with the opening of the Lake and becoming a favorite spot to watch boat races.

In the past 4 years, Guntersville has enjoyed double-digit tourism growth, while maintaining a fairly consistent population, estimated at 8000.

Other Quick Lake Guntersville Facts:

Guntersville was chosen by Relocate America in their list of “The 100 Best Places to Live in America”.

Taxes

Miles from Guntersville

Climate

Abbreviated History of Guntersville

http://www.lakeguntersville.org/pages.asp?p=4

Recreation

Golf

The Guntersville area provides golfers of all skill levels with majestic and formidable courses on which to hone their skills. Course designers have taken advantage of the region’s rolling hills and natural waterways to create some of the State’s most breathtaking and, at times, heartbreaking holes. The famed Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail calls the area home.

Lake Guntersville State Park Golf Course

Gunter’s Landing    

Fishing

Whether you’re looking to hook into a world‐class bass or simply spend a lazy afternoon catching crappie under the dock, Lake Guntersville provides plenty of options and opportunities. Home to some of the best sport fishing in the country and host to national fishing tournaments, including the Bassmaster Top 150 Tournament, and Bassmaster Invitational, the lake is sure to satisfy anglers of all skill levels.

ESPN BASSMASTER’S Series

Schedule of Local Tournaments

Hunting

Outdoor enthusiasts have long enjoyed the challenge of hunting in the area. Permit‐public land as well as privately owned and leased land is home to whitetail deer, mourning doves, turkey, quail, rabbit, squirrel, raccoon, and opossum. Gun and bow hunters, as well as trappers, will be richly rewarded in the region’s numerous wildlife management area refuges.

Boating

Lake Guntersville’s length and width make it an ideal venue for boating, waterskiing, sailing, and houseboat cruising. In fact, water‐skiers can glide along for miles without having to turn around.

A dozen public marinas and nearly 70 other launches throughout the region provide ample opportunity for canoe, kayak, powerboat, and sail boat enthusiasts to enjoy the water and the scenery.

Hiking/Camping

Tucked in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, the Guntersville area gives outdoor enthusiasts the chance to hike, bike, and camp in some of the South’s most beautiful woodlands.

• Cheaha Mountain
• Talladega National Forest
• Lake Guntersville State Park

Cultural Activities

In addition to its natural scenic beauty, the Guntersville area offers many attractions to keep locals and tourists busy.

• U.S. Space and Rocket Center
• The Whole Backstage Theatre
• Nature Center at the Huntsville Botanical Garden
• Carnegie Visual Arts Center
• Alabama Ballet Summer Residency at Gorham’s Bluff
• Alabama Music Hall of Fame
• Guntersville Chamber of Commerce List of Attractions

Access To Services

Healthcare

The Guntersville area epitomizes world‐class healthcare with a local touch. Over 750 physicians practice in the region, giving it the highest physician per person ratio in the state.

• Huntsville Regional Medical Campus of the University of Alabama School of Medicine
• Baptist DeKalb
• Huntsville Hospital
• Jackson County Hospital

Transportation

• Huntsville International Airport
• Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport
• Birmingham International Airport

Real Estate Opportunities

Single family homes average $124,720 in 2007 (away from water)

Condominiums - Lighthouse Pointe lakefront resort and condominiums - fully managed resort-style community, the only lakefront resort-style community in Guntersville. Wet slips, dry boat storage, clubhouse, fitness, walking trails. 2 bedroom condominiums start at $285,000.

Home sites - Cherokee Ridge, Lindsey Harbor

The surge of some 30,000 new residents through 2011 represents a remarkable growth to this city of 370,000 residents.

Preparation For Growth

The city has been in preparation for the growth for a few years now, including a $65 million expansion to the airport, and $279 million in road and infrastructure improvements. The city already is planning and sourcing funds for an additional $2 billion in regional infrastructure improvements to ensure the city can support the growth anticipated.  

The city also has been steadily active in monitoring green space and community parks planning, to ensure the growth doesn’t overwhelm the natural beauty of the area.

An Undervalued Real Estate Market

In 2007 most of the country saw its property values fall, “for sale” signs outpace “sold” signs and once-hot markets become the stuff of Alan Greenspan’s nightmares.

But the Huntsville area real estate market just kept chugging along.

Nationally, sales of new homes in 2007 saw the biggest decline in 25 years, while Madison County’s home sales kept pace with 2006 and local sale prices rose 7 percent, to $169,000.

