A Blogger's Fantasy
October 12, 2007
When I first started blogging almost a year ago, I had the idea that readers of the blog would click on the comment or email buttons and would ask questions.
In fact, one of the concerns about starting a blog site was that it would be used to give negative feedback. To date, I really have not received any negative comments, although I am appreciative of learning of the readers concerns. I am writing the following opinion and am looking for the readers critiques.
In the year since I began blogging, the real estate market has experienced dramatic changes. A year ago we were waiting to see how the market would adjust to the end of the "up cycle". Today, we are aware that, even though we knew a cycle was ending, we had not truly anticipated the character that the "down cycle" would take on.
Based on my research earlier in the week on units sold and median prices, I believe that the defining characteristic of the 2007 real estate market in the Inland Empire is the "standoff" between buyers and sellers. What I mean is that most buyers are waiting for prices to come down and most sellers are unwilling to reduce their asking prices. Hence the number of units has dramatically fallen since 2005 (the height of the sellers' market) yet the median prices of homes has remained relatively unchanged. Since most potential buyers already have a roof over their heads, they can wait out the sellers. The wise seller will be the one who is willing to recognize that it is time to reassess the current market and become one of the units that enters the "sold" category. In all probability the selling price will be 5% to 10% less than it might have been a year or two ago.
When I first started blogging almost a year ago, I had the idea that readers of the blog would click on the comment or email buttons and would ask questions.
In fact, one of the concerns about starting a blog site was that it would be used to give negative feedback. To date, I really have not received any negative comments, although I am appreciative of learning of the readers concerns. I am writing the following opinion and am looking for the readers critiques.
In the year since I began blogging, the real estate market has experienced dramatic changes. A year ago we were waiting to see how the market would adjust to the end of the "up cycle". Today, we are aware that, even though we knew a cycle was ending, we had not truly anticipated the character that the "down cycle" would take on.
Based on my research earlier in the week on units sold and median prices, I believe that the defining characteristic of the 2007 real estate market in the Inland Empire is the "standoff" between buyers and sellers. What I mean is that most buyers are waiting for prices to come down and most sellers are unwilling to reduce their asking prices. Hence the number of units has dramatically fallen since 2005 (the height of the sellers' market) yet the median prices of homes has remained relatively unchanged. Since most potential buyers already have a roof over their heads, they can wait out the sellers. The wise seller will be the one who is willing to recognize that it is time to reassess the current market and become one of the units that enters the "sold" category. In all probability the selling price will be 5% to 10% less than it might have been a year or two ago.
posted by shirley harry at 9:00 AM
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