“How’s the Real Estate Market?”, “How’s Business?”

"How's the real estate market?" and "How's business?" are two questions I get asked almost on a daily basis. Whether it's a client, family member, friend, acquaintance or someone I just met, everyone wants to know what someone who's on the "street" every day is seeing and hearing.

"How's the real estate market?"

The market is improving for sellers and getting tougher for buyers. Here's why…

• There are less homes on the market today than since the end of the boom market in 2005. Less inventory means less competition for sellers. This is good for sellers and bad for buyers.
• Short-sales are becoming more and more popular which is good for traditional sellers and banks with REO listings because most buyers stay away from short-sales (with good reason) meaning less homes for buyers to actually choose from. This goes back to my first point.
• Banks are starting to "freeze" foreclosures meaning less new bank-owned properties will be coming on the market in the near to mid-term future. This goes back to my first point as well.
• Interest rates are still near 40 year lows and have dropped some over the last few weeks. This is great for buyers.

"How's business?" 

• The year started off slow and steady and remained that way through late spring
• The summer was great with buyers coming out in packs to pick up great deals at low interest rates. Many buyers felt comfortable that prices had come down significantly and felt it was time to make a move after waiting it out for months, if not years.
• The summer rush ended near the beginning of October and buyer demand dropped off through Election Day. I think things slowed down because people were busy worrying about the financial crisis, the federal bail-out, the stock markets tanking and the uncertainty of one of the biggest elections in U.S. history. 
• Since Election Day, buyers have come back out and it's been a really busy few weeks with little time for rest. I see this continuing through the end of the month and possibly into December.

If you have specific questions not answered here, email or call me anytime.