Are Snow Days Different with the Internet?

We read all the time about how many people begin their searches for properties online.  In fact, we know that the vast majority do so.  This is in marked contrast to the way things were not so many years ago.  Then, people drove around, called in on signs, and looked at properties with their agent first.


Snow then was a big deal, at least snow on today's level.  When driving was a problem, or prohibited, no real estate got seen.  I even taught my kids, who, like all children, loved snow days, to understand that the sound of a ringing phone in a storm was the sound of clients cancelling their real estate appointments!


 Today's pattern could be very different.  We know, for instance, that hits to our website have risen dramatically since the holidays.  This is despite snow and bitter cold.  After all, it's always the same temperature at your computer.  On days like today, busy professionals have a chance to go back to their To Do lists, and start working on those projects that get bumped every day by urgent business issues.  How many of them are searching for needed or desired properties?  Let's hope that many of them are!

Still Hovering in the Old Economy--Betting on the New Economy

Just when we think that the market is recovering, we get news, or statistics, that makes us wonder.  The last two months of almost constant snow have really put a crimp in real estate sales, although it is certainly possible that the market will recover with a vengeance in the spring.  Right now, we still see a lot of hovering, meaning that people are looking at space, sometimes even making offers, but not actually going through with many of the transactions. This is particularly true in the case of office space.

The exceptions seem to be new ventures, often for successful entrepreneurs who have other businesses or locations.  They know how to make a profit with what they do, and they have a formula to expand that will work.  Restaurants fall into this category.

The other type of new ventures are businesses in fields that have arisen due to market demand or governmental regulation, just like the old testing stations when the State enacted emissions testing.  Now it has more to do with regulated industries, or with niches within categories, such as food-related trends or technology start ups.  New ideas lead to new companies, and they often do things that didn't exist when we were growing up, as I often say about the jobs our children have.  Let's hope that they proliferate enough to make up for the downsizing in the office sector, and that they are successful beyond their wildest dreams!