There’s nothing like hot coffee, a diner breakfast, and a good friend to start your morning off right. Diner breakfasts remind me of my grandfather who was a serious connoisseur of the truck stop diner. I have such lovely memories of him taking me out for a delicious, greasy breakfast. He would let me order whatever I wanted and listened so patiently while I talked his ear off.
The best was when he would show up at my school unannounced in his 70’s sedan named Betsy. He’d whisk me off for a greasy grill cheese at a near-by diner only to return me to school with a belly full of grilled cheese and a pocket full of bubblegum. That was a good day.
It was dark and raining outside this morning and inside Homer’s Duncan House, the coffee was flowing as fast as the conversation, and the breakfast was as perfect as a diner breakfast should be.
Reminiscing about a well-spent summer over hot coffee reminded me to tell you how September fared in Real Estate. So here we go.
For the Homer Area (Diamond Ridge/Skyline, Homer, Fritz Creek and McNeal & East) as at August 31, 2018:
Number of Listings Currently Active: 65
New Listings 2018 YTD: 145
New Listings 2017 YTD: 154
Number of Listings that are currently Pending: 19
Pending Listings 2018 YTD: 94
Pending Listings 2017 YTD: 99
Days on Market:
Average Days on Market 2018 YTD: 172
Average Days on Market 2017 YTD: 167
Sold Listings:
Sold Listings 2018 YTD: 79 (up 9 from last month)
Median Sold Price 2018 YTD: $262,688
% of List Price: 95%
Sold Listings 2017 YTD: 92
Median Sold Price 2017 YTD: $243,937
% of List Price: 96.75%
Sold Listings over the past 12 months: 112
Sold listings over the previous 12 months: 128
An absorption rate is the amount of time it will take for our current listing inventory to change, or turn over. Last month, it would take 8.45 months for our listing inventory to turn over, this month it’s about 8.77. That puts our overall absorption rate at 13.5%, still pointing to a buyer’s market with homes taking longer overall to sell.
So my advice to sellers coming on the market right now is to do yourself a favor and price it right at the get-go. Be prepared for a bit of time on the market and when showings happen, speak to the season. Make sure your home is warm and inviting, turn the lights on and add some rich fall colors if they fit your decor. Maybe set your table for a holiday meal so that buyers can imagine what holidays would look like.
Also, clean your air filters so that the air circulating in your house is as clean as it can be.
For buyers, there have been many a news article of late about buyer fatigue. Especially in the hotter urban markets. Higher prices, higher mortgage rates, and a smaller inventory are reportedly frustrating many a buyer out there. I’ve noticed a bit of that here, especially in the entry level market. My advice to tired-out buyers is to take a deep breath and refocus. Fall and winter, with more inventory and fewer buyers are great times to buy. Waiting to buy might be doing yourself a disservice.
~Sarah