real estate market...

With the recent slowdown of real estate sales affected by the burst of the housing bubble, the market has shifted to a buyer's market. Just the other day, I was talking with a co-worker whose also interested in real estate, and he was telling me about a firm at the coast that used to have 50+ agents working in 3 offices and since the shift, there are only 2 agents working out of 1 office.

Now is the time to take advantage of lower prices because the market should take off again. It may take a while, but this type of correction was bound to happen; the same as the stock market has done over the years. I'd prefer picking up one of the oceanside condos for sale and rent it out enough to pay the mortgage but still be able to stay in it a few times a year. They say to "strike while the iron's hot, and I believe the buyer's market is heating up...

business idea

I was looking around doing some research and ran across an Arizona luxury real estate website with some beautiful, mac-daddy homes, rather mansions, for sale. I noticed on one of the listings that the photos were not sized to fit where they were supposed to; they were way too large and I wondered why they don't offer virtual tours of these million dollar homes. Being a geek and a real estate agent makes me notice these things more. I'm not working for an agency yet, but plan to sell real estate once our situation will allow me to quit my job to learn the ropes of the real estate business. I am wondering if in the mean time, I could offer up my services to create virtual tours or take digital photos of properties for agencies in my area...

continuing ed...

I waited until the last minute to take my real estate continuing education classes this year. I met the deadline, but next year, I should probably try to go right after the first of the year when the schedule comes out. The classes are designed to educate licensed real estate agents of changes in laws and to give them a refresher in a back-to-basics approach so they can meet the state requirements to renew their license. I remembered most of the material, but some of it was new. I could take part of the course online and only have to be in the classroom 1/2 the day, but I'd have to take a test - the classroom classes don't require a test; they only require you to be there and basically have a pulse and breath air, so I'll probably do the classroom again next year, and knowing me, I'll probably wait 'til the last minute...