Day after day, night after night, the local papers, local TV news and national news herald the death knell of the real estate market. And unfortunately, most folks believe that real estate has gone to hell in a hand basket. The only good that I see in the media's trumping of the doomsday stories is that part time real estate agents and those that shouldn't be in the business to begin with, believe it and are starting to drop out, one by one.
As Tip O'Neil, the often quoted Politician from Massachusetts once quipped, "all politics is local", and so true is the real estate market.
While there absolutely are areas with price erosion, stagnant markets and such, I have long felt I was a strident voice in the wilderness preaching that "business is great, homes are selling, and mortgages are readily available." Sure it is a buyers market with many choices from which to pick. And that's great for buyers! But homes that are priced right, are easily accessible for showings, are in the right condition and, get the proper exposure will sell handily. My business, and that of colleagues in my office can attest to that fact.
In the Charleston, SC Tri-County areas we are experiencing robust job growth, which not only enhances the earning power of those who currently live here, but also is drawing people here from other regions. Retirees continue to flow to the area due to the "livability" of the region as well. Most of them will be buying and selling homes. Damning statistics from the news media hammer doom and gloom on a daily basis, enough so that people believe it. Unless of course, you are like the Pharmacist at Walgreen's who told me that her home sold in 34 days, or two clients of mine whose homes sold in 10 days and 4 days respectively.
And finally, a 218 word article, (yes I counted), tucked into Monday's local paper Business Review section on page 6E, sported a headline that read, "Charleston homes market faring OK". I won't give a word by word description but here are some notable quotes; " . . .Charleston as a new-home market that has fared better than other cities." And, "It's definitely one of our top-performing divisions. Even in a down market, we're not that far off of our peak time in Charleston."
Then again, in today's edition of the same newspaper the lead story in the business section was "Local Home Sales Drop Again". Within that article was in interesting point that I feel buoys my optimistic outlook. It reads, "Even so, the median sales price for the region has not fallen to reflect the discounts or other breaks that buyers are getting. For October, it rose slightly, less than 1 percent, to $208,705."
So there you have it. Real Estate stinks, or it doesn't! In my world, business is great.