David Sobotta's Blog

One of my first pieces of advice to new sales reps was always to let an email written in anger cool off over night before you send it.  It was nor surprising how many of those emails never got sent.Another of my observations was to never burn a bridge since you might need to cross it again some d...

While our market on NC's Crystal Coast is probably different from many markets, we certainly have faced many of the same challenges as other markets this year.Still I think we are showing some signs of life which we need to aggressively protect and nurture. We have also seen some special issues s...

This is an interesting shot that I snapped yesterday from our deck in Roanoke, Virginia.  I have snapped many pictures from the same deck.The moods that I see in the sky change almost as much as those of the beach. I have said before that I think the real estate industry is changing.  I think it ...

We all have our own goals.  Sometimes they are very strange.One of my summer goals was to get rid of the tan line that I have gotten from wearing a watch for nearly 50 years.It was a pretty easy goal.  I just stopped wearing the watch.  The only problem was that I needed my watch for church.We en...

Since buyers are so scarce, I have been selling the area as hard as I can.  I have four websites about the area and a number of ones that mention it.I happen to think we live in an area where a certain type of person is going to want to have a home.I think that the person who wants to live in thi...

When I first looking for coastal property, I had a tremendous number of questions that I wanted answered before I moved to the coast.It took nearly three summers and multiple real estate agents before I got to the point of buying a property.Many of the questions I ended up answering myself or ask...

Both of our local papers, the Jacksonville Daily News, and the Carteret Times, had articles today about the holiday throngs being the best crowds in years.Yet when I worked the duty desk at the real estate office on July 3rd, there were no calls.New home starts continue to be weak.My guess is tha...

When I look off our back deck, I see water, wetlands, and then trees.  I know that this property across the water from us is for sale.  Likely one day my view will change.I do not try to imagine the change.  I try enjoy every moment of our private paradise with Heron and every water creature you ...

As people begin to depend more and more on the Internet to narrow down where they want to live and visit, pictures become more and more important.The Roanoke Times, the local paper of Roanoke,Virginia, has what they call a local Blog Roll of people who write about the area.  Their list of local R...

Sometimes I feel as isolated from customers as this guy on the sandbar in Bogue Inlet.Sitting at the duty desk with phone not ringing is not a lot of fun.  I would rather be communicating one way or the other. I would love to be so successful that I could do what the guy in the picture is doing w...