I'm battered, bruised, exhausted...but happy. Fannn County's Residential Market Analysis 
for February shows that you HAVE been paying attention after all! Me so proud!
When I first pulled the numbers, I was ecstatic -- the median sales price for February '09 was $248,000, compared with $179,825 in February of '08. That represents a 27% jump in the median sales price! WOW! The market's up, happy days are here again! I probably should have stopped there; ignorance, after all, is bliss.
But, I noticed that on the flip side, the total number of sales for the month were down over last year. In February '08, 28 residential units were sold, as opposed to 23 units this February, down 18%. That would indicate that the market is still not rebounding as much as we'd like.
Trying to make sense of the conflicting data, I further broke the sales data into price categories: $100,000 - $200,000, $201,000 - $300,000, etc. Here's what the data showed concerning number of units sold in each price range:
| Units Sold February 2009 - Total 23 | Units Sold February 2008 - Total 28 | |
| $0 - $100,000 | 2 | 3 |
| $101,000 - $200,000 | 4 | 16 |
| $201,000 - $300,000 | 12 | 6 |
| $301,000 - $400,000 | 3 | 2 |
| $401,000 - $500,000 | 2 | 1 |
The biggest jump in sales this year was in the upper price ranges - $201,000 and over. What does this mean? Buyers are realizing that there are AMAZING deals out there right now. They are able to buy fabulous cabins -- chock-full of luxurious upgrades -- in the $200K-$300K range that probably would have cost $50,000 - $100,000 more last year. Smart buyers!
Given that the number of sales is still down -- meaning the market is still sluggish -- we can expect to see continued downward pressure on prices. Which means the bargains will keep coming. Which means lots of golden opportunities for buyers.
At least now I feel like you're listening to me...Phew...
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