Perseverance Will Pay Off!

Our Elyria Chapter President, Tammy Koleski, was our speaker this week. Tammy has lived and worked in this area her whole life and has been working in the real estate industry with Howard Hanna since September, 2003. Beyond her outstanding record of sales with Howard Hanna, she has been named recipient of the Lorain County Realtor of the Year Award for the second year in a row.

We are all too well aware that there is financial volatility, crises even, in our economy on both a local and national level. It has certainly had great affect on the housing markets, too. Contrary to popular opinion, though, people are buying houses. These buyers, though, are coming to the bargaining table with significantly less money and much greater knowledge. It has made some significant changes in the standards normally associated with this industry. One of these changes is a marked need for perseverance and patience.

To better understand this need for tenacity in the face of turmoil in the housing market, Tammy shared with us a recent example. Two years ago, a family found their "perfect" home and listed their own home in the process. Their dream home was a perfect example of the increase in consumer knowledge and the power of this knowledge: despite the fact that the county auditor's office states that the property is "worth" over $200,000, they were able to purchase this home for just under $155,000. Their own home, during its selling period, would be put to the same tests by other buyers. It started out listed at almost $120,000 and Tammy placed numerous ads, listing it in many publications, as well as a regular schedule of showing it and holding open houses. Slowly the price was reduced, although a limit to the price reductions was established.

It is now 2 years later and this house finally closed only last week. Although it was sold at a reduced price, it was still a price that allowed this family to earn a small gain. Both their ability to wait and their patience with a difficult market allowed them to make a successful transaction through their agent. Tammy, as that agent, assisted the sellers in setting appropriate limits along with steadily marketing the property in her tried and true fashion over that two year period, hosting regular open houses, advertising in print, and providing on-line listings on all the appropriate web sites.

Your home is an investment. It may need time, like many other types of investments, to become a profitable one in this difficult market we are experiencing. With a good agent, like Tammy Koleski, you will have the on-going support you need over the long-run to market your investment to its best advantage.

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Guests of the Week

Once again, Al Zanni, of ACN, was our honored guest for lunch. Always a treat to have Al with us!

We were also honored to have Hannah, a student from Fremont St. Joseph's High School, in attendance. As part of her senior project for the year, she was spending time shadowing the daily business of IRN member Nancy Klein from That'SKincredible. She is looking forward to graduation in the very near future and will be attending Bowling Green in the fall of this year. Good luck to Hannah!