| May Arrives Quietly & Busy |
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May seems to be the introvert month of the year. May quietly arrives with flowers blooming and several days of celebration, yet May itself really doesn’t get much fanfare. You don’t hear people saying, “Oh my I will never get it all done before May is here.” We kick off the month with Cinco De Mayo, then Mother’s Day, then our nations important Memorial Day. Plus, there are proms and graduation ceremonies. Gentle May arrives celebrating life and liberty and as is true with introverts, May does it all without seeking recognition. May’s little holidays certainly have evolved over the years. Cinco de Mayo (contrary to popular belief) is not Mexico’s Independence Day; it is the anniversary of a very important battle won in Puebla, Mexico that day in 1862. Mother’s Day was started by a greeting card company and look what it has become. And Memorial Day has evolved from solemn remembrance into a fun- family-friends-bar-b-que-celebrating holiday ringing in the unofficial beginning of summertime.
Just as the celebrations in May have evolved, the real estate market continues to evolve. Like in the beginning of this century there was a huge build up in prices and crazy irresponsible mortgage lending. Then, in 2008 the market went down hard but by 2018 most people found home prices had recovered from the crash and most recently was the boom of 2020-2022. Now we are settling back into a “normal” market. Sellers are selling and Buyers are buying and there are homes on the market to choose from. This market is not as newsworthy as the previous market. When you see those headlines claiming otherwise, read the article, the headline is just meant to be clickbait and grab your attention.
This month we had out-of-town customers come to town to look at homes. We spent two days looking at nearly a couple dozen homes. Did you catch that—there are enough homes on the market that we could schedule two full days of touring properties. That is a huge change from a year ago! It’s a positive change, too. When you have options to choose from you can feel a little less stressed about the decision to buy a home. And Sellers, you can feel good about the offers you will be receiving because the Buyer chose your house over all the others.
Real estate is like other markets, prices adjust with that simple economic law of supply and demand. We have watched the days on the market increase a little. . Ray and I still occasionally run into multiple offer situation. Although those multiple offer situations are nothing like they were before. Homes are mostly selling at 98% of their list price. And sometimes listing prices need adjustments. (in the market and stats section I will go into more detail) For as long as I have been selling real estate and my mom who was a Realtor talked about this way back in the 1980’s, pricing is the key. Did you just say, “Wait- what? Mary, Everyone knows location, location, location is the key.” Well, location is more of the lock. Think of it this way, if you have the most desirable location and gorgeous house and price it way beyond what anyone will pay for it, then it comes back to price. If you have a house that is on a busy traffic street and needs work and you price it lower than anything else in the rest of the neighborhood, you’re going to sell it. Pricing is the key. It’s kind of like your brain controls you until your bladder does. Location controls everything until pricing does.
Quick Marketing Moment with Mary...
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