Most agents, I suspect, are dealing with the changing market such as the one we are experiencing here in Southern California, where we have moved from a very active seller's market to one that is much more buyer friendly, with large inventory, slowed appreciation, increased marketing time, and even some price drops in some communities.
There has been much talk (for a couple years at least) about housing bubbles, and the media in our area at least has frequently posted headlines about the dramatic changes in the market, and related topics. All this, of course, impacts buyers and sellers attitudes, beliefs, and approaches to buying and selling, as well as the real estate profession. Buyers are more antsy about the market and many appear to be waiting to see if prices are going to plunge, as some people predict. And sellers are seeing their homes, which formerly flew off the market with multiple offers, sitting there for months at a time in some cases and having one or more price reductions.
I read a recent article on "Bubble Sitting" (from CNNMoney.com) and wanted to share this with other real estate professionals as well as consumers, in case you didn't see it. Taking a wait and see approach to the real estate market may NOT be the best financial decision, and I think this article does a great job of covering the issues that buyers and sellers, and their agents, need to consider.
Any comments?
UPDATE: August 19, 2007 - well, here we are almost a year later and the bubble does not seem to have come to fruition here in Carlsbad or elsewhere in San Diego. Certainly we have seen some changes in the market - homes sales are down 13% overall in the county (but note that they are about the same or even a little above in localized areas) and prices are also down a few percentage points (again, it tends to be local, with some communties showing more dramatic drops in prices and others are more stable). There continues to be concern that our market is one of high risk, and the recent mortgage issues have not helped. he next few months should provide a clearer picture of the direction our market is headed.
