Are we at the bottom?

Hi Everyone!

Are you thinking about buying?

So here we are, mid May 2008 and we are hearing rumblings saying that we are at the bottom! I think I'm starting to believe it too. To me one of the big signs that the market is starting to turn is the amount of offers on contracts. More and more these days we are seeing multiple offers on many properties. Ok, now those properties are listed below everyone else in the market, but they are selling and lots of buyers want them!

So what does it mean to you? I don't know! If you have been waiting for the bottom, this may be it. This may be the best possible time to ever buy a home again. I do know that Interest rates are still hovering around 6%. How do you know if you are buying at the bottom? You don't! Well you do actually, it's when the market is going back up. Yes, the only time you can be for sure that we are at the bottom, it will be to late because we will be on the way up. They say that you never really buy at the bottom. You either buy on the way down or on the way up.

Here is the reality. If you are looking to buy a home that you plan on living in for an extended time period (more than 5 years), then we are close enough to the bottom that it shouldn't matter. If you are looking for investment, there are tons of homes that are great prices and won't last long! Either way, this is a great time to buy a home and actually if you need to sell, price it right and it will sell!

Do you need to sell?

Right now there are only two aspects of selling a home. First and foremost is price. Second is exposure. If you are listings your home, price it right and make sure that your Agent (Hopefully a Tropical Realty Agent), is using the best tools available to market. If your Agent isn't using the Internet in a big way, you are not getting maximum exposure. A well marketed website is going to get your home exposed more than anything. We tell all our customers to price their home at least 5% lower than the competition. Of course many don't want to hear that, but then they can't really want to sell their homes.

I do want to spend a second talking about price. For each month that your home is on the market, it becomes more difficult to sell. Therefore if you price your home to high to begin with, it may not receive any traffic from potential buyers and you will waste valuable time. If your Realtor shows you comps that your home is worth $200k and you need to sell it, don't tell your Agent that it's worth $240k. It's not. In fact, if your Realtor says $200k, you should list for $190k. As I said, we suggest 5% below the market.

We are averaging less than 5% of the single family homes on the market selling per month and even less condos selling. The ones that sell are "IN" the market. The ones that don't are "ON" the market. If you are going to sell your home, it's imperative that you are "IN" the market. Don't fool yourself that your home is so much better than your neighbor who sold his house in 2005 for $295,000. That was then...this is now. I don't like being so blunt, but I have found that their really isn't any other way to be when talking with our customers. Fortunately I"m not a Broker that is willing to inflate the price to you so we can get your listing and then have it sit there without any action. Thirty to forty-five days later that Realtor is going to be asking you to reduce your price if you want to sell. That's the most important selling days you have just thrown away. Price it right to start and sell it quickly!

That's it for now. As always, if you need anything please let us know. Have a great week!

Mitch