Do those of you working in the economic side see a turn around anytime soon?
I don't see the macroconomy turning around soon.
But your business is more dependent on what your local economy looks like.
This economic meltdown in RE isn't the same in every region. For example, here in Maine RE sales were up this year compared to last, even though the median price of homes sold was down.
What are the true indicators I should be watching?
We'd probably need to know a lot more about your business to answer that.
But I'd be looking at regional economic indicators for real estate sales -- existing home sales, new home starts, what the local banks are like when it comes to lending for RE or home imporvement
Also what was your customer base when times were good? What is THEIR situation like, now?
Are they recovering?
If not then it isn't likely your business will pick up unless you find can target another market needing your services.
ARe you in a place where the banks are holding a lot of RE, for example?
If so perhaps you can approach banks to manage (and repair ) the properties that they currently are holding.
You might also consider working with banks to find potential rental properties that need work that you might purchase and fix up as additional revenue while you're waiting for the RE sales to turn around, too.
You'd be going into a different aspect of RE, of course, but since you can rehab RE cheaper than most people can, you might find some great buys in that market, too.
I'd definitely start with the banks to see if there's potential there to work with them.
Become their problem solver and I'll bet you'd end up with more work than you can handle if you're in an area hard hit with foreclosures and evictions.
