Crofton Maryland Real Estate real estate sales were down almost 40% in July from the same month last year, based on dollar volume. The number of units sold was down about 37%. Of course, that means the "average sold price" was down in July, too, by 3.9% from the same month last year. Ironically, the "median sold price" was actually up by 3.15%.
While that's not much of a drop from July last year to this, the average sold price fell almost $30,000 from last month and the median sold price by more than 42% since June. But don't panic... This does not mean the value of any one house has dropped by the same percentage - it means more lower-priced homes are selling than higher-priced homes, which affects both the average and median sold prices.
If you're a Crofton homeowner, thinking of selling, I guess the bottom line to all this is How long will it take to sell my Crofton home? Based on the fact that 34 of 210 available homes sold in Crofton last month, it would take about 6 months to sell the remaining inventory of 176 homes - assuming there are no new listings in that time. This, of course, is purely theoretical, because there will be new listings and some owners will take their homes off the market.
What can you do to become one of those successful home sellers? In a word, PRICE! Homes that are priced correctly for their features, size, location and condition DO sell. If your home has been on the market for a few months (or even several weeks) and not yet sold, you can't rely upon the estimate of market value received from your agent 3 or 4 months ago - it may have changed since then.
If you're a Crofton homebuyer, this is a good time to buy. But again - a drop in average or median sold price does NOT mean you can buy a home at a hugely discounted price. As I mentioned before, it simply means that more lower-priced (probably smaller) homes sold last month. Most Crofton homes are well priced - certainly within 5-10% of their final sale price.
A lot has been said and written about the tight mortgage market, but the news is not all bad for borrowers. Most Crofton homes are priced within the allowable maximum for FHA, a loan program which is widely available.
By the way, if you'd like to see what's happening with real estate in your immediate neighborhood, just click on this link to receive a MARKET SNAPSHOT by email, usually within 30 minutes.
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Copyright 2008. All Rights Reserved. Margaret Woda. "Crofton Maryland Real Estate Update - July 2008"
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