9.01.2014

September...And It's Time For The Talk

It's after Labor Day and that means like having 'the chat' with your (insert age here) year old about 'you know what', it's time for us to do the same. 

Summer has come and gone and in our area and that changes the game. We've had a very odd market this year in central Indiana.  Gang busters in April and for some market segments in May. Several price points were even very active past the July 4 holiday. Some, on the other hand, died a quick death the minute the calendar turned June.  Since that time a LOT of prospective buyers have marched around in circles and felt no urgency to make decisions since none of the homes they liked disappeared (read sold).  They kept thinking there would be more inventory, prices would change, blah blah blah. In any event...they didn't buy.

So here we are in September. It would be easy for me, much like the violinist on the Titanic, to tell you stay calm, all is well. If you want, if you MUST sell your home, you have some difficult decisions to make. It's this simple. If there were 100 potential buyers for your home in June/July/August, now there are 70. VERY soon there will be 45 and then by Thanksgiving there will be 20. With apologies to Rod Argent and the Zombies it truly is 'the time of the season.'  Hey....you're reading it from a former DJ and you get musical parallels.

So what to do?  Again...it's very simple. It's ALWAYS about price. I understand your hopes, dreams, beliefs, expectations et all were different from where things are today and I hate that for you. But it does me no good to lie about it. As I have said many times the price of housing truly is a 10th grade economics class. When the price (supply) meets the acceptable demand (what a buyer is willing to pay) your home sells. Given the time of year, your buyer pool (meaning demand) is going down. It will not be greater in October than where it is today. It will not be better in November than it is today. Price....Price....Price. Put all of the things you had hoped for in June out of your head.  Improve your price (from the buyer's view) and get it done. All you have to look forward to is paying for it as the temperatures fall and you're more ready than ever to be finished.
Greg Cooper top selling Indiana realtor agent broker