There is Good News in The Marketplace
How often have we heard it said that the press is better at telling the negative news than the positive news? The reality is that there is some very encouraging news out there for folks trying to sell their homes and it isn’t getting much coverage.
Pending single family home sales rose to 571 in December as reported by the Sarasota Association of Realtors, topping the 500 level for the 12th month in a row. Pending sales that month were much higher than the 374 in December 2007, which indicates the local real estate market is improving. Another important tracker is the absorption rate of listed properties. Absorption rate is the number of months it would take to sell the entire listing inventory based on the rate of sales. For December 2008, the absorption rate for single family homes stood at 19.1 months compared to 35.1 months in December 2007. We are on the right track!
Homes are selling!
Could it be that the savvy buyers are out there quietly making purchases and the numbers are beginning to correct while many people are a bit oblivious to this? It is counterintuitive to buy now and only the smartest among us get this. Many people are still contemplating that we will “hit bottom” and then a siren will sound and people will decide to move to action. Wrong! It is only when we look back that we see where “bottom” was. By that time the majority of folks will have seen it and the best buys will be gone. The time to buy is now and the time to come on the market is now.