I don’t think there is a spot in America where Summertime hasn’t taken over. Summer is a great season, except maybe in the northwest. The fires that have occurred nearby have been small, and even luckier, mostly contained from monsoon rains. The forecast looks like it’s going to be sunny, warm, and rainy in the afternoons.
Over the last 15 years, my family and I have dealt with many fires, including being evacuated from three weeks from a fire burning a half-mile from my home. The evacuation order comes quickly and there is little time to gather things up, let alone find someplace to go. The Muddy Creek Fire up Seedhouse Road was evacuated recently and help poured in for the residents there. Like many weather calamities, the community comes together and those evacuated received help.
On to the market- here’s the stats for today.
This picture doesn’t show several things. Over the past month, buyers have become hesitant to purchase. To me, this is fairly new. There is a trend of buyers not buying because prices have gotten too much for them. But those with hesitancy are looking to what is going to happen in the next several months. In the past two run-ups in Steamboat values, both of these trends happened and I started to think we might be at a plateau soon.
This graph also does not show that properties are staying on the market longer. Yes, there are many that sell within a few days of going on the market. And some are not, taking up to two months to see an offer. Also, more properties are not completing a sale and are being returned to the market.
As I’ve said in the past, watching Denver trends shines a light on our market. Over the past several weeks, news articles have been published highlighting a similar trend in Denver. The first ones came out two months ago. I didn’t give them much credit because the articles seemed to be written from grandstanding brokers getting inches in the paper. And they continued, coming from places like Inman and Denver big papers, not just online tabloids.
This confirmed to me something was changing.
Most recently, I ran into an article (that I can’t remember who wrote/published or I would have a link here- sorry!) from a big paper that spoke about these trends happening across America. Here is one I found on the slowing market.
Don’t think that the sky is about to fall or that Armageddon is imminent. This is a pullback from the market surge. Remember, about a year ago no one knew what was going to happen in all markets. And no one knew what real estate was going to do.
An interesting trend I’ve seen in Stagecoach land purchases is that there is little speculative buying. Persons purchasing have specific reasons for buying Stagecoach land, not commonly as an investment. More so, to build on when they are ready, builders and retirees especially.
I’m looking forward to the next few months. Business for us all should remain brisk, more like going from a market where hair is on fire to a market where we don’t need to carry a fire extinguisher everywhere we go.