For the past few years now, the housing market has been at the top of its game! Prices continually rose without fail, homes lasted only a few days on the market and had multiple competing offers, and the market began to come back to its former glory of the pre-crash market with how well it was doing (without the scare of faulty lending habits and the scare of another crash).
At that time, wise sellers saw their opportunity to sell and sell their home for top of the market value, if not more than what it would actually appraise for. With homes going faster than people could keep up, can you really blame them? By the time you saw a newly listed home, it already had three offers on it. That’s how red hot the market had become!
Reviewing the market today, it is still doing well, but has definitely begun to cool down. In an article by marketplace.org, they stated, “Average home prices in the 20 biggest U.S. cities grew at the slowest pace in nearly two years in September, according to new figures from the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index. Prices are still rising but so are mortgage interest rates, making houses even less affordable, as sales of existing homes continue to decline.”
Gone are the days of homes only lasting a few days on the market before getting an offer – for now at least. Currently, homes are lasting a month, 2 months, 3 months, and so on. When taking on new sellers who are still looking to “strike it big” by listing their homes with an ambitious sales price, this slowing down of the market is something to keep in mind and something to inform them of.
One realtor in the same article mentioned above said that he comes prepared to inform prospective sellers of this new market. He goes to appointments ready with data showing how homes have been staying on the market for longer now and even shows them news stories about the slowing of the market. This is to help his sellers be more realistic about what price they are willing to list their home at and to ensure it doesn’t get listed too high. If the home is listed too high, it will sit on the market for longer and become harder to sell. If the home is listed at a more reasonable price, it will help it sell more quickly and easily.
If sellers are having this conversation with their real estate agent, it is best to keep in mind that their agent only has their best interest in mind. Remember, realtors work on commission, which is how you really know they are truly thinking of what is best for you – when they are encouraging you to not go too high on sales price.
We here at the Kathleen Yamauchi Group as well as realtors everywhere, adhere to a code of ethics in which we pledge to do what is best for our clients. We will work hard for you and to the best of our abilities to ensure you have as smooth of a transaction as possible!
So, those of you out there thinking of selling your home, keep this slowing market in mind. If you’re in the Prescott area, give us a call, we’d love to talk to you more about this and do a comparative market analysis on your home.