Bill Sittig:
Welcome to today's program, featuring Mark Nash.  I'm Bill Sittig, chief of the Library's [of Congress] Science, Technology and Business Division, and this event is one in our series in which we learn from important writers, thinkers and practitioners in the various fields of science, technology, business and economics.  

Before I introduce today's speaker, I'd like to mention a few of our upcoming programs.  On April 3, Dr. Wayne Esaias, a biological oceanographer with the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center will speak on "Honeybees, Satellites and Climate Change."  On April 18,[coughs] excuse me, Dr. Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition and public health at New York University will speak on her recent books, including "Food Politics and Safe Food."  On May 23, Jim Crawford, a farmer from central Pennsylvania, is going to speak on organic farming and organic foods.  And in early June, Jane MacLeish, a noted local landscape designer is going to speak to us on urban landscapes and gardens.  I hope that you will be able to attend all or some of these programs.  

For some of you standing by the door, there are some empty seats over here.  Please, before we start the program, if you'd like to move over there - thank you.  I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank Carolyn Larson for suggesting today's speaker, and Ellen Terrell and Bob Jackson of our business reference staff for all their good work in preparing for today's program.  Ellen has prepared a short list of print and Internet resources on home buying and selling, which you're free to take away with you.  And both Ellen and Bob have gathered some books from our collections, which are on the table on the side here, for you to look at following today's program.  

It's now my great pleasure to introduce Mark Nash, a residential real estate agent for the past 10 years; a broker, author and a syndicated columnist.  Mark is currently a broker associate with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in the Chicago area.  He was previously affiliated with Prudential Homes Marketing Program for upper income properties, and was a member of that company's prestigious president's circle.  Mark is also a prolific writer.  He is the author of five real estate books: "Fundamentals of Marketing for Real Estate Professionals, Starting and Succeeding in Real Estate," "Reaching Out: The Financial Power of Niche Marketing," his new "Real Estate: A to Z for Buying and Selling a Home," and "1001 Tips for Buying and Selling a Home" which is on sale here today.  Mark has kindly agreed to stay for a short while after the program to sign the copies, which you can buy right outside the room.  Mark has written over a hundred articles on real estate and other subjects.  

Just glancing through his articles, a couple that caught my eye are one he wrote on Valentine's Day in which he warns home buyers to save money once they find the perfect home; to play it coy, adopt a poker face around listing, around listing agents and sellers, and by all means avoid phrases around the sellers such as, "We just fell in love with this house." 
[laughter]
 "It's the perfect house for us," and "We love it," "We want it."  

In another piece in which he gave his residential real estate forecast for 2007, he predicts that Florida, Arizona, California and Washington, D.C., will have unstable markets in 2007.  Until sellers get a reality oriented wake-up call, markets in these localities will sputter and hiccough.  Mark is in demand as a real estate analyst, having appeared on Bloomberg Television, "CBS News," CNN, "The Today Show," among others, and has written pieces for the "Washington Post," "The Midwest Review of Books" and the "New York Times."  

I don't have to tell you much more about Mark; his clients have said it all: "Mark was very direct, clear and followed through with everything we wanted.  We always felt he had our best interests in mind.  I now have made several moves in my career with the company, and Mark has been the best person we worked with."  Roy.  "We're still loving our house, but we think of you often as we mull over our real estate needs in the future.  When we're ready, you'll be our first call."  Pat and Mike.  "Mark, thank you for being there for us.  Your professional services were priceless.  We owe you so much for keeping us sane."  Rick and Steve.  And last, "Thanks for everything.  Love ya."  Ann.

With these pip testimonials, what more can I say?  Mark Nash.
[laughter]
[applause]

Mark Nash:
Thank you, Bill.  It's very much an honor to be invited to speak here in Washington, D.C., at the Library of Congress.  And I was going to do a little bit of my bio following, but I think that you've done -- oops.  Yeah, I need to go back.  Oh, okay.  I am an author of five real estate books.  I am a columnist for "REALTYTIMES(tm).com," which is syndicated in many other periodicals around the country.  I also write for a couple trade publications, including "Real Estate Executive" magazine.  And the editor, Judy Tibbs, is here today.  I appear on television quite often; I'm going to be on CBS, "The Early Show" in a couple of weeks, talking about buzzwords and abbreviations that realty agents use, and that consumers can -- help them figure out how to decipher our language, which sometimes is a code to a lot of people.

