Monday, November 21, 2011

"How IS the market?"

Having been in the real estate business for nearly three decades I am very often questioned about the status of the real estate market. And it comes from all sorts of people for all sorts of reasons. Some are merely friends who are just asking me how I'm doing.... somethimes it's someone with an agenda (they are thinking about getting involved in a purchase or a sale)... sometimes it's a person thinking about a career change...
It's a tough question to answer sometimes because the answer truly is relative. Right now, buyers are seeing the most favorable terms , maybe ever! Sellers sometimes are seeing this an opportunity to get their real estate sold because there is less inventory and less competition. Many investors will tell you there are deals to be had out there and real estate is a great place to be while the money and stock markets settle down a bit.
So it's all relative to what you (the questioner) want to do.
Locally... in the Albany NY area our pending units are down 5.1% from last year... our inventory is down 3.1% and the sellers are seeing 91.1% of their asking price... down 1.3% from last year....
So those are a couple "stats". But my office in Loudonville has seen a 26.1% increase in volume and 13% increase in units sold.
Why? My agents are full time professionals that re ready when their clients need them to be ready. They are not sugar-coating any of their analysis when working with clients... They are giving honest straightforward counsel and their clients are listening.
So right now the best advice I can give any seller or buyer is to trust their Realtor and follow their lead. Don't try to apply recent years' appreciations or even deprecations to today's market.
Good luck!