Different Buying And Selling Tactics Needed In Different Markets
(The housing market is slowing down and cooling off throughout the nation. ) Although the effects of the slow market can be seen in pretty much every city, not every city fairs the same during a downturn; naturally some do better than others.
As we start to analyze the general direction of the market, sellers and buyers alike are starting to get a feel for their individual markets and know that they have to do certain things to sell in order to cater to their specific market’s atmosphere and trends. We will take a look at the general real estate and housing markets in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Denver to see what sellers need to do in order to sell in these once-hot markets.
A September 13, 2006 article by Lauren Baier Kim of The Wall Street Journal, “Buyers discover what it takes to sell as inventories mount,” discusses the general trends in these four major cities.
Home sales have been declining in most parts of the country as a rising inventory of them starts to pile up. Prices are still high in some areas but are starting to show signs of dropping.
“Among the places showing the biggest drops in the number of homes sold were California, Florida, Arizona, Massachusetts and the Washington, D.C., area, the article (on The Wall Street Journal Online) says. Nationally, the number of homes on the market rose 3.5%, according to the Web site. As a result of the market downturn, buyers may take their properties off the market, and home builders are offering incentives to spur sales, the article says. Prices in some U.S. locations for newly built homes are down 10% to 15% from a year ago.”
The market in Los Angeles can be characterized by falling prices, and patience has never been more of a virtue in this town.
“Home buyers who wait out the market could stand to profit, with home prices forecasted by one real-estate professional to drop 2% to 3% yearly for the next three to five years, the newspaper reports. ‘Prices are going to be a little weaker a year from now, and there'll be more listings and more choices,’ one real-estate professional is quoted as saying.”
As for New York, the market can be seen as being full of homes that just won’t sell – no matter what.
“Some New York apartment owners who purchased during the housing boom are learning that they own real-estate ‘lemons,’ or homes that are difficult to sell, says an article published by the New York Times.”
Chicago sales are all-around slow, and residents of the windy city seem to be up in arms about who to blame.
“So what is behind the cool down -- both nationally and regionally? Several suspects have been blamed, from a ‘bubble-obsessed’ news media, to lenient lending policies to real-estate speculators who bid up real-estate values too high, the Chicago Tribune says.”
It seems like the market in Denver is all about location, location, location.
“With the Denver-area housing market facing the worst resale market since the early 1990s, local sellers are discovering that a home's location and quality figure prominently into how quickly it will sell, says a Denver Post article. Selling the fastest are residences within the city or within a short commute of the metro, well-maintained properties, luxury homes, and residences in popular school districts, the newspaper says. Harder sells are residential properties further out from the city, those in mountain and "fringe" developments, and homes that lack sought-after amenities like hardwood floors, granite countertops and fully finished basements, the Post says.”
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