But I want to get into the first pieces; real estate's really about people, and not about houses.  I think a lot of people think it is about the house.  But I know in transactions that I work with every day, it's the personalities interacting which create the anxiety or pleasure or emotions from both the buyers and the sellers.  And a lot of times I'll go to a client's home -- and Jason was a really good example of a client where, you know, it was the person who controlled the house.  And needless to say, he wasn't very tidy.  And he was being corporately relocated to another community out of the Chicago market, and I said to him, "Jason, you've got to clean this place up.  We can't even start to show it until you get your act together here at home."  And I said, "Here's my book.  Read the chapter on it, and I'll come back in a couple of weeks."  And he said, "Okay, Mark.  I thought it was clean.  I cleaned it up before you came today."
[laughter]
And I said, "It's not clean enough."  And so I came back in a couple of weeks, and he really had done a really good job.  And he's very proud of it, and he goes, "I have it all figured out.  I have my whole survival kit that I'm going to use while you're marketing the house."  And I said, "What is it?" because I'd been looking around.  I opened the refrigerator; nothing in it.  The bed was perfect.  He said, "Come back in the kitchen."  And I went back in.  He said, "Open the freezer door."  And it was all Lean Cuisine, from top to bottom.  Then he said, "Come back in the bedroom," and he pulls out this new sleeping bag with a pillow rolled up.  And he goes, "I'm not even going to sleep in the bed."  
[laughter]

So when people think it's about houses, I always think back to, really it's about the personality.

Is home ownership for everyone?  And I have to say no.  And a lot of people in the industry would probably say, "Oh, why did you say that?"  Well, it's not.  There's a lot of reasons why some people -- you know, maybe they're transitioning, maybe they need to live in a city for a short period of time for work or for medical reasons.  So, you know, we wish it was for everybody, but I have to say there are some people that maybe shouldn't own a home today, or in the next year or in the next five years.  Sixty-eight percent of Americans own homes, and 12 million Americans will buy or sell a home in 2007.  And that's according to the National Association of Realtors, who I also write some articles for.

Here are some tips for 2007.  Everyone got in the frenzy which in different markets went from different years.  Chicago it was really '01, '02, '03. I think in California it was '02, '04, '05, but most markets in the country are transitioning.  But all markets are not buyer's markets.  I think most markets are balanced. I don't think sellers are really at the point where they're going to -- they're going to cut their price a little bit, but they're not going to make a major correction.  So, what we're seeing this year is the sellers needing to get a new attitude about pricing.  Pricing realistically in using sold comparables just from the last six months, because in real estate markets, the market really is just the last six months.  Because appraisers for home mortgage lenders, that's what they tell their appraisers to use.  So if you're going back to another market, it is another market.  And really, a current real estate market is just the last six months.  So that's what people need to focus on.

I think that we've already seen an up tick of buyer activity in '07.  A lot of people stayed off the market in '06 because of the headlines they saw right after the midterm elections in November.  We saw buyers feel like they had some confidence, and have returned back to the market, and they are writing contracts.  In '06 it was the bubble headlines which scared buyers a long time in the market, then higher gasoline prices also.  People were trying to figure out, "What's our personal household budget, and how is gasoline, mainly in commuting expenses, impacting it?"  And I think that shut people down, and then the run up to the election also kept people on the sidelines.  

So I think we should get into why shouldn't  we compare real estate to the stock market.  And I think that a lot of people with headlines have been trying to compare the two, and I think there are really some fundamental differences between them.  The stock market's a global market today, where real estate is a U.S. market, and it's also comprised of many micromarkets.  If you think of Washington, D.C., there's single-family homes and there's condominiums.  And then you get into all these drilling down into different locations within the markets.  So every time someone wants to ask me, "Well, how's the U.S. market?"  And you can't say "It's X." There's probably 30,000 real estate markets in the U.S., and there could be more than that.  So I try to stay away from making some generalization.  Real estate is fixed to the land.  The stock market is not fixed.  I mean, I've never seen a P&E report for a home.  So I think you have to look at it differently, and what drives the market.  And each market is very unique and individual in what drives it.

Housing and shelter; I think this year that deferred demand is what's bringing those buyers back.  People still want to buy a house and live in a house.  I don't think that we're seeing as much investment, investors coming back to the market yet, but there are some really ripe opportunities for people that want to invest in real estate.  Some markets have been kind of off on the sidelines; parts of Texas are very attractive from a value proposition.  I think one of the main differences in real estate is that it's, we have oversight, but we are not regulated as much as the stock market is.  So that also creates some differences between the two.  I think, too, the zoning restrictions -- you know, you can split a stock, but you can't split a house.  I think the whole analogy of making the comparisons to the two is really not serving the American public.

