An Emotional Real Estate Market

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Every market is inundated with percentages and statistics and predictions. In the real estate market you’ve got yet another layer comprised of: information about available inventory, the interest rates, hurricanes, and tax incentives.

The icing on these layers of course is the emotional component that comes into play. Some sellers think their property is not regarded highly enough, while some buyers think they are getting ripped off. We’ve unfortunately seen negotiations fall apart over some pretty minor things because feelings get involved.

Not to mention, if you’re a buyer in today’s market you may be under the impression you can easily move on to the next property. It is not always that simple anymore. You would think that buying and selling property would be a fairly simple transaction; well, it used to be. But there are many stars that need to align these days to get the deal done. All the new laws and guidelines (most of which were put in place to protect people), have had far reaching ramifications that can complicate the process to the point of impeding it.

What I’m trying to say is: if you’re a buyer and have found a home you love or you’re a seller and have found a buyer that is qualified – you should try to work it out with both parties under the expertise of your realtors and the lender. Emotions get in the way too often. If you are fortunate enough to have found one another, try to stick together because you may be hard pressed to find someone else to meet over a conference room table anytime soon.

While no one should settle for a sale or a purchase unless it is really right for them, I’d like to suggest that you may regret it if you give up on the deal too easily for the wrong reasons.

Trinity Fl Real Estate and Home Inspections

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Before any Trinity Realtors hang a sign on your lawn, you may want to have a reputable home inspector take a look at your property before it goes on the market.

One of three things will happen with pre-listing home inspections:

  1. You’ll find nothing significant
  2. You’ll get a heads up about a possible problem and have time to fix it
  3. You’ll be able to have repair estimates ready to present to the buyer in the contract negotiations

By being proactive you’re more likely to keep your contract on track and get to the closing table on schedule!

Pricing Homes for Sale in Tampa Bay

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Price reductions on a listing are as common as the need for killer curb appeal. Pricing residential real estate in Trinity, Fl for example is a strategy predicated on comparisons with other recent sales in the area and the condition of the home.

Some home sellers want to take the number they have in their head “out for a spin” and see if any offers surface. As negative as this sounds, best practices in this situation would dictate a price reduction schedule be invoked after a period of time on the market at the inflated price. One of the major problems with overpricing a home at the onset is that it sends a signal to potential buyers that something is wrong with the home.

Setting that bar or that price point too high will also soon make your home old news. Plenty of brand new properties are entering the market hourly, particularly from the foreclosure inventory. Your home can really get lost in the shuffle; the best time to strike is early and at the right price.

The National Association of Realtors just reported that “in October and November, when the market was feeling the effect of the tax credit, 26 percent of sellers cut their asking prices.” In addition, NAR also reported that Trulia.com just released the figures that the “prices on 19 percent of homes for sale as of March 1st have been reduced at least once, the lowest percentage in the last year.”

These statistics indicate that more sellers are pricing their homes better. They are therefore spending less time on the market and are not subjecting themselves to multiple price reductions.

Let’s face it, moving inventory faster is essential to the restoration of home values; but it also goes a long way in restoring consumer confidence and ensuring the success of the individual home owner trying to make their move.

Trinity, Fl Real Estate – Is it a Seller’s Market?

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Buy low and sell high — that is an investor’s strategy. What is a homeowner’s strategy in Trinity, Fl? Sell low and buy low? This approach is certainly working well for some with East Lake, Fl homes for sale.

To compete in this market a home needs to: be priced right, be in the best possible condition, and be properly marketed. Sellers over the past two years have had a tough time of it, especially with the competition from the tide of foreclosures and short sales.

And emotions can run high; even though a seller may understand that the market dictates the price, it is hard to swallow that the place they care for and make a mortgage payment on every month is not getting its just due in the marketplace.  

However, there are sellers that are “getting their move on” by taking advantage of the current real estate climate on the other side of the balance sheet. Basically, the loss on the property a homeowner sells is really only a paper deficit; the next property he or she buys will also be at a bargain price.

We’re seeing more and more homeowners willing to suffer the loss on the front-end, only to take the opportunity to trade up and buy a home that has more amenities and is often located in an area that was previously out of their price range.

So the buyer of the seller’s home may be getting a deal, but so will the seller when the seller becomes the buyer. With a realistic sale and a well-considered purchase, the seller will ultimately wind up in better shape when real estate values increase again.

This market can cut both ways and a savvy seller with the proper real estate advice can actually do quite well for themselves by playing the game a bit like the investors do, by becoming a buyer.

Today’s Real Estate Market

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The home purchase tax incentive and incredible home mortgage rates made a huge dent in Trinity’s housing inventory this year; and home prices took a step back from the edge of yet another precipice. 

On the home selling side, two other trends made a big difference in our local markets. In the beginning, when home prices started and continued to decline, home sellers initially remained firm on their sale price. 

Understandably so, selling a home is an emotional experience. When you put time and money into maintaining and beautifying something, you want a proportional gain. But as home sellers began to understand that it is the market that dictates price and adjusted accordingly, their homes starting selling and the inventory began decreasing. 

Another key factor this year was the increase in professional representation. Homes for Sale by Owner, a popular alternative, have not fared well in this market. Besides the challenges of structuring contracts, the most difficult part of a real estate transaction for an unlicensed person is the lack of familiarity with the new legislation governing appraisals, the mandates of FHA and VA loans, and all the nuances of buyer qualification.

These areas have changed so dramatically, that just about anyone selling their home on their own without benefit of an experienced Realtor was, and still is, at a tremendous disadvantage.

Our lives and our market will return to normalcy, it is just a slow and steady rebound. Bottom line, the trend for 2010 is recovery, and buying and selling are back in style.