Experts chalk it up to a strong local economy, a steady run-up in prices averaging around 5 percent a year for the past several years and a continued influx of newcomers.

Clifton Miller, president of the Huntsville Area Association of Realtors, said the local market’s strength is nothing new.

“I’ve been in real estate here since June 1995 and it’s been booming since then,” Miller said. “They had the BRAC in 1995 (the Army Aviation Command moved from St. Louis to Huntsville, bringing some 1,800 jobs) and that brought in a lot of folks.

“After that,” he said, “I think what has sustained the economy since then has been the aerospace and military industries and the different Fortune 500 companies here. And we continue to get new business.”

Grayson Glaze, executive director of the Alabama Center for Real Estate at The University of Alabama, said Huntsville’s housing market should remain bright.

“Due in part to its unrivaled growth in the demographics that drive demand for housing, Huntsville has and will continue to be one of the primary market leaders of the state’s housing sectors for years to come,” Glaze said.

In the past, the Huntsville market has performed very well where pricing is concerned as highlighted in a recent Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) report. The report listed the Top Metro Areas with the highest median price appreciation rate for 2007. Huntsville ranked 15th with a ~7% increase.

May 2008 Real Estate statistics for Huntsville: Inventory down 3%, absorption rate inventory improved to 7 months of supply, and prices remained flat but stable.

Recent Huntsville Accolades

Among the current rankings, Huntsville was ranked first in the City of the Future contest, by Foreign Direct Investment magazine:

No. 1 in the number of architectural and other engineers per 1,000 people for any U.S. city, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics;

No. 18 in Popular Science’s March 2008 list of America’s Greenest Cities;

No. 2 metro area for scientists and engineers by Expansion Management magazine;

No. 4 in Forbes’ fastest growing small and large metro areas, and regularly in the top 15 in Forbes’ best places for businesses and careers;

No. 5 in ComputerWorld magazine’s ranking of techiest metro areas, with 9,390 total information technology workers, or more than 5 percent of the work force.

For the full and updated list, visit www.huntsvillealabamausa.com/news/nat_recog.html

Low Cost of Living

With past moderate gains in real estate, Huntsville has remained an “accessible market” to many who sought home ownership. Recently the city and more prevalently the surrounding mountain lakes regions have seen an influx of relocating retires, due to the low cost of living, low property and income taxes, and a collection of charmed mountain lake towns that enjoy the intimate friendly nature of days past, but within minutes of the world-class healthcare and services of Huntsville.

Among all 50 states, Alabama ranks 48th in per capita taxation.

Alabama’s property tax is the lowest in the nation.

ACCRA 1^st Q 2008 Cost of Living Index

Retirees Find Huntsville’s Alabama Mountain Lakes Region

Touted by Where To Retire magazine as a “Low Cost Haven” in the July 2008 issue, Guntersville Alabama is just one of the Alabama Mountain Lakes communities enjoying an influx of retirees.

With over 700,000 retirees relocating annually in the US, Huntsville and its surrounding Alabama Mountain Lakes Region are enjoying being discovered as ideal retirement location. And while the retirees are coming from all points across the country, an increasing number have been coming from Florida and the Northeast, where property taxes, insurance and congestion have become prohibitive to a peaceful retirement.  

With the ever-present negative press on the real estate market, we all seek to put the industry into perspective. As a global destination sales and marketing team, Gameplan has had the good fortune to access and discover and opportunistic and/or stable real estate markets that are weathering, and oftentimes thriving.

The real estate market is certainly experiencing a considerable state of flux across the country, but like most situations, there’s an upside and a downside: The upside:

1. There are stable and emerging real estate markets in the US today
2. There remain undervalued markets which present opportunity for those seeking investment or long-term second home ownership opportunities
3. Developers are motivated. Serious offers and inquiries are met with greater consideration than ever before. Welcome back to the Buyer’s Market.

We will be sharing the research of various emerging and opportunistic markets with you regularly. These are not necessarily locations in which Gameplan represents a specific community, but rather a collection of sourced data and facts that allow you to consider locations or specific communities that we see at the forefront of the destination opportunity in the coming years.

If we can help provide you with any information on these markets or communities, we’re always happy to assist you. Simply call us at 850-249-8125 or email us at info@gameplanrs.com

Well it’s not been dull. The last 2 years in the resort development industry have posed some great challenges to our industry. But, as the never failing optimist and constant analytic, I like to steadily review where we are, and what we’re learning from our prospects, purchasers and developer clients.

