Today's Real Estate Market vs. The Downturn Of The Late 1980's

We had our last substantial downturn in the Real Estate market back in the late 1980's. USA Today again stated that the National Association of Realtors is still predicting 5,000,000 sales in 2007. This means we are nowhere near the downturn we had in the late 80's and early 90's. If you remember during that Real Estate recession the interest rates went through the roof and buyers wouldn't buy which meant sellers couldn't sell and the sales for the year were under 4,000,000. Today's market is extremely mild in comparison. Money is still cheap by historical standards and there are still great buys out there. If you're a serious buyer looking for a "deal" talk to your agent about softer markets where homes have been on the market for five months. If you're a seller find out where your competition is priced. You can't go off of comps from six months ago and expect to see your house sell for that anymore. If you are truly motivated to sell your home then you'll need to price it below ceilings where there are levels of resistance and seriously think about offering incentives to buyers. To get your home sold quicker you need to attract agents representing buyers by offering a 4% commission to them. They will see that and even if your home doesn't quite fit their buyers needs they're going to make sure it's on the list of homes to show. The industry as a whole is and will continue to go through a steady bleeding of agents, mortgage lenders, escrow offices, title agencies and so on.....so people are hungry to get transactions through and if that means getting their attention by bribing them with an extra percentage point then do it. If you're not willing to price your home competitively and take a few extra steps to get it sold when working with your agent, then you need to seriously consider whether you want to sell right now. I hope you found this informative and happy hunting out there....no matter what side of the fence you're on!