I won't charge a surcharge for the gas. As we've exhausted in another post, agents stand to make quite a lot of money. Gas is one of many expenses tied to real estate. Unfortunately, I can't cut down my driving any. I drive to preview each home prior to showing it, so I don't show duds to people. Much of our time is spent in cars, it's getting expensive, but that's not something I can imagine passing on through charges. Just another cost of owning a business.

Great topic again. In December we sold our 2000 Odyssey. I looked at the rebates on the New Dodge Ram 1500 at 7000 and bought a 4.7 L V8 2 W/D Loaded for 20k. Great truck. I was getting 13-18 miles per gallon. I realized I made a huge mistake while watching CNBC and all analysts agreed that we will NEVER EVER see gas prices under 3.00 again. I was shocked but knew with the amount of driving I do that it was Honda time again. I traded in the 2008 Ram 1500 for 17000 and bought the CRV EX for 23,100 at Hinshaws. I absolutely LOVE IT!

Horrible money management but now I'm good for 300k. I have never loved any vehicle more then this CRV and suggest anyone looking to scale down and can financially do it, look into these.

Ray Pepper
www.500Realty.net

When I was looking; I would spend hours every weekend driving around looking at houses, nieghborhoods, checking distants to/from work and school. I can't begin to think of how many miles I drove and how many hours my poor kiddies spent playing their gamesboys while we looked for our house. If I was in the market again, I would do it again... no second thoughts about it. Spending the extra money on gas checking everything out is a huge part of buying the house. I can only imagine there are plenty of homeowners out there that are not happy because ________ (you fill in the blank)... they didn't spend the time and do the homework themselves. They trusted the agent for info; info many and most agents are not going to honestly have. All buyers need to do the drive bys as we called it; not just Saturday morning at 11:30 when the grass is finished being mowed and everyone is back inside... but during "your" rush hour commutes, check it out on Friday and Saturday nights (late PM and early AM)...
Trust me I have 1 nieghbor who is drummer for a band... they practice every T/Th nights atarting @ 10:30pm, thankfully the previous owner told us so there was no shock and he's not that loud, but I can honestly say that I forgot that South Tacoma gets heavy Air Traffic (it doesn't bother me) but for the first few months it took our kiddies extra time to go to sleep due to the plane noise. We have a another neighbor with 10, yes 10, children all living in the same house... all biological about 18 months apart. To some people this would be a nightmare area to live but to us; it's perfect. My kiddies always have playmates areound and I always have a babysitter when I need one. We don't mind the noise or air traffic; mostly because it would be hard to hear over the laughter of children, barking dogs, smells of grills, and the common chit chat of the adults while visiting outside.
If my in-laws lived here the house would be up for sale... they like... well something other than all of this. Which is why our drive bys paid off in the end... we found home for us.

Start tacking on surcharges and fees for doing your job, and I start looking for a new agent.

Gas prices ought to influence where people choose to live -- the closer to an employment center, the better real estate prices should hold up.

When gas approached $3.50 a gallon I decided it was time to economize.

This past winter and spring I kept the heat off in the car unless I was showing homes over $700,000, those clients got heat. All others were welcome to use blankets from the stack I kept in the back of the SUV.

This summer once gas gets above $3.85 I plan on rationing the air conditioning in my car. All clients will receive battery powered handheld fans. I've ordered dozens with my company logo and my name. I like to think I'm helping the environment while effectively marketing myself. As part of my commitment those clients looking at homes over $700,000 can use the air conditioning, that too is good business. For those looking at homes under that price point the fans and open windows will have to do.

I will however be charging a battery recycling fee to all my clients. They'll think I'm environmentally sensitive and I won't look cheap for charging a gas surcharge. Pretty smart, huh?

I cant imagine an agent not turning on the heat. To me, that speaks volumes of professionalism, and overall personal success in the industry. Like any industry in sales, relationships are key especially for someone dealing in the volumes of 200k-699k+ and 5k-21k in commission. It amazes me how cheap/complacent people have become especially when dealing with thousands in commission for a couple years. They say diversification is key in financial success.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me you didn't take Mike T seriously! Blankets instead of heaters in the car? I know you can't hear tone of voice in blogs and emails, but if you can't sense the sarcasm in his last post...my goodness.

I love it Mike. Now thats why I come here...A truly great post!

Ray Pepper
www.500Realty.net

Oh dear, I fear I may have gone too far...

Get a general understanding of how economics work and especially how recessionary economies work. Everything truly is connected in some way, like a large circle. The price of gas, the housing situation, the (now worldwide) credit and food situation, manufacturing, jobs... It's all connected. So I say the price of gas, especially what it is now and expecting it to go to 4 bucks a gallon by summer, does and will affect everything in the economy. But it's also like a pipeline and some things don't show the effects until later on.

Mike T...that's classic! LOL~

gigharbor,

I am still curious to see how much money you have made in the first 3 months of this year. But like you said many times its analogous to you having a short position in the stock market, being as you claim to do better now in a drought than you did in the boom.......no sarcasm from me in that but I have met agents like that guy was describing, but like I have told you on other forums when the job posting says no experience required, professionalism is the first thing that is sacrificed.

I'm not going to report my income, since that seems inappropriate (don't ask a lady her age, don't ask a man how much he makes, right?).
But I have continued to do very well with the market slow down.
What you don't realize is that we're not in a down market. This is a normal market. We just got out of an out of control market. This is normal. Just because you have chosen not to buy doesn't mean everybody else is in your shoes. Some recognize that a high inventory, dropping prices, low interest rates, and a mortgage "transformation" that threatens to make it nearly impossible to get a loan in the future, all mean a good time to buy.
I've educated my sellers to realize that their homes, while not worth today what they were 2 years ago, have still appreciated immensely since they bought the home. If you buy at $230k, "could have sold" 2 years ago for $540k, and sell today for $480k, you haven't lost $60k, you've made $250k. It's not a hard concept to grasp, but many sellers aren't seeing that. I educate mine, they do see it.
So I am doing fine, thanks. I've made more in the first 3 months of '08 than I made in my last year of teaching in '03. Sad, but true.
Thanks for being concerned.

gigharbor, blah, blah, blah.....Its called denial as time goes by you will come around. It just takes some time to acknowledge it rather than pay attention to the number and look at things from a macroeconomic perspective. But I am predicting this. Around August things started really declining this year so when it declines this year it will be a smaller year over year decline and people such as yourself can spin that as a improvement in the market.

Example (completely hypothetical)

Aug 2007 prices dropped by will say 3%
Aug 2008 prices dropped by only 1.5%

Most will interpret that as a recovery rather than acknowledge the cumulative drops is substantial but the YOY is shrinking so that indicates turnaround.....remember my predictions