Chesterfield Missouri Real Estate Trends

I thought this might be a good time of the year to review trends in Chesterfield, Missouri real estate. A good way to do this is to share Trulia data for our area. See below: Clearly, Chesterfield has enjoyed greater market appreciation than many areas in the St. Louis area.  The end point of the graph shows the story of our current market. Appreciation has flattened out or "normalized."  Sellers in our area concerned about loss of value in their homes shouldn't worry, at least at this point.  Market appreciation may have slowed to a crawl, but overall, market value has not decreased either.  Sellers who list their home today will not have the luxury of expecting market values that we saw, just two years ago.  Sucessful sellers selling their homes these days are pricing their homes realistically, given today's market conditions.  They are also taking the time to prepare their homes more than ever.  It used tobe so easy to just sign a listing contract, stick a sign in the front yard and sell the home in just days with multiple contracts.  We still see some homes sell quickly, but pricing is everything.  We feel confident saying to a seller that the most likely buyer for their home will have seen the home in the first 30 days of showing.  If the home has not sold in those first 30 days, either price, condition or both are not right.   

We are certainly keeping home improvement contractors busy with improvements made to sell a home.  The savvy sellers are making the improvements before they put their homes on the market in an effort to make the best possible first impression.  Others are realizing the need for improvements after they have tested the market.  Sometimes, taking a home off  the market and temporarily out of the MLS to save days on market is required.  We currently have a listing that had a lot of wallpaper. We received a lot of "too much work" feedback which we promptly took to our sellers.  After weeks of similar comments, they realized the value of the right condition to match the price.  Wisely, they had the wallpaper removed, fresh paint applied and also made a market reposition to try to appeal to a new buyer pool.  The home goes back on the market this weekend.  We will see if all of their efforts will pay off.