Friday, March 29, 2024

Good news observation: Market starting to return to normalcy

Posted

GRANBURY ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS

 

As president of the Granbury Association of Realtors, Jerry Allen writes a monthly column for the organization. The GAR provides services and resources to the Realtors of Hood and Somervell counties.

 

Howdy y’all!

I have been watching the market steadily and I have some good news for most of you: It is starting to return to normalcy!

Our inventory of homes for sale is starting to climb and they are staying on the market a little longer, so that is hopeful for you buyers. Prices haven’t dropped a ton, but are starting to head that way nationwide, especially in our area, also hopeful for buyers. That “multiple offer” thing? That’s starting to become a thing of the past also, partly due to buyer’s agents knowing that they need to make their FIRST offer their BEST offer!

Now, for sellers, things are not quite as good, but still great! Since there ARE more homes on the market, the new and existing homes are staying on market a little longer. And some of those homes that went under contract at ridiculous prices are falling out for a variety of reasons. If the sale was contingent on the sale of the buyer’s house, that sale might not happen, or might not happen on time, so they can’t fulfill the contract on the house they put under contingency, which puts TWO houses back on the market again.

Or the homes were overpriced to start with, so they sit there and folks wonder what’s wrong with them. Or folks have already bought a house in that range, so they are not looking for a home in that range anymore.

But more likely is that school has already started, and folks don’t want to move during the school year.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t people still looking. There are! But they are being pickier and are looking for that “year-end deal”!

SUMMER SLOWDOWN

Typically, the end of the summer signals a seasonal slowdown — which generally continues through January for the normal buyer pool. And sellers are starting to pull their homes off market. No one wants to move over the holidays, unless they get a deal they just can’t pass up!

Now might not seem like a great time to buy or sell a home, but it does have some advantages. Sellers want to unload the home before the end of the tax year. Buyers want to BUY a home before the end of the tax year. I’ve shown houses literally on New Year’s Eve!

Believe it or not, even Realtors have lives, families and even take holidays! And why wouldn’t they take them at a time when the market is typically slowing down?

According to an article in “Inman News” (Think “Wall Street Journal” for Realtors), “The number of homes that faced multiple offers has dropped to the same level as the beginning of last summer, which was when the “feeding frenzy” market started!”

LOCAL MARKET

According to the latest stats from Texas Realtors, our local market looks somewhat different from the past few months:

The median home price is at $306,000, up from last year by 17%, but substantially lower than earlier this year — signaling a decrease from the insane prices we have seen. Homes are staying on market 19 days before going under contract versus as little as four days! Time On Market has increased to 52 days before closing, on average, way up from the 28 days we had seen in the past! We had 168 Closed sales, have 222 homes listed, giving us an inventory of homes for sale of approximately 1.5 months, up from less than 30 days earlier!

Folks are beginning to think about moving from the place they are renting, as most people lease from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31. They will start looking about October so they can find a place to move into by year’s end. Or they may be ready to buy a place of their own. I know my lender friends are generally busy this time of year as well, some with folks doing refinances so they can free up some dollars for Christmas or vacations, or just doing their annual financial re-evaluations.

In any case, the “market” doesn’t really slow down. It just changes a little.

If you want to get a good buy, and got beat out on a lot of homes this summer, this might just be the opportunity you are looking for!

Call or go online to the Granbury Association of Realtors and find a great Realtor to speak to about it. (www.granburyrealtors.com).

The times are too complex to go it on your own….

Till next month…

Be blessed and be a blessing!!

817-578-4110 or jerryallen@kw.com