Let's see -- I went through most of that.  What should you do if you're selling your home in 2007?  As I said earlier, you have to price it right.  And I keep saying that and keep saying that, because sellers still heard all the stories a couple of years ago, [at] cocktail parties [and] around the water cooler: "Oh, I got a record price, I got a record price."  They did get a record price, but they got a record price in a different market.  And today's market is much different than it was a couple of years ago. So price your home right.

A couple years ago in a seller's market, you didn't have to do anything to your home.  You just had to put it on the market, and the buyers came.  Sometimes you got multiple offers, and off you went.  Today it's about home marketing.  You have to have the house updated and clean, clean, clean, clean like my client, Jason.  And you have to know your competition.  So go out to Sunday open houses and look at other similar houses that are on the market that you're going to be competing with.  And you have to market your home on the Internet.  Eighty percent of all homebuyers use the Internet to start their search for a home, according to the National Association of Realtors.  And that comes from their 2006 profile of home buyers and sellers.  

So if your property isn't on the Internet, you're missing 80 percent of the buyers that are looking.  And they're looking.  That's where they're kind of getting an idea for what they want to do in the market, and get a perception of what the values are.  Some things that home sellers shouldn't do in '07; forget about the incentives.  Forget about the flat screen TVs.  There was a couple in Ohio last year that gave away a used Jaguar. 
[laughter]
 Buyers really want the price to reflect the true market value.  Don't mark it up to put the freebies in.  They don't like the mark it up to mark it down, so stay away from that.  

Home sellers have to, or should be open to accepting home sale contingencies.  A couple years ago we saw contracts that were relatively what we call clean.  But contingencies are back.  If a buyer needs to sell a property to buy yours, you really have to entertain that.  And sorry, but it is a different market, and those clean contracts we're seeing less of.  If you get a contract and there is a home sale contingency in it, be grateful and recognize that.  And limit open houses.  I think last year when the market was quiet, sellers kept saying to their agents, "We want to be open, we want to be open, we want to be open."  And buyers were like, "Well, what's wrong, if they're open every week?"  So, don't have a public open house more than once every three weeks.

Home buyers in 2007: don't skip having a home inspection; in most contracts it's one of your legal rights.  I think that it's great to have a third person in to take a look at your home, and to give you an opinion of what the condition of it is.  And don't have your Uncle Bert in.  
[laughter]

And carbon monoxide detectors; that's a big issue for me in '07.  In several states they're now required.  Illinois is one of them, but I think everyone should have a carbon monoxide detector -- at least one in their home.  I think buyers should think about resale characteristics when they're looking at homes.  I think a lot of times you fall in love with the home, but how marketable is the home when you want to get out?  According to the National Association of Realtors, buyers stay on the average six years.  So before you know it, you're going to be back on market yourself.  

Don't low-ball offers, especially if the home is priced right.  I know a lot of people think, "Oh, I can write anything."  You can't write anything.  You can present anything, but if the home is priced right the sellers have done their homework too.  

Home online evaluation Web sites.  I got a couple cubes on that one.  You know, technology is great, but the online home evaluation Web sites draw from public records.  So if you know there's a delay in how public records like mortgages and deeds are recorded in your area where you're thinking about buying, then it's not going to get fed into these Web sites.  So I hate to say it; the Multiple Listing Service is probably the most accurate place to go, at this point in time, for recorded sale price.  

Consider the resale; we did that.  Reserve funds for condo owners.  A lot of people are buying condominiums, homes in planned unit developments, and you have to look at the condo docs and bylaws, the reserve funds; how is the association managed, and how well is it managed?  And a lot of people overlook that.  That's it.  Does anybody have any questions?  Yes.

Female Speaker:
[Inaudible].

Mark Nash:
Can associations go bankrupt?  I've never heard of it, but I think it's a possibility.  I think when you see low reserve funds, it shows mismanagement probably for the last 10 years.  It also could show that they possibly had spent a lot of money on capital improvements like new windows or new roofs or things like that.  But you do want to look for healthier reserve funds when you are buying, because if there's no money in that bank account for the association, guess what, you're going to have a special assessment to pay for any of those capital improvements.

Male Speaker:
[Inaudible].

