Realtors Hope for Hot Year

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By Lori Kennedy,
Star-News Correspondent 

Nothing says motivation like a walk over fiery coals.

And on Feb. 12, brokers and agents from Exit Realty offices in Wilmington, Jacksonville, Burgaw and Hampstead will converge on the Castle Bay Country Club in Hampstead to try their tolerance at the Exit Energy 2008 event.

Dana Scalici, Exit Realty's director of agent development, has worked in the real estate business for almost 17 years and participated in her first fire walk when she was an agent living in Michigan.

"A lot of people are afraid of fire, but once you've participated in a fire walk, then you think, 'What's next?' It's a very empowering experience where you can physically see a change in people who participate," Scalici said.

Scalici's goal is to get her agents excited for the 2008 season, which she anticipates will carry good closing months, specifically in the Hampstead market.

"In 2007, the market seemed to dry up, but since New Year's it's almost like the flood gates have opened," she said.

With new construction and developments appearing almost overnight in the Hampstead area, a buyer's market may soon shift to a seller's market, although interest rates, the amount of inventory and favorable financing still cater to the buyer in Pender County.

As of December 2007, a historically slow month in the real estate market, there were more than 1,400 listings in Pender County, including single-family homes and land. More than 200 Pender County single-family homes are on the market for under $200,000 and nearly 500 plots of land are available under $200,000 as well.

Potential for growth gives brokers and agents a hopeful outlook for 2008.

Although Stephanie Gasparovic knows the housing boom from 2005-2006 will be hard to beat, the Exit Realty broker said she sees 2008 as a strong year for buyers and sellers.

"We've stayed very steady even during the so-called slow months. We tend to receive a lot of leads from people moving to the Hampstead area," she said.

Gasparovic said an attraction may be the school districts. A former second-grade teacher, she said she knows schools are an important factor in where families buy homes.

The fire walking event will mark the first time Scalici has ever had to contact the county fire chief for an event's approval, but there's a point to the incendiary exercise.

"All the Exit trainings are based on burning out inhibitions. We want agents to be positively aggressive," Scalici said.

Whether this means cold calling or approaching people with homes potentially for sale, she hopes to inspire agents fearful of rejection.

"There are two groups of people, people you know and people you don't know, and which group of those is bigger?" Scalici said.

Dave Tuscany is the certified fire-walk instructor speaking at Exit's event. Having been in the business as a broker for 17 years and real estate sales for 25 years, Tuscany said he is aware of the fears agents face and encourages them not to focus on that but to push through it and figure out whether it is rational or irrational.

"It's about the fire inside an individual, not the fire outside," he said.