We have a small MLS and there isn't a huge amount of competition here, so maybe those are a couple of reasons why listing brokers can continue to provide mediocre services for high dollar commission. In putting up a price change alert today, I noticed a home over $500k that had been reduced three times in price, and it only had three exterior photos. I was really feeling sorry for the seller for paying a high commission for such poor property presentation until I saw that it was owned by the broker...so they're getting what they deserve.

But, this prompted me to take another look at all of the residential listings currently active (873 of them) to see how they fared for images and virtual tours.  Here are some bullet points:

• 303, or 35% had less than the maximum 9 allowed photos of the listed home.
• 90, or 10.3% had 4 or fewer photos.
• 24, or 2.7% had either no photo at all or just one.
• A whopping 749, or 86%,  had no virtual tour link in the listing.

Sorry sellers, but why do you put up with this?  This is especially true in today's technology world when virtual tours are either free or a few bucks each.  And, with digital cameras, why would there not be enough about your home worth taking 9 easy, fast and free pictures?  In that group with zero or only 1 image, almost half were over $300k, with at least one listed at more than $1.2 million.

I recently switched to buyer brokerage, meaning that I no longer take listings.  But, I wanted to clarify that I'm also still doing real estate consulting.  This has allowed me to help FSBO (For Sale By Owner) sellers in the past to get the deal from contract through closing when they do find their own buyer.   Please call me if you're about to sell your property to a family member or a buyer you've located yourself.  I'll do the transaction work on a consulting basis.

I recently announced that Gallery Realty of Taos is now a buyer only brokerage in the Taos real estate market.  I'm no longer taking listings, just representing buyers exclusively.  I gave my reasons, mostly related to my perception of offering greater value to buyers, as well as the ethical component of not ending up representing both sides of a transaction.

I want to announce one more thing.  Because I'm not taking listings, if you're about to list a property, or even have one listed now, I offer a free and unbiased opinion as to your property's saleability in the current market.  I say unbiased, though I will be representing buyers who may consider it for purchase.  But, I won't be telling you anything that could lose me the listing either.

My opinion will come from the buyers' side, with straight talk and information as to how I would comment on it to a prospective buyer client.  You don't have to agree, but it could give you a different perspective to help you to evaluate the listing price and other information being provided by potential listing brokers.

My goal is not to criticize other brokers, nor to convince you to proceed in a different approach or pricing model than they are recommending.  If you had a surgeon recommending radical surgery, you might very well get a second opinion.  And, you would try to get it from an unbiased third party.  That's the service I'd like to provide.

I want to help sellers to predict the attitude of buyers who will be considering their home or land for purchase.  I won't pull punches, nor will I varnish over the plain truth as I see it.  I may not always be on the mark, but I'll certainly not be coming from a competitive approach to list your property.

Call me at 866-289-8267.

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I have a buyer interested in three condos in the area, two listed by one brokerage and the other by a different one.  The broker with the one unit has had it listed only 29 days, and there are seven documents attached to the listing.  Basically every document this buyer needs to see how the condo association is operated, maintenance and finance issues, and rental rules are all there.

The other brokerage has two condos of interest, one listed 300 days.  There are no documents attached to that listing, and only one to the other listing.  No condo association documents are available.  How would you feel about it if you listed your condo or home with a broker who would not have every bit of information ALL buyers ask for up with the listing so they can assess and compare your property?

Since ALL brokers place your property in the MLS for searching on ALL of our sites, that's not a comparison.  Since very few properties sell due to personal contacts and print marketing, most sell from Web marketing and the MLS.  For this reason, there is really not a lot of difference in the value you'll receive from a large or a small brokerage.

Where the rubber meets the road is in their desire and ability to place your property on the Web in a lot more places, with a lot more information.  Will they:

• Syndicate your listing to multiple national real estate portals?
• Display the maximum number of images in the MLS, as well as many more on their and other syndicated sites?
• Create a virtual tour video, and syndicate it to YouTube, Google Videos, and Yahoo videos?
• Gather and attach to the MLS listing all relevant documents that buyers need to examine BEFORE an offer?
• A BIG ONE - So many Taos real estate brokers place a listing into the MLS days to weeks before they upload the photos.  Did you know that there are thousands of buyers on automated alerts from the MLS?  They get the listing ONLY ONCE, the day it's listed.  They have indicated their criteria, and your home matches or they wouldn't be getting it in their alerts.  I get emails every week from my alert clients wanting to know why there are no photos with the listing.

