As the market heats up in Pinellas County it is imperative that we Realtors be very clear in our delivery to our clients about the reality of the market conditions that we are experiencing. With the increasing active inventory which is up for single families by over 25% over last year and with the distress market down by over 40% from this time last year, we must explain how these conditions can affect the pricing strategy that we might employ when setting a list price range to cause a home to sell! The data points are still relatively low and with bank owned and shortsales included in the information that we have its very important not to price ahead of the market as the appraiser's are still keeping a very tight rein on the appraised value.
I have seen it myself, while searching for the perfect home for a young couple recently, we searched and looked at everything in the criteria that we used and when we had exhausted the active inventory we waited for the next brand new listing to present itself to us via the MLS. The listing agent was shocked and not at all prepared to have the house shown on the day it was listed and was utterly disgusted when we offered full price the same day! Of course the buyers and myself were well aware of the all the competition and yet we all recognized that this particular house was head and shoulders above everything else we had seen. The challenge came when the property did not appraise, by a LOT! I had prepared my clients for this possibility and yet the person that was most put out by this was the listing agent! There is a lesson in this story for all agents! Educate!!! My buyers were happy to pay the difference and 30 days later the equity is already there due to the market catching up!
Knowing your numbers is huge and being able to present the information to both buyers and sellers will make our jobs a whole lot easier as we navigate the ever changing conditions in this great market of opportunity!
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