Last week I was visiting my daughter who teaches accounting at Washington & Lee.  We were in a coffee shop and there were three elderly gentlemen who were having a discussion.  One of them got up to get a cup of coffee, but as he was walking back to the table he said to the other guys, you don’t win the war with a pistol.

That could obviously mean a lot of things.  I thought about how that relates to real estate.

It could mean that you need to have the proper equipment to win the war.  If an individual wants to sell their house, they are not going to get it sold with a pistol, they need someone who has a full armory of tanks, aircraft and the best of equipment.  In other words, they need a top producing Realtor with a good website, good advertising, good promotion, good client base, good connections and a good support staff.  That would be true in any business, but especially in a slow real estate market.  In a tough battle, you need good equipment – and we are definitely in a tough battle in today’s real estate environment.

So many Realtors put a property in MLS and then hopes that someone else sells it.  In a tough market, this does not work.  In a good market, it might.  Back in 2005, the market was so strong you did not even need a Realtor; all you had to do was tell your neighbor that your house was for sale and they would call five people who would make you four offers. 

Those days are gone – but we hope they will return for the Hilton Head Real Estate market.