Greetings, all of us here at The Robinson Team hope that you are enjoying a successful 2008!

 

Now that 2008 is in full swing we wanted to take this opportunity to reach out and say “Hello” to all of you and share our plans for another successful year in Chattanooga real estate.

 

We’re guessing that like most people you are tired of hearing all of the bad news that is being reported about the state of the real estate market around the country.  We wanted to be sure that the doom and gloom being reported by the national media doesn’t cloud your picture of the market right here at home.

 

The primary problem with all of the statistics and information being carelessly thrown around by the national media is context. When newspapers and television news talk about foreclosure spikes, they fail to provide the proper context for these numbers. The problems are primarily with sub-prime loans, which are held by less than 10% of homeowners. While these problems will affect our area, these trends are more prominent in the highly populated coastal areas.

 

Lucky for all of us real estate is a local business.

 

While other areas are seeing buyers being priced completely out of the market, the greater Chattanooga area remains highly affordable. This reality is no more evident than in the December 2007 median home price of $130,000. By contrast the national median price of a home in December was more than $208,000! The median home price stands as a strong indicator of a market’s viability and the greater Chattanooga area has avoided much of the over valuation that has plagued other markets around the country.

 

According to the National Association of Realtors, consumers who are in housing for the long term are poised to come out well ahead. The NAR’s statistics show that the $10,000 invested by a consumer as a down payment on their typically priced home fro the typical 5% annual appreciation will net them $100,000 over 10 years. That is what the power of leveraging means to the consumer!

 

Here at the Robinson Team we are constantly working to improve our advertising and communication systems to meet the challenges of the ever-changing market. We continue to work hard on the marketing presence of our website www.RobinsonTeam.com, which from January 1st 2007 to March 1st 2008 had nearly 150,000 page views and counting! 

 

As always we are open to any new ideas or suggestions that you might have for us. We look forward to working with you in 2008!

 

            Sincerely,

 

           

            Jay Robinson