Finally! We have some good news!
Don't get too excited just yet. There was some flicker of good news in the media this week. The feds cut the rate by .75. (Which doesn't help us much as an end borrower. BUT, it makes the consumer feel good). The re-sale market picked up in areas around the country for the first time in months. Overall, Northeast Florida has pockets of sub-areas that had good increases.
Our showing and call traffic is up more than normal. We continually get showing appointments everyday. The homes that are priced under $300K get the most activity.
Some sellers are falling into the trap of keeping the price high because they think a buyer will just love the house and want to pay top dollar. The buyers are smart (thanks to the Internet) and they won't spend top dollar. The neighbor right down the street is just as nice and for less money. So, the buyers are making offers on homes that are in tip top shape AND are priced very well.
This is an excerpt from some info we recently received from the board of realtors.
Like Jim Cramer on Mad Money says "there's a bull market somewhere and I intend to find it". In Northeast Florida for the 50 sub-markets covering Clay-Duval-Nassau-St. Johns, the sub market with the dominant market share was Mandarin with 6.9% of the 11,438 closings. Annual sales inched up 3% from 11,147 in 2006 and to my surprise of the 50 sub-markets 30 or 60% had positive gains in sales over 2006.Take care, Raymond L. Rodriguez Market Consultant