Home > Blogs > Ron Barnes > Ron Barnes's Blog

Fall Selling Season Is Here!

By Ron Barnes

Real Estate Agent with Associate Broker at Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Georgia Properties 256152

September 10, 2013 09:55 PM

Awhile back, I explored as far back as we can retrieve data, to determine if we have one season that is better than another for selling homes in Pickens County. The average results over eight years show that December through January is our slowest season by far, probably due to the holidays and colder weather. Some people are surprised that June through August is the second slowest season. I think that may be because our market is not driven as much by relocation and the school year calendar, and folks go on vacation. Not surprisingly, the spring and fall quarters are our busiest months, with fall having an edge. I guess that is when people most get the desire to move to the mountains, because it’s obvious that is where the cool people live!

September through November is the best time to have your home on the market in our area. The weather is nice, and the number of people we get wandering around looking at leaves increases our chances of attracting potential buyers.

Most people are still in shell shock from what happened to the real estate market, which has been dragging along now for about six years, which is understandable. They literally don’t know where they are in relationship to where they were, and where they want to be with home values.

I rolled up some statistics for the last 16 months, and found some information worth sharing. The number of lower priced homes on the market, generally associated with foreclosures or other distressed sales, is dropping. That is suggested by the current average sale price of $231,000 compared to the average sale price for the entire period of $163,100. The average price per square foot has been in the $70-80 range for the last few months, and is currently at $76 per foot compared to the period average of $71.70. Combining this information means that bigger homes are selling for higher prices. The percentage of selling price compared to the original list price has been hanging in the high 80’s lately compared to the overall average of 81.2 percent, meaning sellers are not rushing at the first offer as much as before (although I would prefer around 95%).

While this real estate market is not completely healed, and will probably never return to the nutty days of blind speculation, it is much healthier than it was. If you have not checked on your home’s value lately, you might be pleasantly surprised that it’s not as bad as you thought. If you really want or need to sell your home, call a Realtor® to have your home evaluated. Many properties have reestablished some equity, both through market improvement and accumulation of principal payments. It doesn’t hurt anything to ask, and doing nothing may not be the answer anymore. You can’t pick a better time to act than right now. If you snooze, you lose!

Re-Blog

Fall Selling Season Is Here!

Comments(0)

Ron Barnes

Real Estate Resources

Recent Posts