Today I got very interested in market talk because I was asked by a title company professional if the market is slowing down.
In the past month, I bet I’ve got that question at least once a week. In the past, it was easy to answer if the market was slowing down or speeding up. Also, in the past, I have written about changes in the market that I expected. In this market, I get a bit of trauma around predicting market trends simply because it has been so strange.
The title company professional had a good conversation. He said once the Fed raised interest rates, several contracts were canceled. They were all-cash deals, which is strange because mortgage interest rates should not cause a cash buyer to step away from a purchase. Also, he said on any day a couple of months ago, or prior, they would see 10 or more orders come in on a day. Now, they are seeing 3 or 4 orders daily.
My conversation was different, yet mirrored his comments. What I have seen for more than a month is Sellers lowering asking prices. Their property did not get the response they expected so they have had to lower their expectations.
Even so, some Sellers are not too motivated to sell. One listing, in particular, I’m thinking about is a home originally listed at $1,300,000. They dropped the price to $50,000. This, to me, is a small amount of money in relation to the total value. It doesn’t say to me “I want to sell”.
And a condo that I closed on recently received a few offers. Less than 4. When I was coaching my clients, I prepared them for 10 or more offers. Asking an experienced broker who had a similar unit in the same complex, he said the same thing happened to him. It was unexpected in both cases.
What is selling really well are lots in Stagecoach. These properties do not stay on the market long. If I see a listing more than 50 days old, I wonder what’s up.