I am going to see a client over the weekend, and we're taking their home off of the market after three months of inactivity. This is a great little house in a wonderfully friendly neighborhood close to downtown Charlottesville, but the showing have been non-existent . The house has been marketed well, with everything from your basic sign and brochure with QR code to a video and great coverage in print and all over the web. I sent the client a copy of a report from one of the online portals, Zillow I think. The report shows how many times the house showed up in a prospect's search and then how many times the prospect clicked on the house to actually look at it. The numbers weren't great, but at least someone is looking; right? Hmmmm....
The client asked me if I kept copies of reports from the last several years, because he was interested in seeing how the numbers compare with last year, for example. Though I did not have ready access to last years' Zillow reports, I did have a Realtor.com report for a very comparable listing downtown.
The difference in the numbers is startling, but I need to add that we aren't talking pure comparison here.
The location : similar, both within two miles of the downtown mall, in the city. Both areas have a mixture of owner-occupied and rental.
The price :
The 2010 listing opened at $223,500, price was dropped twice, first to $218,500 and then to $209,000. It closed at $200,000.
The 2011 listing opened at $223,500, We dropped the price to $219,626, and we are removing it from the market.
The differences: The 2010 property was placed on the market in the Spring, which is our busiest market. The Spring of 2010 also enjoyed the existence of tax incentives for buyers. Both of these aspects of the case are significant. The 2011 listing wasn't ready for market until mid-July, which is difficult in any environment and obviously a death sentence in this market.
But, still...... these numbers are amazing.
2010
2011
These are stark, black and white numbers.
So...
My title for this post addresses the fact that people today, living now in a different environment, think differently. They are not window shopping as before. They are wondering where they will get the best price on the cheese their family uses, and they are using the web to search for the best deal on the camera their daughter wants instead of looking for houses.
Individuals who can think beyond their every-day existence are out there getting some amazing deals. Those are the savvy buyers, the people who don't allow the media to hammer them into the ground. This idea of the "new normal" started with an Allstate commercial and has become a mantra. I think it's wonderful that people are paying off debt and saving money, I really do. However, believing that the state of our affairs is somehow normal, and that it's alright to accept an "okay" life rather than striving for something greater, that's disturbing.
I'm interested in watching how the 2012 market comes in.
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