Owners trying to sell your manufactured home: How long have you had the listing with the current agent and in that time how many times has it been shown to prospective buyers?

Manufactured Housing Retailers: Has you sales volume been going down, regardless of increased marketing efforts?

We are going through a time of national disenchantment with housing (sounds so much better than "housing bust"). Soooooo.... Don't feel like you are alone.

The local market here in central Florida was so hot for a few years that as soon as a sign went out on a lawn there were multiple prospects bidding more than the asking price. At this time it has gotten so quiet that it is scary. The subdivision down the road where they were building and selling 400 homes a MONTH is sitting on 1700 vacant new homes. Every road I drive down has homes for sale signs that have been there long enough to become a regular part of the landscape.

Due to the layoff of about 1500 local construction workers my sales and even my rental business has taken a serious dive. I had five vacant rental units at the start of this month. We have not had this rate of abandonment since the early 90's. We have only been able to fill them by offering lower rents and move-in rates. This is the first time in 26 years that we have pushed the rents down!

I'm afraid that things will probably get worse before they get better. There is still a huge surplus of unsold new homes across the country. Simple economics tell us that this supply will have to be eaten down before the market swings back to favor demand and sellers.

We are seeing as giant wave of repossessions from coast to coast. With inflation on the rise and wages stagnant, people that fell for adjustable interest rates find that their new higher payments have become out of reach for their shrinking buying power. This only makes it more difficult to sell your home. As the number of repos increase the banks are willing to sell for a lower and lower percentage of what was owed, just to get them off their books.

Take heart. While you are facing a difficult task, it is not imposable. Local ads and/or listing in the local MLS, with out an incredible stroke of luck, will probably not do much these days. Business participants and those attempting a FSBO need to expand the number of prospects they can reach out to. Traditional marketing efforts try to drag prospects to your homes for sale. What can you do to get them to seek you out? Above all   DON'T PANIC.  Real estate is cyclical and your day will come. But you dont have to just sit and wait!