Sunday, January 27, 2008

Buyer's Market Myth

In many markets across North Texas there have been less sales so that must mean the buyers are hibernating, right? Wrong. I heard this a lot in the latter months of 2007 from seller clients and even other Realtors saying showings have died down on their properties and the buyers had all but disappeared. Please allow to me to squash this myth for you. Pay attention students.

The orange triangle above represents the buyer pool (according to this myth) and how the pool shrinks during a buyers market which is why there is so much inventory on the market. With all those listings on the market there can't possibly be enough buyers to go around, right? Not if the price is right. This is tough news to swallow for many sellers but reality is that the buyer pool never changes. Buyers are always willing to buy IF they perceive the home's price as valuable. If buyers feel the home is over priced they will simply pass. And we've already learned that buyers don't " just make offers" willy nilly because you, the seller, over priced your home to leave room for negotiation.

Think about it. If I listed a single family home in good condition in University Park for $400,000 I will receive 5 to 10 offers within the first 5 hours on the market guaranteed. This example shows there are always many buyers ready and able to buy, thus, the buyer pool size never changes. They just need to perceive the home as valuable in order to make an offer.

So what does this tell us about our current market which admittedly has more inventory than last year? (But certainly at very healthy levels) It means most of the listings currently on the market are not priced correctly and thus buyers are not willing to make an offer.

To summarize, the buyer pool never changes. Every listing currently on the market has an "energy price" that will cause buyer's to act. Your Realtor should be able to help you find this price which will, in turn, allow you to maximize your sales price while minimizing your time on the market. And when homes are priced attractively and sell quickly, you end up with less inventory and an appreciating market.

No comments:

Post a Comment