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Is Now The Right Time To Sell My House?

By
Real Estate Agent with Waterfront Homes, Oceanside Condos,Investment Properties, Probate, REO. Covering Broward County 3149072

Almost three years ago in February 2011 I reported on twitter that 77% of pending sales in Broward County are distressed properties.

77% of pending sales in #Broward County are distressed properties. 30% are #REO and 47% are #Shortsales.

— Tom Day (@TomDayRemax) February 3, 2011

ID-100141347That meant sellers of non-distressed properties had some serious competition. Those numbers have changed pretty drastically since then.   The banks are making it easier to complete a short sale and fewer of their foreclosures are coming to market for various reasons.

At that same time in 2011, there were over 20,000 active listings for sale in Broward County in the Greater Ft Lauderdale MLS.  Fast forward to the beginning of the summer 2013 there were just over 9000 active listings in Broward.  That huge reduction in inventory created a much better atmosphere for the property seller.  depending on the neighborhood, prices were appreciating at approximately 1 percent per month.  All that good news has encouraged  more sellers to enter the market in the second half of this year. Today there are 11,640 active listings in Broward. That's a a 29% increase in just the past six months.

Homes that are priced correctly and show well are still selling in a reasonable time frame.  Will this trend continue?  That is difficult to predict. There is still a lot of uncertainty in our economic future. In fact Alan Greenspan recently commented that uncertainty was the biggest problem plaguing our economy. Interest rates that are now at historic lows could go back up. The banks could still flood the market with foreclosures.  They haven't gone away.

Timing markets is very difficult to do. I wouldn't bank on continued appreciation like we were seeing for the better part of a year. I am actually hoping for a more normal market for once. I started my real estate career in 2006 and haven't experienced such a thing yet. So, is now the right time to sell my house? Everyone's circumstances are different.  Conditions are still good now. If you need or want to sell, then sell. It's possible you can do better by waiting, but who really knows. Market timers rarely get it right.

By Tom Day

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Comments (1)

Tim Lorenz
TIM LORENZ - Elite Home Sales Team - Mission Viejo, CA
949 874-2247

The market she is improved.  Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Dec 09, 2013 01:39 AM