If you attended our WREIA meeting on Thursday night, you know we had a great turnout and covered some terrific material.

Here are a few of the clips we missed due to the time constraints:

Selling Your House with the Help Of Hollywood

And as an example of one of those Hollywood Style Video Listings imported from Australia

And the last demo video shows how one company is using the Ipad for listings. This video is a year old, and already somewhat dated.

These are just a few of the examples we missed at WREIA on Monday night. Remember, set your goals on what you want to achieve in your business, and move forward using up to date and current materials to build your business.

Remember our article from a few weeks ago? McDonalds spends billions of dollars to update their stores. You should be investing in your business to give it a facelift every few years as well.

Let me know if there is anything I can do to help your business,

John Peterson
301-881-5541
Washington REIA Network, President

Profitable Property, Founder

This news reported by the Wall Street Journal could bring short-term benefits to the high-end market here in the DC Metro area.

As banks compete for affluent borrowers, an odd trend has emerged in the mortgage market: rates on loans for pricey homes — “jumbo” mortgages — have dropped below those for smaller mortgages. Nick Timiraos explains on the News Hub.

We posted a great link on our Facebook Page this morning.

The cost of experience when it comes to choosing an agent in our business – about $25k on average.

Remember – Local Agents, Investors, Brokers, Landlords and other Real Estate Veterans gather every month at Washington Real Estate Investors Association. Next Meeting is Monday, September 16th. Register Now!

Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with,

John Peterson
301-881-5541

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We have seen a big jump in prices this year here in the DC area. This has been great if you have been lucky enough to sell your house.

The problem is – we are having a jump in interest rates now too.  That does not bode well for the mortgage industry.

In fact, in the last few days Wells Fargo has been busy cutting nearly 3,000 jobs in their mortgage divisions.

J.P. Morgan will be cutting 19,000 jobs over the next two years in states like California, Texas, New York, New Jersey, and Florida because their income from mortgage banking has dropped 14% from a year ago.

Bank of America had it the worst of the big banks.  Their mortgage income declined nearly 22%, so they now have a plan to fire 2,100 people and close 16 offices by the end of next month.

An article posted yesterday at the Wall Street Journal lists a myriad of troubles for the mortgage industry in the year ahead.  $1.65 Trillion in mortgages this year – which is down from 1.75 last year.  But pay attention to this – They expect next year to drop and bottom out at $1.46 Trillion.

You can find the article posted at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324094704579064863415657936.html

You will often hear me make fun of myself for being a C student.  But these numbers combined with rosy home price forecasts are not adding up.  Strong housing markets are driven by a healthy mortgage industry.

I am buckling up for a tough year. I plan on being cautious with where I buy houses, and even more cautious with when I buy.  I think we are in for a period of time when prices will not be rocketing up, but will not be dropping like a stone either.  Quite frankly, I think we are in for a period of time when prices just stagnate and stabilize…..

Like the housing market in the 90’s.

And that my friends, is just fine by me.  A stable market is good for everyone because no one has the upper hand.  Buyers can negotiate a decent deal, and sellers can sell if they want to.

You can plainly see with these two charts – a very obvious period in the 90’s when prices stabilized for nearly a decade.

The first chart shows prices across the entire US market.

Now, since “all real estate is local” lets look at our DC market (where it’s pretty obvious our prices got a little carried away) during the same period of time.

After the whipsaw prices of the last 6 or 7 years, a nice relaxing period of price stability would be great.

So that is what I am hoping Santa brings me for Christmas this year – The 90’s.

I hope I see you on Monday night at our September WREIA meeting.  It’s going to be a great night discussing Real Estate Marketing.  We plan on showing some successes we have had over the last few months and a few of our colossal failures from earlier in the spring.

Register now and join us on Monday night.

Let me know if there is anything I can do to help your business,

John Peterson

As we all age, there is little doubt that some of our neighbors will go in for a little “tune-up” and get some minor work done in the quest to improve their appearance.  And for these doctors, business is booming.14.6 Million cosmetic plastic surgery procedures were performed in 2012, an increase of 5% over 2011.   Most of our neighbors are going in for minimally invasive facial rejuvenation procedures like injections and abrasions, though the trend for major surgeries are pretty stable as well.What is needed in our personal lives is sometimes needed in the corporate world as well. McDonalds, for instance, is spending a little over a Billion dollars this year to give 1,600 stores a facelift.  That is on top of the 2,400 they “rebooted” last year.

