UPDATE: THIRD QUARTER RESULTS NOW AVAILABLE- Click here

HomeGain®, one of the first websites to provide free instant home values, today announced the results of its nationwide home prices survey of over 900 current and former HomeGain members and more than 3,500 homeowners. We also released the regional results of our survey and will release selected state survey data in the coming days.

The results of the HomeGain Second Quarter 2010 Home Prices Survey indicates that  real estate agents and brokers and homeowners continue to differ on the current values of homes and the direction of home prices.

Real estate agents and brokers as well as homeowners gave Barack Obama low marks with 65% of real estate professionals and 58% of home owners disapproving of the President’s performance. (see question 10 below)

Seventy-seven percent of homeowners think their homes are worth more than the recommended agent listing price, unchanged from the HomeGain First Quarter 2010 Home Prices Survey and up from 69% in the HomeGain Second Quarter 2009 Home Prices Survey. Forty-seven percent of real estate agents and brokers and 49% of homeowners think that home prices will remain the same in the coming six months.

Twenty-eight percent of homeowners think that the values of their homes will increase over the next six months vs. just 20% of real estate agents and brokers who think the same. Thirty-three percent of real estate agents and brokers and 23% of home owners think that home prices will decrease over the next six months. (see question 6 below)

Sixty-three percent of surveyed agents and brokers indicated that their home buyer clients think homes for sale are overpriced.

It is not surprising to see that home owners are slightly more optimistic about the direction of home prices than real estate professionals and that neither group is predicting a rise in home prices over the next six months. Real estate industry watchers tracking the direction of home prices will continue to focus on the impact of the expiration of the home buyer tax credit, the direction of interest rates and unemployment, foreclosure and shadow inventory data.

Set forth below are the top states where real estate professionals and home owners think home prices will rise and fall over the next six months.

Top 10 States Where Real Estate Agents and Homeowners Think Home Prices Will Go Down In the Next Six Months:

Top 10 States Where Real Estate Agents and Homeowners Think Home Prices Will Go Up in the Next Six Months:

We also asked real estate professionals of whether they approved Obama’s performance as President. Sixty-four percent disapproved while 36% approved.  Among homeowners 58% disapproved while 42% approved. The results varied by state as set forth below.

Top 10 States Where Real Estate Agents and Homeowners Approve of Barack Obama’s Performance as President:

Top 10 States Where Real Estate Agents and Homeowners Disapprove of Barack Obama’s Performance as President:

The survey was conducted from June 8-18.

View all prior HomeGain national and state home prices surveys.

The second quarter 2010 regional results are available by clicking here.

Questions and National Results:

1. Have home prices increased, decreased or stayed the same in the last year?
2. On average, what do homeowners believe that their home is worth?
3. How do buyers feel that homes for sale are priced?
4. What is the average difference in price between what sellers believe their home to be worth and the amount at which the home gets listed?
5. What is the average difference in price between what a home is listed at and what a home sells for?
6. In the next six months, will the values of homes in your market increase, decrease or stay the same?
7. What percentage of homes for sale are foreclosures in your area?
8. What is the average home price in your area?
9. What percentage of your clients are first-time buyers?
10. How do you as a Realtor think Barack Obama is performing in his role as President?

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The national results of HomeGain’s Second Quarter 2010 Home Prices Survey (conducted from June 8-18) of more than 900 real estate professionals and 3500 homeowners revealed some significant regional differences. Notably, there is a sharp contrast of opinion of Obama’s performance as President. (see question 10)

Below are the regional results of the entire survey, categorized into four regions*, Northeast, Southeast, Mid-West and West.

Questions and Regional Results:

1. Have home prices increased, decreased or stayed the same in the last year?
2. On average, what do homeowners believe that their home is worth?
3. How do buyers feel that homes for sale are priced?
4. What is the average difference in price between what sellers believe their home to be worth and the amount at which the home gets listed?
5. What is the average difference in price between what a home is listed at and what a home sells for?
6. In the next six months, will the values of homes in your market increase, decrease or stay the same?
7. What percentage of homes for sale are foreclosures in your area?
8. What is the average home price in your area?
9. What percentage of your clients are first-time buyers?
10. How do you think Barack Obama is performing in his role as President?

