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Market Statistics |
Current Market Conditions Clearly there has been a market correction that began in the spring of 2006. It was bound to happen after over 10 years of constant appreciation from 1994-1995. While it is not as severe here as in many other parts of the country, right now, we are still in a market that favors the buyers. It is our feeling that as the economy improves so will the real estate market. We should see some improvement after the presidential elections when the uncertainty of where the country is headed is taken away. However, in the meantime, properties are taking longer to sell. Well priced homes do sell faster and at better values than homes that languish on the market for long periods of time. In our annual "State of Real Estate" addresses, we give a historical perspective of where we are and how we got here. We have just updated the market activity and trending thru 2007. While this is a profile of Guilford properties only, the same is pretty much true throughout the Shoreline area. As the saying goes, "figures can lie and liars can figure" please know that these numbers were gotten directly from the MiddShore MLS and show no slant to any one particular company!!!! Residential Statistics - Guilford |
Clearly you can see from the above, there clearly are a lot less sales in 2008 from a few years before and as a result there currently is a large amount of inventory and competition for buyers. While the market isn't dead, there are many properties for sale now - competing for a roughly the same amount of buyers who are looking at everything and determining the biggest value for their dollar. It is clearly still a Buyer's market and will probably continue for the rest of 2009. Also the prospect of selling your home quickly is not as good as it was several years ago unless it is well priced and then we see sales in a far shorter period of time. As a seller, you will have to exercise patience. What can you do? As stated above, you need to get realistic, creative, and sometimes even a little luck might help. We could add that the average sales price is just a few percent off from last year but here's where the area is grey. There are a few sales in the very upper price regions i.e. direct waterfront, that bring the average sales price up a bit. But... you need to know that in reality, most activity is happening in the market area under $500,000 and that prices in that market have gone down since 2007, generally anywhere from 15% to 25%. Given the great rates of appreciation we experienced for so long from 1994 to early 2006, this appears to be very dramatic. Not really, it is just that we need to look objectively at the actual past sales when pricing our properties. OK – so…. How does this affect you? Now, more than ever, selling your property today requires a realistic view of the marketplace you are dealing in. The secret about the real estate market is that a properly priced property will attract buyer showings. A correct price and proper staging will cause a buyer to write an offer on the house. It's that simple! Conversely, if the property is not even being shown, usually it's aggressively priced. The current real estate market has a zero tolerance policy for properties that are overpriced or not staged properly. (if you actually ever read all this please call Al and you will get a free Dunkin Donuts coffee)This means the buyers will just not make an offer as there are just too many other comparable properties available that offer the same or more for less of an asking price. The real estate agents will even joke about “overpriced dogs” or the functional obsolescence of a home. You really need to put yourself in the role of a buyer and really look at the competition. Listen to your Realtor as they can be far more objective about a property they have no emotional attachment to. |