Ask the right questions, and make them show you that they've done what they promised.  Within a week of listing a home, all of the above should be completed.

Using the Internet to Work Where You Want

In an article titled High-Earners Choose to Work Where They Want, Realtor Magazine Online speaks to a growing trend for those earning high incomes to take their work to resort and vacation home markets.  This is due to advances in technology, giving them the ability to operate from a home in an area they prefer.

Using the Jackson Hole, Wyoming area as an example, the article states that their demographics have changed dramatically from a second home market to a market with 75% growth in full time labor force.  At the prices in that area, these aren't hospitality industry workers for the most part, but those who are able to work remotely via the Internet on jobs and business in states all around the country.

This is obviously a plus for the Taos real estate market as well, but we must pay attention and make sure as sellers that we've marketed the availability of DSL or other high speed broadband access to our listed homes.  If you don't have DSL, at least check to see if "line-of-sight" high speed is available from providers like Kit Carson and TaosNet.  If high speed Internet access is available, make sure that all of your marketing materials indicate that, even down to mentioning the speed of the connection.  It's a really big deal to the high income buyer who must bring their work here with them.

Recovery in Taos real estate isn't about the national trend.   Taos real estate sales will rebound in a trickle-up way.  And, it won't be quick I think.

I'll stick by my "Dow at 9500 means buyers will return" posts.  However, who knows when the stock market can get there.  What is more obvious, to me at least, at this point, is that there is already a bottom-up improvement in the Taos real estate market.  But, it's just a shadow of previous good times.

Here's an article that poses a possible "bottom in the markets."  Right now, homes at the low end of the Taos real estate pricing spectrum are moving.   There is a watching audience, and when the price drops to the right level, they're being scooped up.  Another one yesterday that I've been watching for a year, finally hit the magic number, and it's under contract.  These tend to be in the low $200k range at this point.

So, there are two major opinions discussed by those wanting to buy, sell or broker real estate in Taos, NM.

• We're in for another year, into 2010, without improvement in the Taos real estate market ... they're right.
• We're seeing improvement right now that will continue ... they're right.

What we'll see, in my opinion, is an increase in number of sales, but not much of an increase in dollar volume.  This will be brought about by an increase in pricing concessions mostly on the lower end.  And, until the rest of the economy looks brighter to those who still have a little money to buy a vacation or retirement home, price concessions in the $400k up range (a big part of our market) will have to get pretty aggressive to lure a buyer.

The mere fact that a property has been foreclosed does not make it a value play.  If anyone knows what's going on in the marketplace and the value of a property, it's a lender.  They aren't about to hit the market undervalued from the start.  Foreclosed properties can and do drop to steep discount  levels, but it is usually after some days on the market.

At any rate, the best way to keep tabs is with a custom search and alerts to let you know every time a price is reduced, on the day it's reduced.  My last client made a steal of a deal doing just that.  The home had been on the market many months, with several price drops over time by the lender.  When it hit her mark, she acted within 24 hours, and beat two other offers by just hours.  And, we got some great concessions in the deal as well.  There are deals to be had in the Taos real estate market, but you need to be vigilant.

The Taos real estate market is unique in many ways, but not so unique that we don't experience some of the same pressures and trends in other vacation home markets.  Let's bullet some recent numbers from the National Association of Realtors:

• Typical vacation home buyer in 2008 was 46 years old
• That buyer had a median household income of $97,200
• Of those who purchased a property, 89% wanted a retreat:
  • 27% did so to diversify investments
  • 27% to rent to others
  • 26% as a future primary residence
  • 17% for use by a family member or friend

For numbers on vacation home locations, they found that:

• 26% in small towns
• 23% in a rural area
• 23% in resorts
• 20% in a suburb
• 8% in an urban area or central city

If nothing else, sellers in the Taos real estate market can use some of this information to re-examine their pricing.  Also, if a 40ish buyer with cash is considering your home, you may want to work with them carefully, as they are the buyers nationally.