Posted by Kathy Van Klinken on 3/23/11 2:14pm
Msg #377261

California business

Just thought I would ask, 2011 was a really good year for me, then January, 6 closing, February, 5 and so far March 2!! Anyone else have a big slowdown?

Reply by NJDiva on 3/23/11 2:37pm
Msg #377269

2010, I am assuming you mean, was an awesome year for me too; that is up until about the middle of February. Ugh!

Reply by Kathy Van Klinken on 3/23/11 3:26pm
Msg #377281

Opps, I did mean 2010! Helpful, but sad to hear that others are also slow.
Reminds me of 2008...

Reply by TacomaBoy on 3/23/11 3:50pm
Msg #377286

Washington Biz

I'll probably make more money picking apples in Yakima, WA this year. We all seemed to have a nice push of notary business in the last quarter of 2010 because of an interest rate scare. However, 2011 has been real slow so far. It seems R/E sales, purchases and financing is usually slow in the first quarter of the year in most places of the country, but picks up later in the year. Dunno if it will follow such a pattern in 2011. Hope soooo . .. .

Reply by Paul Mees on 3/23/11 6:28pm
Msg #377307

Re: Washington Biz

Marked slowdown in Eastern Wisconsn during the past two weeks. Very busy before that.

Reply by Ireneky on 3/24/11 8:14am
Msg #377332

Re: Kentucky Biz

Same, Same here. 1or 2 closings a week since March 1st. And before that I was only doing loan closings that were started back last summer and fall of 2010.
Keep the Faith things will pick back up. It's just really hard for folks to get loan approval these days.

Reply by FeliseSoCal on 3/24/11 11:41am
Msg #377367

Me too, 2010 was very busy and everything came to a halt in Feb 2011.

Reply by JanetK_CA on 3/25/11 4:11pm
Msg #377513

Our industry is heavily influenced by a variety of factors, like interest rates, availability of credit, e.g. down payment, equity, credit score requirements, etc., closing fees and on and on. If you keep an eye on these things - and indicators like numbers of loan applications being processed - you get an idea of what to expect.

It seems like the long term trends are down. And the more interest rates increase, the more our volume of work is likely to decrease. I think we all need to plan with a healthy dose of realism. All the optimism in the world isn't going to change the environment we are working in - and it's not going to be enough for us to survive, imo; it's also going to take us doing things differently or doing different things.

Isn't there some old expression like "forewarned is forearmed"? It's a matter of adapting to changing times and I'd bet wishful thinking isn't going to get the job done. Just my 2 cents...