Homes scarce in pricey county market

Alicia Robinson

Technology, low interest rates and high housing prices have changed

the face of the real estate market in the past several years, but

experts say old-fashioned customer service is still a big part of the

equation.

Having up-to-the-minute information is vital with the scarcity of

single-family homes on the market. Some customers have turned to the

Internet to shop for homes or find a real estate agent.

Companies such as Chester Salisbury’s Home Finders have responded

to that.

“Our criteria for doing business is keeping the personal touch but

taking advantage of technology,” said Salisbury, a Newport

Beach-based real estate salesman.

Home Finders runs a website that people can use to find a real

estate agent, list their home or see what homes are on the market.

A majority of customers use the Internet at some point in their

real estate transaction, Salisbury said.

“I think that it’s obviously made the buyers much more aware of

what the market is, what’s available, and they have better access to

information,” he said.

Technology also has driven consolidation of companies. Most real

estate firms are owned by a handful of large companies such as

Coldwell Banker, which in December acquired local powerhouse Strada

Properties, a billion-dollar company that was founded in 2000.

Companies are finding it necessary to consolidate as their

overhead costs rise, Strada Properties President Steve High said.

“I think what we’re finding is any company in the marketplace that

wants to survive needs to embrace technology, and technology costs

money,” he said.

The continually rising home prices in the current market have

attracted more people to the real estate business, while a lack of

inventory has led real estate agents to shift their focus from buyers

to finding available homes.

For real estate agents, the lack of inventory has made for a more

competitive environment, said Lori Robnett, an agent for First Team

Real Estate who works in Costa Mesa.

“It’s been a trying period,” she said. “I’ve talked to a lot of

agents and we’ve never seen it like this, ever.”

That makes customer service and a history of honest dealings more

important than before.

“Right now it’s based on your reputation,” she said.

With continuing low interest rates, more people are trying to buy

homes, and the few houses that are available don’t stay on the market

very long. Today, a house might sell within days of being listed,

whereas a few years ago it might have been on the market for several

weeks or even months.

Because of that, real estate agents encourage buyers to make an

offer right away before the home gets snapped up, said G. Christopher

Davis, director of the real estate management program at UC Irvine’s

Graduate School of Management. What might be seen as a high-pressure

sales tactic in another business is just the reality of home sales in

Orange County today, he said.

The lack of homes on the market has shifted the balance of power

toward sellers.

“When you have a constrained supply the easiest way to make money

is to get a listing, so most brokers, I think, spend a lot of time on

getting listings,” Davis said.

That’s as opposed to concentrating on finding and representing

buyers, which is what agents do when more homes are on the market, he

said.

But overall, Davis said, he doesn’t think the increasing use of

the Internet or consolidation of real estate companies have had a

huge effect on the customer because buying a house is still usually a

person-to-person transaction.

“Each salesperson basically acts as an independent contractor, so

their own drive and personality is what makes them successful,” he

said.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

alicia.robinson@latimes.com.