The real estate news is definitely improving. Real Estate sales are generally up. Low interest rates have kept home buying affordable and buyers’ are beginning to believe we are at the bottom and on the way up. I can almost definitely say we are on the bottom and believe we have been there for the past year. It would take a really unusual event to stop forward progress.
We continue to have a large inventory built up over the past 5 years. The build up is due to a number of improperly priced homes by owners unwilling to listen to what the market has to say.
We find that our newest sellers are more willing to listen and more often price to the market to get sold in that 90 day prime period of time when the best price sales price is offered.
Getting your property sold is always a function of price, not as set by your Realtor, but rather as set by the market. All too often, in this type of market, the seller looks at the agent as wanting a price that will sell their house right away i.e. below the market. This is unfortunate as it is the seller who suffers by not taking good advice. Look at what has sold and base your decision on that data. You should trust whomever you choose to work with. Trust is key to success.
Just this month we had a bidding war on a well-priced home in the $240,000 range giving the seller the opportunity to get a higher price and better terms. It will still take some time for the current inventory to be reduced and for prices to rise (est. 2 years) but in the meantime sales are definitely on the rise and buyer interest is strong.
We did over 73 million dollars worth of sales from our three offices this year, and we did almost the same last year. Again this is good news. Sure we would all like more sales but level and steady is good and bodes well for future years.
I hear that foreign money is coming back in to buy real estate. While this is good news, we do not seem to be on the radar screen for most foreign investors. They more traditionally head south and west where the markets were more depressed than ours; and where they traditionally go to invest and vacation.
If you would like to speak to an experienced real estate professional you can trust about the market value of your home, contact Maxfield Real Estate.
