What is the real estate market like on Lake Martin right now? I own waterfront property, should I sell? I want to buy Lake Martin waterfront property, but is it still a crazy market?
These are questions I hear constantly. Both potential buyers and sellers of Lake Martin real estate want to know if changing conditions will benefit them. To be sure, the water is way down, and so are the numbers of real estate transactions. I will cover cause and effect in a later post. But for now, let's just focus on one question:
Is Lake Martin still a sellers' market?
If you talk to 10 people, you get 10 different answers, ranging from Pollyanna agents who still think it's a sellers' market to Chicken Little bubble barkers who act like property owners are literally throwing money into Lake Martin each time the water drops an inch. What's the truth? When I approach the question, I treat it like every other issue about Lake Martin real estate:
1. Break it down by market segments. What are you talking about, here? Waterfront or non-waterfront? Condos? Lots? Leased lot homes or deeded homes? Homes above a million? What? (Below I will only talk about waterfront property.)
2. Look at the numbers. As I have said before, you have to be careful when interpreting statistics in our market. It is relatively small in transaction number (when comparing to large cities like Atlanta). But, to make a market opinion, you must look at market statistics, so I try to consider a year of data at a time. The goal is to take emotion - and agenda - out of the equation. Just the facts, ma'am.
3. Apply Common Sense. Just as you don't want to be ruled by emotion or anecdotal 
evidence, you also don't want to let the misapplication of statistics throw you off course. There is no magic statistic or rule of thumb to proclaim a market a buyers' or sellers' market. You have to use your common sense to test the statistics versus your everyday observations.
MY TAKE ON THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF LAKE MARTIN WATERFRONT PROPERTY:
1. LOTS - Right now on Lake Martin there are 113 waterfront lots for sale. 13 have sold in the past 12 months. That means we have about 113 months of inventory, or it would take almost 10 years to sell at this pace. On its face, that figure suggests an extreme buyer's market. I do think this is a buyer's market, but, like condos, I think that if sellers were more realistic on price, most of these would get snapped up pretty quickly. Everyone wants a lot. But, I think many sellers have incorrectly priced assuming the market rose by 35% over 2006. My call - Buyers' Market.
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