One of the hardest lessons of the past decade, which has affected both homeowners and real estate companies alike, is that what goes up must come down. And it often comes down with a suddenness that leaves everyone involved with queasiness unequalled by a ride the world’s great roller coasters.

The reality of the real estate market in 21st century America is that almost everyone who wanted a home in the past five years bought one, and even those who did not want, and should not have bought one, did in the hopes of turning it over for a quick profit. Because there are so few buyers now, and because lending institutions have been saddled with so many foreclosures that they are much more careful about their lending standards, the real estate market today is the playground of qualified buyers, and no longer that of the real estate companies.

So the real estate companies have shifted to survival mode, and are looking to the buyers for guidance on where they should be focusing their development efforts. But even the lack of buyers, in some areas, has not put as much downward pressure on home prices as one might expect, simply because developable land in the most sought after locations is rapidly disappearing, and real estate companies factor the cost of their land into the final cost of their homes.

The Dilemma Of The Real Estate Companies

Real estate companies are well aware that they will never have much difficulty finding buyers for either their entry-level or high-end homes. But they are currently overloaded with homes in the middle price ranges, because they have to build them in such large numbers in order for their businesses to be cost-effective. And as long as those homes remain unoccupied, they are an enormous drain on the resources of the real estate companies.

Addressing the Issues

In order to survive with the realities of the current market, real estate companies have had to go back to the drawing board and come up with some new approaches to their business. These include both raising the quality and lowering the costs of the homes they build. They have begun by substituting materials which will add durability to their offerings for those which simply add curbside appeal, but need replacing after a few years.

Real estate companies have finally come to the realization that most of their customers intend to stay in their homes for the long haul, and are not afraid to take legal measures against a developer who shortchanges them with shoddy materials in homes built on unsafe or contaminated land.

When the current lack of confidence in the real estate market finally begins to wane, those buyers who have been waiting on the sidelines will be looking for those real estate companies who have spent the down time improving their customer relations and the quality of their products. They won’t be hard to find, either, because they’ll be the only real estate companies to have survived. newport residences