6 December 2011

Well, the year is mostly behind us. It has been a very, very challenging year for real estate. Anyway you wish to measure it the statistics show Tallahassee to be at the very lowest ebb in twenty years. The market has never been as price sensitive as it is right now. The market is flooded with REO's and short sales and that just drives everything to the bottom line. Those factors make it almost impossible to get a loan. If you do get a loan then you are very likely going to struggle with an appraisal.

The continuous challenge that I have as a Broker is to get people to understand that we are not in Kansas any longer. I can spend hours researching the market and providing comparables for them and they will still set their price way too high.

If you happen to be in the market as a buyer the news is all good as long as you have a little cash to work with. The loan qualification process is a tough horse to ride nowadays.

Through November we have sold 2150 homes in Leon county. That is down from 2315 for 2010 and that was a pretty poor year. The average price of a home in Leon county is at $170,122. That is down 6% compared to one year ago from 180,249 and that was the lowest point since 2008.

Looks like we have active inventory at 6651 homes. If they are selling at a pace of 195 per month and we divide that into the 6651 supply number we get 34 months of inventory. That really does stink profusely.

Here is hoping for a better 2012. Call me if you want to compare notes.

Merriest of Christmases

Lee