Important News and Techniques for Today's Real Estate Market

I'm getting regular questions about how the expiration of the federal tax credit is impacting our market, so I thought I'd share my answers and provide some market statistics to illustrate.

MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

Overall, the volume of buyer activity has decreased since the tax credit expired.  HOWEVER, the price range of the buyers--along with the general qualifications of the buyers--has improved dramatically.  The buyers who were sitting on the sidelines, waiting for the the tax credit buyers to move out of their way, are now making offers.  On more expensive homes.  With better financing.  Hurray!

Buyers are still looking for deals out there, but those who are buying are making bigger moves and SAVING LOTS OF MONEY by taking advantage of the once-in-a-lifetime interest rates that are out there now. 

THE MARKET IS HUMMING WITH ACTIVITY!  Let us know if you have questions about what's happening in your neck of the woods.   We'll share our personal experience, along with case-specific market analysis, to help you understand where you fit in today's real estate market.  

MARKET STATISTICS FOR COWETA, FAYETTE, S. FULTON AND TROUP COUNTIES

A LOWER PRICE RANGE IN FULTON COUNTY:  Surprisingly, S. Fulton has the best aborption rate of all of these counties, hovering around 7 - 8  months of supply.  There were lots of "tax credit buyers" who made a dent in the inventory in this area, and the average sale price was $90,000 with the seller paying 3% in closing costs.  S. Fulton County also had the most settled transactions of the area--with 414 closed transactions in the past 3 months alone.  Compare that to 365 for Coweta, 249 for Fayette, and only 133 for Troup for the same period, and you'll see that S. Fulton County was the clear "volume" leader.  S. Fulton has farther to go to recover on sales prices, but is making headway by clearing out excess inventory!

THE BEST NEWS WAS IN COWETA COUNTY:  There's good news all around for the Coweta Market.  Prices are still down from their peaks in 2005 and 2006, but the average sales price has risen by about $7,000 in the past 6 months alone.  The number of transactions is high (365 in the past 3 months) and the average list-to-sale ratio ranges from 95 - 97%.  Inventory is higher than during the tax credit period, but much lower than this time last year.  Market stability seems to be in close sight for Coweta County.

FAYETTE COUNTY IS STILL GOING STRONG:  With the highest median sales price ($227,000) of all the counties reviewed, Fayette County represents a strong "move-up" market, since most first time homebuyers in Georgia start at a lower price range.  The tax credit had SOME impact here, but not as much as in other counties where first time home buyers could take advantage of the market, since the regulations for getting a tax credit as a "move up/move out" buyer were a little more difficult to meet.  The inventory is high in Fayette County--with over 13 months of supply right now-- but sellers are still commanding on average 92 - 94% of sales price to make the deal work. 

TROUP COUNTY HAS A SLOWER MARKET, BUT GOOD NET RESULTS:  Troup County has a lower median sales price ($85,000) and has the lowest list-to-sales ratio of the counties reviewed (89%).  With fewer transactions than the other counties, it's still seen the highest increase in sales price over the prior 3 month period--$10,000!  Let's work through some of that inventory (14.4 months supply now) to get these prices back to previous levels.