Ramesh Nyberg's Real Estate Blog

Hear ye, hear ye...

So, some interesting stuff reflected in the real estate sales data from last month. Let's start with Miami-Dade: Pending sales leveled off slightly, from 1349 to 1338...but we are seeing constistent numbers over 1200 for three months, while the inventory continued to shrink, to 9352 single family homes, almost half of the 17070 number of July 2008.

One interesting stat from the average sale/sold prices--the average asking price climbed for the 10th straight month. In October, we were at $604,000, and the steady rise brought that number to $756,000 last month. I guess people can interpret that differently, but I call it a steady gain in consumer confidence. Higher end homeowners are starting to list more.

Palmetto Bay and Pinecrest both had nice months. The "Village of Parks" had a two-year high of 32 pending sales in August, while inventory dropped for the 4th straight month. Pinecrest knocked down its inventory for the 6th straight month, and had 25 pending sales and a robust 18 closings.

See all the charts by clicking on $ales By the Numbers, to the left.

I've been doing a lot of networking lately. Besides hosting my own networking get together at TGI Friday's a week ago (which went really well) I've attended a Business 2 Business event, and last night, a crowded happy hour at Mike's Irish Tavern in the Crossings, hosted by the West Kendall Business Association. What happens there? If nothing else, you meet very interesting people. I had some nice conversations with an IT Tech guy, Debra Cain, from KeepSake Flowers, and a Hypnotherapist who works with past life regressions, to name a few. Quite a group, right?
Some pointers, if you are heading out to the networking universe: Don't start by sticking your business card in someone's face. Get to know them a little bit, and take an interest in what they do. More often than not, they will ask you for your card. Follow up with them, soon after the event, and offer them something of value, like a link to your blog, etc.
Why am I telling you all this? Well, if you are in business of any kind, whether you mow lawns or advise people on their taxes, networking events are fun ways to grow your business. You're going to eat, and every so often grab a glass of wine after a long day of work, right? So do it with other business people, and see what happens when people start to mingle and talk.

These days, you can't wait for it to come to you, can you?