Tulsa World: 5 questions with Pete Galbraith

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5 questions with Pete Galbraith

MIKE SIMONS/Tulsa World

By ROBERT EVATT World Staff Writer
Published: 10/9/2009 2:19 AM
Last Modified: 10/9/2009 5:30 AM

Pete Galbraith is president of sales at Coldwell Banker Select Tulsa/OKC. He serves on the Oklahoma Real Estate Commission and is a former president of Northeast Oklahoma Real Estate Services.

1 How has the establishment of minimum service requirements for licensed real estate agents affected home sales in Oklahoma?

It provides for the mandatory availability of real estate brokers to their clients. The net effect is that consumers have the peace of mind that they will not be abandoned by their broker in the middle of a transaction. The backside of that is brokers who have a business model of providing little or no service to their clients at a lower fee are now forced to answer the calls of their clients.

2 How do home sales in Tulsa compare to those in Oklahoma City and the state as a whole?

The Tulsa and Oklahoma City real estate markets have very similar characteristics. However, in the market slowdown of late 2008 and early 2009, the Oklahoma City market fell at a faster and deeper rate than that of Tulsa. The good news is that both markets are rebounding significantly, and Oklahoma City rebounded at a faster rate than Tulsa. Today, both markets are down a little from last year, but I anticipate that they'll end the year on target with 2008.

3 What is the most pressing legal issue affecting or potentially affecting real estate in Oklahoma?

The new "truth in lending" requirements for lenders went into effect last month, and we have serious

concerns about lenders being able to close transactions on a timely basis. The new rules require a lender to compare the initial annual percentage rate with what the rate is at the time of closing. If the APR is off by more than one-eighth of 1 percent, the closing must be delayed at least three days for the purchaser to decide whether he wants to continue the closing of the home. Although a tremendous benefit to homebuyers getting a mortgage, the rule makes it very difficult when a buyer has a loaded U-Haul in the parking lot and he doesn't have the option of going ahead with the loan. To date, we haven't seen many closings delayed due to the high number of reputable lenders in our markets, but we'll continue to monitor the effects on the business.

4 Has the slowdown in home sales affected the number of real estate professionals working in the state?

In Tulsa, the Realtor population shrank by 13 percent. Many of those who got out of the business were mainly "hobbyists" who sold very little real estate. As the market tightened, those who sold three or four houses a year went to selling zero or only one a house a year, so they didn't make enough money to cover the basic expenses to remain in the business. We anticipate another 10 percent of the Realtor membership to drop out by the beginning of 2010 due to the same reasons. The good news in this is that those remaining in the business have the ability to capture more business for themselves.

5 The first-time homebuyer tax credit will expire Dec. 1. How are people in the industry reacting to that?

Let's just say it's going to be a race to the finish. Realtors are trying diligently to get these purchasers under contract. The last day of the tax credit is the Monday after the four-day Thanksgiving holiday. We're making strategic plans to make sure that all of our homebuyers are able get their transactions closed before the holiday. As I mentioned earlier, we would hate for a lender to have to redisclose the truth-in-lending information and have to delay the closing to Dec. 5, causing the buyer lose his tax credit. By ROBERT EVATT World Staff Writer

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Local Yokel, Tulsa (10/9/2009 7:07:09 PM)

Sounds like real estate business in Tulsa is competitive, that's a good sign. I'm guessing if you don't provide good service you are going to be out of business. The days of 'order taking' are long gone!

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