There are buyers. We’ve seen them. And we’re selling to them. The vacation and second home buyers we’ve worked with in the first quarter of 2008 were actively looking for investment/second homes, and were more prepared to commit than ever before. Challenge being, they are looking for the best (community, lifestyle, investment, price, experience, future…) and if you’re not selling it, they will find someone who is.

While we’ve all poured over NAR’s 2007 Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey, and anxiously await the Q1 2008 numbers due out this month, the value I glean from this report: more than 2 million investment and vacation properties were purchased in 2007. For our team, we’ve seen quantifiable positive movement among purchasers in Q1, but their motivations are focused on a few common elements:

1)      Remarkable Product

2)      Non-speculative Product

3)      “Don’t make me regret this” pricing

4)      Places They Love

5)      Easy to get to

Remarkable product. The buyers we’ve worked with this year are looking for well-thought-out communities that are well-amenitized, but not over-amenitized. Large scale communities with a “fire sale” mentality (everything is on sale!) only serve to remind buyers of the potential for vacationing or trying to rent out a home next to a construction zone, or worse, an unkempt parcel of land. Phased communities or smaller offerings continue to pose greater appeal and less implied risk to prospective purchasers.  

Non-Speculative Product.No one wants to be the first or second purchaser in a community for any reason these days. And the days of volume pre-sales are behind us for now. Buyers want to look, touch, and experience the community, get a glimpse of the lifestyle for themselves. More than constructing your community’s entry, one or two model homes and construction engagement of a community amenity is the fastest route to sales. Having a great physical representation is the best way to really present the unique lifestyle of your community and your credibility as a developer. While this requires a greater financial commitment from the developer, the difference in sales pace is significant.

“Don’t make me regret this” Pricing. No one wants to feel like a fool at the next cocktail party when they learn they’ve over paid for their vacation home. Much of the purchaser hesitation in the last 18 months reflects the “wait for the bottom” mentality. Question is, is your product positioned to be valuable today, regardless of the mythical “bottom”? While markets vary by location, in many of our markets, we’re confident we’re on the upswing, but if your buyers are still focused on the bottom, perhaps they aren’t seeing the real value in what you’re presenting. We’re still in a market where buyers will want to negotiate, but a clear understanding of your goal for each sale and where it falls within the overall program for your community will make this a more manageable and less painful experience. There will come a time again when negotiation will not be an assumed part of the vacation/investment real estate purchase.  While pricing is a significantly more detailed topic, we’ve employed a variety of “above the line” incentives that have enjoyed success.

In Places They Love. This perhaps should be the first item on the list. Whether your community is an investment purchase or a true vacation/second home, buyers will continue to buy with their hearts. It’s very rare that you’d hear someone say “I can’t for the life of me imagine why someone want to be there, but I bought it…”. In nearly every case, the area surrounding your community already has loyalists, people who have been coming for years and who love it for their own personal reasons. The task is to help them translate their love for an area to their love for your community and how that will enhance their love of the area.

Easy To Get To. While the emotional side of your community’s offering remains a critical component to driving  value and sales, the scales are ever-tipping toward more rational purchase motivations.  While 9/11 reminded us all of the value of spending more time with our families and friends, we recognize our time available to vacation is limited by work, kids activities, social pursuits, extended family commitments and more. Our time to simply ‘drop out’ for a week or more at a time is more limited than ever, and we are recognizing it. But, we are all open to the idea of long weekends, taking a “quick drive or flight” to our vacation house for mini-vacations seems more plausible to many of us. For vacation home and investment-minded purchasers, how often they or renters are likely to be able to use the property is a prime concern. This perhaps explains the 20% increase in fractional real estate sales in 2007.  And is supported by NAR’s Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey, stating the median distance from vacation property to primary residence is 287 miles, typically about a 4-1/2 hour drive.

In sum, Q1 has surprised us here, and pleasantly so. We continue to see people actively looking for real estate, and not all are pennies-on-the-dollar investors (look for my blog on the International purchaser).

We are all recognizing that it will be sometime if ever we enjoy the nirvana resort real estate sales of the early 2000s, but have seen and continue to see positive movement in the marketplace. Our goal and focus is to continue to connect with buyers, understand their motivations and create connections between great developers and their future homeowners. For us, it means nimble, analytic processes and taking a hard, scrutinizing eye towards what’s working. Keep an eye out for the next blog on Resort Real Estate Marketing – What’s Working, coming soon!