Mark Nash:
I think a lot of the markets have some instability.  When I wrote that it was in December, and I had looked at some figures, and that was my recollection from that point in time.  And that's getting back to, you know, saying it's D.C. in general, X, and I can't.  It really gets back to the micromarkets within the D.C. market.  I don't know what else to say.  Did I answer your question?  Yes.

Female Speaker:
[Inaudible].

Mark Nash:
Home sale contingencies?

Female Speaker:
[Inaudible].

Mark Nash:
Not marketable?

Female Speaker:
[Inaudible] 
Mark Nash:
I think that I continue to show, if there's a flag on it.  I don't know if -- I can't speak for, you know, over a million realtors and other real estate agents.  I think in some markets people might not show it, but it depends on inventory levels and if it's an option.  Yes?

Female Speaker:
[Inaudible] for condo owners. What does the owner own actually?


Mark Nash:
Well, typically, as I describe it, you own, the owner owns from the studs in, and the association owns from the studs out.

Female Speaker:
[Inaudible] can that happen to a condo ownership? If I buy a condo and it's in an area slated for redevelopment, can I lose it?

Mark Nash:
Yeah.  Well, no, because you have a membership right under your condominium declarations, and the whole building would have to come to an agreement on the sale of the whole building if it was going to be sold to be developed and torn down.


Female Speaker:
[Inaudible].

Mark Nash:
No.  The management is hired by the condominium association.  So they're benevolent to you.  You tell them what to do, but they don't come to you and -- yes?

Female Speaker:
[Inaudible].

Mark Nash:
Oh.  I think interest only loans and option arms are not good for consumers.  I think that they probably have contributed to the whole subprime debacle we have, just starting to become more obvious.  And what was the first question?

Female Speaker:
[Inaudible].

Mark Nash:
If you're looking for property assessment, property tax assessment information, I wrote a statistic in January; about 38 percent of the counties have all the current information up on their Web sites.  Judy.

Judy Tibbs:
Mark, I've had some really good agents, and I've had some really bad agents.  And I'm wondering if you could provide folks with suggestions on how to find a really good agent, because it makes a huge difference.

Mark Nash:
I know.  A good agent should be a full-time agent, and you have to ask the question.  I think you're looking for an experienced agent, and especially in '07, in many parts of the country; someone that was in the market before the boom -- so, someone that started at least in 2000 or before that.  And you don't necessarily want a friend or a family member.  You want someone that's a professional; that's really there.  And I think sometimes if you have an emotional attachment it could skew the transaction.  This is probably one of the biggest business transactions you'll be in, so you want someone that has a business perspective.

Male Speaker:
I'm curious about your view of a strategy for selling houses [inaudible] brokers.  And that is, in a buyer's market; rather than only offering a co-op fee of say, 3 percent, offer a fee of 4 percent.

Mark Nash:
Raising the cooperative compensation above the competition.  I think that it will draw attention to the property, but in the end the buyer makes the decision.  And so even as the agents brings someone to a 4 percent listing in a 3 percent market, in the end the buyer's going to make the decision.  Could they be nudged along?  Maybe, but I think especially if buyers find out about it -- buyers are very savvy.  It could work against you.  Yes?

Female Speaker:
[Inaudible] the three most important things you can do to prepare to sell?

Mark Nash:
The three most important things you can prepare to sell is clean, clean, clean.

[laughter]

Female Speaker:  Other than that?

Mark Nash:
Other than that?  You have to streamline and edit.  And I mean, I would take down all your personal photos, I would organize your closets and your cupboards.  And my rule of thumb is, I want to see the back wall of every closet and every cupboard.

[laughter]

Sorry folks.  I mean, marketing a home is not the same as living in a home.  And that's what most home sellers forget.  And that's probably primary when you're trying to get a home ready for market, is that you're going to be living in it, but it's not the same.  You're marketing it, so it has to look as nice and as presentable as possible.  Yes?

Male Speaker:
So are you suggesting that a home shows better when it's empty?

Mark Nash:
No, I'm not saying that a home shows better when it's vacant.  And we're starting to see that, because there is quite a bit of vacant inventory.  And now we're saying that it really needs to be staged, which -- some furniture, some props throughout the house so people can get the sense of scale of the furniture in the house.

Male Speaker:
Is there any relationship between [inaudible]?

Mark Nash:
Those days -- the question is, is there a ratio between sale price and rents?  No, those numbers really don't work anymore, and that's why a lot of investors have gotten out of some of the rental -- you know, buying apartment buildings and things like that, because the values have gone up so fast that it's about negative cash flow.

