From time to time we like to take a snapshot in time and evaluate what’s going on in the local real estate market. It’s been awhile since we’ve posted our Lee County 7-day real estate market watch, so we decided it’s time.
As you can see from the chart, the Lee County 7 day real estate market watch shows pending sales outpaced new listings 359 to 299. If you add back in the 82 back on market listings, you’ll notice that inventory slightly outpaced pending sales. It’s fairly normal to have fallout on pending sales for various reasons.
Buyers have inspections and sometimes try to use that as an additional negotiation point which results in contract fallout. Sometimes a buyer’s financing falls through, or occasionally a property might not appraise. Any number of things can cause contract fallout.
The other thing we noticed this 7-day period is the price decreases. There were 305. This tells us 305 sellers overpriced their home. The sellers are still motivated to sell and they’re doing what it takes to find the market for their home.
We’ve got a pretty good market right now, and you don’t want to miss it. Don’t worry, plenty of sellers will miss this market. We see homes fail to sell in all kinds of markets. Remembering back to 2005 there were tons of sellers that didn’t sell because they thought the market would keep going higher and their investment was their lottery ticket.
The thing is, lottery tickets expire. They don’t last forever. Real estate markets don’t stay the same forever either, both on the upside and the downside. We’ve got a pretty good market going, and we haven’t seen a lot of appreciation in Lee County the past several years, so they’re no reason to believe our market is in jeopardy, unlike 2005. The key term here is sustainability, and we have that barring any wild cards.
You’ve heard the term perfect storm before. Usually this refers to a market that’s over valued and one or more events triggers a fall. What we have today might be a perfect opportunity. There is no storm. We’ve had a boring market locally the last few years. We didn’t participate in any great upside, and if there was a downside, we might not see as much of that compared to other areas because of this fact.
Low interest rates are creating the opportunity for a seller to sell and re-invest in another home at low rates. Today rates are around 3.25% A seller could hold out for home prices to go up another 5-10%, but at what cost? Chances are the home they’re moving to will also go up 5-10%. If that weren’t enough, chances are the mortgage rate will go up too.
A 1% rise in rates could cost a borrower tens of thousands of dollars in interest. It also costs a borrower buying power as they qualify for less. If you’re a seller and have been eyeing a move, now might be the time to talk about your options.
We’ve got some good lenders that can sit down with you and go over your options. The Ellis Team can evaluate your property and tell you what it should sell for today. We can even calculate how much you’d net out at the closing table after all expenses, so you know how much you’d be working with for the new home.
Times like this are exciting, and they only come around once or twice in your lifetime. Can you remember when mortgage rates were 3.25%? When I first got in the business in 1988 interest rates were about 11-12% I bought my first home in 1989 with a 10.5% rate and thought that was great.
We may never see 3.25% again. We don’t know how long this will last. All we can do is help as many as possible while we can. If you’re thinking of selling, call Sande or Brett Ellis 239-489-4042 Ext 4
Of course, we can help you purchase too. Visit www.SWFLhomevalues.com to find out what your home is worth.
Good luck and Happy Selling!
See last week’s article Prospective Home Buyers Have Difficulty Finding Right Home