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Ryan Sherman, of Sherman and Associates Real Estate, is the 2009 president of the Lodi Association of Realtors. (Jennifer M. Howell/News-Sentinel)
Realtor reality check
New LAR president honest, optimistic over real estate
Wednesday, January 7, 2009 5:54 AM PST
For close to five years, Ryan Sherman has been selling real estate in Lodi, his hometown. In such a relatively short time, Sherman has gone from mere rookie to the Lodi Association of Realtor's president for 2009.
As Sherman prepares to take the reins of the presidency from outgoing president Linda Bush, some have told him they don't envy his position in the turbulent housing market. However, Sherman remains optimistic about the future of real estate in the Lodi area.
On the eve of the annual LAR luncheon, in which members accept their new positions in the organization, Sherman sat down with Business Editor Marc Lutz to talk about real estate, his goals and why he's thankful for TiVo.
Q: How do you foresee the real estate market in 2009?
A: Nobody has all the answers. If people tell you they have the answers, they're trying to sell you something or get you to subscribe to something.
I think we're going to be settling down. Prices for Lodi specifically have somewhat stabilized. The inventory has certainly dropped. For our market — Lodi proper closed about 75 homes in December — we've only got about a four-month inventory, which is well below the average.
Prices are probably going to adjust down a little bit. 2009 is going to be an interesting year because we've got all these things tugging against each other with the economy and unemployment rates. I'm cautiously optimitistic. I'm not a pessimist.
Q: Is this year a buyer's market or a seller's market?
A: Fifty percent of the people can afford a home. It's certainly still a buyer's market.
Q: How would you characterize Lodi's first-time home buyers?
A: What I've been personally seeing, I think the buyers are getting younger. The challenge is — I've got a list on my desk of nine people I'm actively looking for homes for — the inventory is so low. When decent homes in decent neighborhoods come up, within 48 to 72 hours, they're gone.
Q: Are homes selling better in certain parts of Lodi over others?
A: There's always the more desirable areas in Lodi. East Hilborn, Eden, Garfield — we're still seeing those homes close and move. It's all price.
West of town, northwest of town, those have always been traditionally strong. I think it's all moving based on price.
Q: If you were selling your home in 2009, what steps would you take to ensure that it would sell?
A: Going back to what I was talking about is price and knowing truly, realistically where you sit in the market. And it's tough. When Realtors sell their own home, you want to believe that your home is better than everyone else's.
Price is important, and price is certainly No. 1. You have to have exposure, you have to have pictures.
If I was selling my home, and I wasn't an agent, I would want to talk to a Realtor who was full-time, involved in the market and the assocation and the community, who had an idea of the marketing and a business plan to sell my home.
It doesn't matter how good of an agent you hire, it doesn't matter how beautiful your home is, and all the Web sites that you put it on in the world aren't going to sell your home if it's overpriced.
Q: Is the foreclosure crisis still going strong or is it fading?
A: For our area ... about 90 percent of all subprime loans have done the damage that they're going to do. We're about 90 percent through the bad stuff. We're still going to see foreclosures in 2009. The only unknown is the economy-driven foreclosures.
Q: How did you get into the real estate business?
A: I was in the pharmaceutical industry a number of years going back to 1996. I was doing a lot of traveling. I was gone anywhere from 50 to 60-some odd nights a year. Our corporate culture had changed so much that it was a meat grinder and had no appreciation of family.
My mom basically said, "Look, the market is doing quite well. Why kill yourself in an industry where you're gone 60 nights a year and not going to see your family? Get your real estate license and come work with me." So in January of '04 I started selling real estate.
Q: As the 2009 Lodi Association of Realtors president, what are your goals for the year?
A: Having our Realtors be engaged and proactive in their businesses, educating themselves and having people look forward to 2009 and the opportunities that are out there.
Also, there's a large Spanish-speaking population in Lodi. Between title, escrow, lenders and other agents, we have agents who are bilingual or work predominantly in the Hispanic community. I want to try to do something as far as information-relaying for the Hispanic community in Lodi.
Q: What do you anticipate being the biggest challenge to overcome for this year?
A: It's probably having people be proactive in education and staying engaged in their profession. When the first-quarter data comes out for 2009, it's not going to be good. The biggest challenge is having people stay in a positive mindset, and look at what things are going well rather than what things are going wrong.
Q: What are you reading or watching on TV right now?
A: I do most of my reading online. I've been looking at more real estate blogs and financial blogs. Watching on TV, probably what I have TiVo'ed most is "Law and Order." And then — I'll probably catch flak for this — "The Soup," with Joel McHale. When the kids go to bed, we'll watch a little. It's just good brain candy.
Contact Business Editor Marc Lutz at marcl@lodinews.com.
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Reader Feedback
larprez2009 wrote on Jan 8, 2009 6:42 PM:
scrutiny -not sure what you mean by arrogance? My only purpose in participating on this blog, my own or others is to relay Real Estate info in straightforward manner- I don't expect everyone to be positive. Times are tough and people are frustrated. I only hope I can help answer some questions or direct people to other professionals who do. "
nextel wrote on Jan 7, 2009 9:57 PM:
I think your Local market knowledge and polished house side manner make the complexion for the connection with this position. My wife and I have enjoyed working with You and are not surprised that You excepted this challenge. Best of luck to You and your Family and a Happy New Year. "
Scrutiny wrote on Jan 7, 2009 7:18 PM:
Scrutiny wrote on Jan 7, 2009 7:15 PM:
larprez2009 wrote on Jan 7, 2009 2:48 PM:
loadeye wrote on Jan 7, 2009 1:11 PM:
larprez2009 wrote on Jan 7, 2009 10:12 AM:
mp wrote on Jan 7, 2009 8:48 AM:
Comments on this story are now closed.