Male Speaker:
[Inaudible] boom, and then things went down a little bit.  But I've heard that it's a cycle, and you know, at some point it will go up again, and the value of the homes will appreciate again.  Could you predict [inaudible]?

Mark Nash:
I don't think I'm familiar enough with the D.C. market and the idiosyncrasies of it to comment on the cycle here.

Male Speaker:
[Inaudible] immediate development you don't have any comparables in the last six months, how do you price right?  How far [inaudible]?

Mark Nash:
The question is, if you don't have any sold comparables from the last six months, how do you justify?  You can go back to the previous sales, try to figure out what property is appreciated for, and if you need to go outside, you can go outside -- I would say within one mile, which is what appraisers would do.

Female Speaker:
You said to do homework on [inaudible].  I went into an open house and I asked the agent what sort of assessments there had been in the past, and about [inaudible].  Is that normal?

Mark Nash:
I think that a lot of agents would say that.  But if you were serious, I would just say, "Before I'm going to write an offer, I want to review the association information," because if you discover by reading the information that -- especially if you get minutes from condo association meetings, you might discover there's a proposed special assessment, so that might actually alter how you might negotiate a contract.  And if they won't give them to you, you need to move on and find someone that will work with you.

Male Speaker:
Half of the folks that have asked questions so far are among the 40 or 50 of us that are moving to Culpepper.
[laughter] 
So there's no wonder why we're here.  One of  the things that, one of the reasons some of us are moving is that the government is paying our closing costs, and therefore -- a reasonable closing cost.  Does that mean you can add that extra percent?  Does that mean you can pay extra for advertising or other marketing features?

Mark Nash:
I'm not so sure I understand the question.

Male Speaker:
Well, the government pays reasonable, inexpensive closing costs, including sellers [inaudible] and all that sort of stuff, but that means we should probably be shopping for premium marketing and --

Mark Nash:
Yes, you should be shopping, because if there's 40 or 50 of you that are going to be moving, we know that that's going to be an injection into the market and will increase inventory level so you'll have more competition.  And if it's reasonable and customary, yes.  And I've done a lot of corporate relocation work, and as long as they are reasonable and customary, typically --

Male Speaker:
An extra percent [inaudible]?

Mark Nash:
Yeah, employers will pay it.  Now, I've never worked with the federal government, but most corporations are flexible, especially if all of you are running into the same scenario that "It's a competitive market, and we have to spend money to make ourselves different." 

Female Speaker:
Can you speak about foreclosures [inaudible] foreclosures in the area [inaudible]?

Mark Nash:
There's a federal Web site that deals with foreclosures, and you --

Female Speaker:
[Inaudible].

Mark Nash:
Yeah, and there's  typically agents that are designated and have been trained to deal with foreclosures, and they are listed on the Web site, too.  Yes?

Female Speaker:
[Inaudible].

Mark Nash:
Well, I think you can pay a premium and still look like everybody else.  I think that you're looking, I think that you should pick up some home design and dˇcor magazines; those are the trends that other buyers are looking at.  That's a great way, an inexpensive way to add some value and make yourself different.  But you need to get out into the market and see who your competition is, and then you can start to figure out, "What can I do to make myself different?" or what's a future benefit that I have that I need to accentuate?  

And I think you also -- this time of year, we've got to think about getting back into the yard and landscaping, and doing those types of things.  I think it's easy, this time of year to focus on the inside, but it's also time to start to focus on the outside, and a lot of yards look pretty dreary right now.  And all of a sudden things will change, and it could be a good afternoon or a good weekend out in the yard.  And that could be the difference that someone that's a little bit ahead of you has figured out.

Male Speaker:
Cheap annuals.

[laughter]

Female Speaker:
[Inaudible]. 

Mark Nash:
Is this in the Washington, D.C. --?  It really varies in many different areas of the country, and because it's a Webcast, I try to keep it more national.  In Chicago, typically the seller is delivered a copy when they have bought the place.  And so as a listing agent, we can make a copy.  I have a copy of my file.  If someone wants to see them, I make a copy and deliver them to them.  In Chicago they run about $25 to $50 if you need to buy a copy.  So I think that if you call the management company, there should be ways for you to access -- or get minutes and budgets.  I mean, you can see what's going on in an association from a management perspective and a financial perspective by just asking for copies of the minutes and the budgets, which shouldn't cost anything.

Female Speaker:
[Inaudible].

Mark Nash:
Well in, yeah.  And so, you know, to me, if you're going to buy a $300,000, $400,000 condominium, and you want to do your due diligence, it's worth $200 or $300 beforehand to find out what the story is with the association.  It's going to be a cost of the purchase.