And they did it for good reason:  “McDonald’s said that the new interiors can increase sales by 6% to 7% in the year after they’re completed.”

The McDonalds article is posted at http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/06/20/mcdonalds-1-billion-store-makeover.aspx

Now, McDonalds knows they have to invest in their image to stay current.  My question to you is – “When was the last time you updated your business image?”

A few minutes ago I saw the outline for the next WREIA meeting next Monday.  One of the sections is going to be about re-branding and updating your small business image.  Most of these tips are for those of us operating on a shoestring budget, who do not want to hire “image consultants” and high brow designers to give our business a facelift.  I was quite frankly very surprised at how little some of this image work costs today.

There is simply no excuse for not having a professional image these days.  We are in the early stages of working on a corporate facelift at our office right now, and re-deploying some of our old stagnant websites.  We are trying to lasso it all in, and keep a tight cohesive look and feel to each property and marketing piece – both online and offline.

Monday is packed with great information that could save you a fortune, especially if design is not one of your strengths.  I always recommend hiring the people that can do the job better than you, as soon as your business makes it possible.

You are going to be in for a treat on Monday night.  There is a ton of great current

information. You will be happy to hear, other than showing you two huge failures we had in the spring, we will not be reporting any marketing results more than 90 days old. This is fresh material.  In fact, much of our marketing work from 2011 and 2012 has been shelved, but the results are being used as a spring board for what we are doing in the near future.

We are not only looking back, but also at what’s ahead for real estate marketing. To be quite frank with you – as I review the outline for Monday night and look ahead to 2014 we see our  marketing plans changing –  again.

Remember – We are gathering some feedback for the WREIA meeting on the 16th.  We posted a quick 10 question survey, and  last week we asked for your help.

If you didn’t already, will you take about 3 minutes and check a few boxes for me?  The survey is posted at  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XV6WSGV

Just like last year, we will be sharing the results at the next WREIA meeting.

Thanks so much for helping.

One last time, you can find the survey posted at

John Peterson

“I have three messages. One is we should never, ever give up. Two is you never are too old to chase your dreams. Three is it looks like a solitary sport, but it takes a team.”

That is a quote from Diana Nyad, the first person to swim from Cuba to Key West Florida, without the assistance of a shark cage.Ms. Nyad wasn’t on vacation in Cuba with a few too many umbrella drinks when you jumped and said “Let’s swim home!”  And she certainly didn’t make the swim alone – she had 35 support people who helped her train over the last 4 years.

Ms. Nyad has been at this for some time, and her Cuba to Key West quest didn’t begin 4 years ago.  No, she didn’t start this process at 60 years old.  Her first of 5 attempts was back in 1978, when she was 28 years old.

Yesterday, Ms. Nyad completed a 110 mile swim – AT AGE 64!

This is an absolutely incredible story about human determination, and the NY Times has a great article posted at http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/03/sports/nyad-completes-cuba-to-florida-swim.html

The quote of Ms. Nyad along with her determination got me thinking…..

“Don’t we sometimes give up at the last minute, just before we break through for a final victory?”

Ms. Nyad BEGAN her quest back in 1978, failed 5 times, and just met with success YESTERDAY.

She had to battle sharks, jellyfish, horrible Gulf storms, and her own isolation.   Makes me blush when I think that sometimes I have talked about real estate investing as a sometimes solitary business.   The solitary atmosphere is a big part of the reason I started WREIA, just so I could meet more people I could relate to.  But my work environment has NOTHING on what Ms. Nyad has put herself through over the last few years.

Diana Nyad finally finished her quest 36 year quest yesterday at age 64. No matter how old or young you are, keep stretching to reach your goals.  Keep reaching out for more help where you need it, and keep your eye on your prize, whatever that may be.

As we head into the fall months and the home stretch of 2013, I hope you keep going, adapt when needed and stay motivated. Don’t lose your enthusiasm.  There is no need to isolate yourself in the day to day grind.  Come out and join us at WREIA.  Our members are here to help you stay on track for the last half of 2013.

***Lastly, don’t forget September 16th.  Our next meeting is on the topic of Real Estate Marketing.  THIS IS ALWAYS A MEMBER FAVORITE TOPIC.  Come join us and add a little kick to the fall months ahead.

Let me know if there is anything I can do to help your business,

John Peterson