I like to cook.  As I am writing this post, I have some fresh bread rising waiting to go into the oven in an hour or so. In fact my 8 year old only-eating-macaroni-and-cheese son told me I was a great cook when I added Canadian bacon to the homemade mac and cheese.  I think I'm headed for Top Chef with that complicated recipe...

I also make a mean strawberry pie.  In Oregon we have a kind of strawberry called Independence.  I don't think they go outside of Oregon because they have such a high sugar content that you literally have to pick and eat them within 48 hours...not good for crossing state lines.  But...these berries make a mean pie.  Fresh strawberries with fresh whipped topping is a June staple at my house when these berries are in season.

So what in the heck does my rambling have to do with anything, especially sellers? 

Buyer pie

Chris Elizabeth Griffith had a post about what price homes were selling in her area and she did it as a pie chart. I liked the easy format to see where buyers are buying so I did one for Salem Oregon. I don't think the data should be surprising...really the less expensive your home is the more potential buyers there are.  Salem Oregon sellers trying to do a short sale need to be aware of these numbers if they truly want to get  an offer in on their home.

Currently just over 1/2 of the Salem Oregon buyers are in the $100-$200k range.  A little over 1/4 of the buyers are in the $200-$300k range, and well after that...it starts to get dicey.  If you have a home that you are trying to sell that costs more than $500,000 then you are competing for 1% of the buyer population right now.  No homes have sold that are 1M homes.

So what?...you say...you have a luxury home and you know it will take a while, but let's take a look at the seller pie.

So the differences between the seller pie and buyer pies is what give us our inventories.  All price ranges are in a buyer's market, with the under $100,000 price range closest to a neutral market with 8.7 months worth of inventory.

So sellers look at the data and understand that if you want a piece of that buyer pie, especially if you are in the $400-$500,000 price range...you might have to feel like you are giving your house away, OR it better be in amazing condition. 

If you want information about how to price your home in this market, just contact me for a local Salem Oregon real estate market analysis.

You can also read my March 2009 real estate market reports for

Salem

Keizer