Are Rising Interest Rates Motivating Sellers More?
The other day I saw an ad emailed by a local College Station Realtor,which said, "Interests rates up?, Seller says to Reduce price down.". That seller was probably right in his observation. We have watched rates at an all time low, and nobody knew if or when it would get any lower. The question was, just "how low will it go?". Truth is nobody knows until it starts to go up again, then it's too late! I guess the old adage that said "a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush" has some merit.
Bryan-College Station has been lucky to escape the serious ravages of the last two years in the housing market. Right now, however, it was invetible that Texas A&M wouldn't be able to protect the surrounding community indefinately. By no means is the Bryan/College Station area suffering anything that is depicted in the news on a nightly basis, but recent sales and an increased inventory on the market is a strong indicator that it is a, BUYERS MARKET!!
Our record of foreclosures have risen just a bit, seems to me the last figures, I heard that were released indicated that the BCS community had only 29 foreclosures in 2009. As 2010 comes to a close, we shall wait and see the latestest figures.
Home prices have pretty much held steady, with only a slight decline, and sales are predictability down for the time of year, however the inventory is up, and the days on Market are longer. Market Trends for Bryan and College Station do indicate a 9 - 10 months inventory. Any thing more than 6 months, really makes it a Buyer's market.
With interest rates rising, it is up to sellers to either compensate with a reduction in price, or to offer to pay a percentage to help discount the buyer's loan rate. In addition to those considerations, the seller must take a serious look at how marketable their property is in the eye of the buyer.
In stronger markets, staging and updates weren't required to sell a house. They helped get more money for the home, but it wasn't always required to get the house sold. That has changed in this market, updates and improvements, are no longer considered a special plus in the bargain, but now, almost a requirement to compete with a home that has already been updated. Many of today's buyers are not simply in the "fix it" mode, not when they can go down the road and find a brand new house. That is some really tough competition.
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