Female Speaker:
[Inaudible].

Mark Nash:
Well, can you kind of give me a number that her fee is?  I --

Female Speaker:
[Inaudible].

Mark Nash:
The question is, the condo fees are $600 for a condo in the Washington, D.C. area -- in Maryland, and is that unusual.  It sounds to me that there was some deferred maintenance in the building, and they're starting to catch up, or they're trying to build a reserve fund.  We are seeing condo fees rise pretty rapidly in the last couple of years.  In Chicago we have a lot of buildings that were built in the 1960s and they need some new windows and new roofs.  And so as those fees go up, I mean, when they were still at $500, that's why a lot of condo owners liked the condo but they never go to meetings.  And so you need to go to the meetings to find out what's going on before you get hit with bigger fees.  Yes?

Male Speaker:
[Inaudible] that right now, the seller can negotiate with a broker; choose among people depending on the quality of service, how much service they want and what the fee is [inaudible].  Buyers, though, generally don't negotiate a fee because it's already set.  In some states they can get a lower fee because [inaudible] rebate, but in other states it's prohibited.  Some people have suggested that just like the seller chooses an agent that negotiates a fee, that the buyer should negotiate with an agent and negotiate a fee, and those things should be separate.  There shouldn't be the seller setting the buyer's fate.

Mark Nash:
I agree.  I agree and the problem is, is that consumers haven't made a big enough issue about this, and so the industry is still entrenched in that old model.  And I think that the buyer's agent should be compensated by the buyer, and the seller's agent should be compensated by the seller.  But the consumers need to push that.

Male Speaker:
Kind of an ethical question; what is your obligation to a realtor if they show you a house?
[laughter]
Say you later find another  agent you like better, or --

Mark Nash:
Do we have three hours to get into agency? 
 [laughter]
It's an agency question, and it varies by state.  And every state has different real estate license laws, and I have to defer back -- you know, it's about who's procuring cost, and that's another three hour conversation.  And if you had five real estate agents in this room, they all wouldn't agree on that.  So it's a long conversation and we could all argue it, and that's the problem.  And so if you feel, if a consumer gets caught up in an agency issue, the best thing to do is just to file a formal complaint and have your state license board resolve it.

Male Speaker:
Is that a legal question?  Are there legal laws written about this?

Mark Nash:
Yeah, there are real estate laws as far as agency goes, and that's why they vary so much.  I don't want to get into what I know about in my state, which could be totally inaccurate in other states.

Female Speaker:
[Inaudible]?

Mark Nash:
No, and I think earlier when you were talking about this assessed evaluation by property tax authorities -- in some states they're very close.  But in Illinois they're not close, so it's very much an individual market by market, state by state, and could be even county by county; whoever's regulating the property tax.

Female Speaker:
[Inaudible].

Mark Nash:
It's been a while since I've written about 10-31's; I'd go see a financial planner and a property tax accountant to answer that question.  I believe it's a one-for-one the last time I wrote about it.  Yes?

Male Speaker:
[Inaudible].

Mark Nash:
They're different, because they're both submarkets of the market in general.  I mean, you could have -- in some areas, single-family homes are very strong, but a condo market's weak.  So the decrease or increase in prices is not always equal.  And that's why we don't like to get into these generalizations that the market is off X percent.  Most states now break them down between single-family and condominiums, because they float differently.  Anybody else?  Yes.

Female Speaker:
You said you were from Illinois, right?  Can you give me just a brief rundown of what's going on in terms of the market and [inaudible]?

Mark Nash:
Okay, well, Chicago is a big place.  But generally we're seeing that single-family sales in the city and in some near suburbs are strong.  There's quite a supply of newer condos downtown.  They're selling, but not as fast as they were a year ago, or two years ago.  So it's very difficult to get into the different dynamics in each suburb, each subdivision, the age of the property; you might have a home that's a contemporary, a subdivision of colonials, so there's a lot of different things that impact the figures in a market.

Male Speaker:
How about 1000 Westbury, Lakefield?

[laughter]

Mark Nash:
Pardon?

Male Speaker:
1000 Westbury, Lakefield.  My son is --

[laughter]

Mark Nash:
It's good.

[laughter]

Bill Sittig:
We want to thank Mark very much, and the book is for sale outside, and he'll be happy to sign your books right here, or to answer any further questions you might have.  So thanks again.

[applause]

[end of transcript]