We've sold 17 homes in the past 90 days, and that's not too shabby! The price range for the home sales seems to be under $200,000 with only 4 selling over this price.
This is the slowest sales summer in the past 5 years, pretty much in step with the rest of the country (even though living east of Billings is always a bright spot to me!)
Just take this little bit of info to help you see what buyer's are doing;
The average listed price of homes with and without acreage in the Shepherd, Huntley, Worden, Ballantine and Pompey's Pillar area right now is $241,890. But the average sales price for the same area in the past 90 days was $156,722, that's quite a bit different then last year.
For 2010 during the same period the average list price was $237,381 and the average sales price was $228,133!
The average number of days on the market for the sold homes almost doubled from 2010 to 2011 from 50 days to 93 days.
What's the reason for this change? Here in Montana, when we feel a little pressure on our paychecks, or at least when we worry there might be more pressure on our paychecks, we hunker down and sit tight!
This is really a buyer's market right now, only we are missing some good well priced listings! Homes that are well priced and in good condition will sell in 45 days or less. Overpriced homes continue to lag without any movement, very frustrating for home sellers who were hoping for more in an environment that will only give them less.
Sometimes I feel like the grim reaper when I educate people on the current market conditions. My advice? The reasons people move are the same as they've always been, looking for a neighborhood, location (location, location), schools, work, family changes, move up, move down, moving over. Making money on a home in this environment depends on whether you own the home or the bank does, and what the spread is.
Paying down a mortgage is still a really good investment, but it may take years before we have growth in prices at a rate of 3% or more.
Comments(2)