Some good news on the real estate front is that consumers seem to be feeling better about the economy, which will definitely help the real estate markets throughout the country. Looks like gas prices falling have a large part to do this consumer sentiment.
The Conference Board, which is a private research group, reported Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose to 56.9, an increase from 51.9 in July (revised) - which is the largest gain since August 2006, and is ahead of the 53 expected by the economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR. This is also the second month in a row this index has increased, after a six month slide that started in January. Consumer sentiment is a leading indicator of the economy.
The index is still well below where it is was a year ago, but I am happy to see it moving in the right direction as far as I am concerned.
I was with some first time homebuyers this past weekend and there are some fantastic deals available right now. Homes that are the same floor plan, in the same subdivision, built by the same builder within a year of each other, one is priced at $194K and two others priced in the $170s. Since they were in similar condition my buyer looked at me and asked why the difference in price? My reply was simple, the ones priced in the $170s are sellers that have to sell and their homes have been listed for over 4 months, the ones in the $190s were just listed and the sellers are not as motivated right now. It will be interesting to see if these deals are still here in 6 months.
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