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It’s been almost 6 months since we started our Lead Conversion Administrator (LCA) program. So much has happened and I continue on the quest to increase our lead conversion.  I won’t do lead conversion stats for another few weeks, but I thought our results so far are very notable.  So far this year we have closed about 175 properties with 15 more set to close this month.  On top of that we have around 20 or so short sales contracts waiting to close too. We know that doesn’t mean anything though.  Right now we are 19.1% ahead of last year which keeps in line with my goal of 20% growth per year.

With all this said, it’s still interesting with the struggle we have with keeping Agents in work mode.  Yes, the market has been tough.

However, as I try to explain to my Agents, it’s only tough if you are trying to sell listings.  Since 90% of our sales come from buyers, my Agents need not worry about how bad the market is, but how they can help their customers.  We are blessed to have over 38,000 leads in our system and a software product, our 100MPH Marketing software, that allows us to seek out only the most active leads with potential to buy.  I have been analyzing my numbers on a regular basis.  I know, no surprise to those who know me.  It still comes down to having the right agents.  I have 21 Agents right now.  Of those Agents, 12 never sold a home prior to coming to my office and are all on track to have at least 20 sales this year.

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Ashton Gustafson, a Realtor with Bishop Realty Group in Texas, was recently presented with Realtor Magazine’s “30 Under 30″ award. This award is given out annually to 30 agents across the nation who are under the age of 30.

At age 27, Ashton has five years of experience under his belt and is now a partner with Bishop Realty Group. In 2009, Ashton and his team closed over 200 transactions. For 2010, Ashton hopes the total number of closings will reach 300. He is aiming to close 100 of those transactions personally.

As a 4th generation Realtor, Ashton attributes much of his success to the guidance and mentorship of his grandparents who taught him the value of a strong work ethic.

Listen to this exclusive call with Ashton as he explains how that work ethic, combined with HomeGain’s AgentView program, has allowed him to build a successful business.

Listen to the HomeGain Radio Clip (approx 8 minutes):

Listen to more HomeGain Radio calls.

If you are selling real estate in a military market, it’s important for you to know all of the options out there for your seller clients.  We’ve recently worked with several Realtors who were completely unaware of the Housing Assistance Program (HAP) that is offered by the Department of Defense. This program can help a military member avoid a short sale, or reduce the loss they have to contribute to help cover their mortgage after being forced to relocate.

We communicated with one military client who had short sold the home a few months prior to contacting us from a blog post – and had zero idea about this program.  The program essentially provides loss assistance to those in the milltary that are relocated or moved to another part of the country and are “in the red” on their home.

To apply for the program click here.

Here is an excerpt from the HAP DOD website:
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Reputation often plays a huge role in a Realtor’s business. Think about how much damage an unhappy client can do to your income. Those clients tend to blab to more friends, more often and with more emotion about a bad a real estate transaction than a happy client who talks about a good one. Unhappy clients can cause damage even though it may not have been your fault.

The measure of your reputation is not only what you do but what others might say about you as well. Your reputation is earned whether you like it or not. Here are some tips to managing your online reputation.

Monitor Yourself

It is good to know what is being said about you. I use Google Alerts to monitor anything written or said about me. Google will email you when they find out a webpage, newspaper article or blog that mentions your name or what ever search phrase you want to track. It is a great way to continually monitor yourself, family members, stories or anything else you want to keep track of.

Delete or Compete

If you do find some embarrassing or inaccurate information about you on the web contact the website owner and ask them if they would be willing to remove the content. It is probably best to not get ugly and start a war. This usually just fans the flame and creates more controversy. Continue reading this post