Hill Slowinski • Real Estate: Blog

Early 2009 Market Results: Increased Activity for Buyers and Sellers

We are two-thirds of the way through of the 2009 Spring Market, and we have had a roller-coaster of regional activity - some areas have popped up in sales, others suddenly are flat - on both sellers' and buyers' sides.  The news on the economy swings daily from good to bad to good.  Nevertheless, I have more successful sales transactions!

The popular price ranges of interest have dropped some 20%, and sometimes more, depending on the location.  Real estate is local.  

For my clients, the real bottom line has been price, and price alone.  This month, for example, my newest listing received multiple offers and was under contract in just 7 days!  And, one of my older listings had a significant price improvement, received an offer within 3 weeks, and settled two weeks later! 

Buyers will buy homes that are priced correctly.  They have researched the market and know what is available.  Owners of homes not yet sold and whose price has remained unchanged 30+ days must make the next price change significant and noticeable to a new set of buyers as all potential buyers at the current price have passed them by and bought lower priced homes.  At the least, they have rejected the current price, and there is more inventory from which buyers can chose their next home.  Buyers can lose interest in a particular home quickly in this market.

For sellers, it is no longer a matter of ‘leaving money on the table' or ‘giving the house away'.  There is nothing on the table or being given away when there are no offers to begin with.  The market will establish the price for the home, not the seller, and not the seller's agent. 

The difficult challenge is finding the right price at which it will sell.  So I deeply research the market and listen to all comments on my listings,  and I present successful selling strategies fresh from today's market reality and experiences.   And I get results for my clients.      

 Hill Slowinski, licensed in DC, MD, and VA

W.C. & A.N. Miller Realtors, A Long & Foster Company

4701 Sangamore Road,  Bethesda, Maryland  20816

Cell: 301-452-1409  Direct: 301-320-8430  Ofc: 301-229-4000

         Email: hslowinski@longandfoster.com or Hill@HillSlowinski.com

In a new report on the 2008 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers by the National Association of REALTORS®, released March 24, key findings were that:

• Overall, 21 percent of sellers indicated that what they wanted most from their agent was help pricing their home competitively.
• Other important considerations were
  • help selling the home within a specific timeframe (20 percent),
  • help finding a buyer (20 percent), and
  • help marketing to potential buyers (20 percent).
• When the responses are examined by the level of service a seller wanted, a few interesting differences were observed.
  • Twenty-eight percent of sellers who requested a limited set of services wanted help pricing their home competitively.
  • By comparison sellers who relied on an agent primarily to list their home with a multiple listing service were most likely to want help selling their home within a specified timeframe.

Copyright National Association of REALTORS®, Reprinted with permission.

-- Hill Slowinski

WC & AN Miller Realtors, A Long & Foster Company

4701 Sangamore Road,  Bethesda, Maryland  20816

Cell: 301-452-1409  Direct: 301-320-8430  Ofc: 301-229-4000

Email: hslowinski@longandfoster.com or Hill@HillSlowinski.com