Has the market slowed?... (Charlotte, Washington: sales, real estate market, how much) - City-Data Forum

zipbags · 07-08-2007, 09:59 PM

I was looking at a resale in the Brookhaven development and it has been on the market since Jan. It is a beautiful home and not overpriced compared to the other homes. I have heard that the market in the area has slowed...Although, nobody wants to admit it. An agent did say that the lower price homes (under 200k) and the big priced homes (over 1mil) are stil selling well.

neoflex · 07-08-2007, 10:03 PM

I think the main reason for a bit of a slowing effect is because of the fact that people looking to relocate from out of state are having a hard time selling their existing home because the RE market s*cks just about everywhere else, which in turn is keeping them from committing to another home here in Charlotte.

ATLBound · 07-08-2007, 10:12 PM

I'm in that situation but luckily I can afford to buy a property under $360,000 while our property up in PA sits on the market. I told my wife be prepared that our PA property may sit until Spring of 2008. Financially we're prepared. It seems like everyone is scared to make a move since there's no buyers. However if you're a buyer you can probably get a great deal on new construction since builders are giving great deals. I just hope sellers in general don't just give away their homes in a stale real estate market. I've read that home sales across the country are down 20%. "I feel" for real estate agents and house flippers in this very slow real estate market. My agent told me something interesting. He said that you have a much better chance of selling your home Jan 2 than you do March 1st or any other time. He's been doing this stuff for 20 years. So I told the wife if we don't sell this Summer/Fall we should sell in during January. But yes overall it's tough selling properties right now unless you're giving it away.

WASHPA · 07-08-2007, 10:21 PM

JUST SOLD my house in Washington, PA after one year listing with Century 21. Got Keller Williams this spring and it sold in 3 weeks. It depends on the Realtor as well as that unforgiving market out there. Now I'm looking here in the Huntsville Area (thinking North toward Armore but concerns of the drive time to Redstone) and after 75 homes (I drive by them), not finding the right homes/prices. BRAC has the speculators and developers getting so greedy. I'm thinking it is wise to wait 1-2 months and watch which begin to offer those special promotions to prevent going bankrupt!!!

ATLBound · 07-08-2007, 10:44 PM

I wish I could agree with you about "it's the realtor" that makes the difference. I haven't seen too many great realtors. I still think MLS is what sells a home unless you have a very outgoing well networked Realtor. Just out of curiosity when you went with Keller Williams how much more did you come down on the sale price of your property ? Realtors nowadays are begging sellers to give away their home, lol

SuperchargedSS · 07-08-2007, 11:17 PM

i sold my house in FL by listing it on the MLS and representing myself as my own selling agent. You'd be amazed at how many calls you probably got to see your house that your agent replied with "sorry we are not available that day" based on HIS schedule.

We were aggressive, showed it within 30 minutes if someone called to show it. In the hardest market in FL, we had our first offer in 10 days which fell through. We had showings almost every day and finally sold in 3 months.

Not too shabby.

I am all for self-representation on selling your house, just dont do that BUYowner.com garbage...

ginamcd · 07-08-2007, 11:56 PM

Funny that I stumbled on this string.... I too have my house on the market (west coast) and am waiting to sell it before I move to Charlotte. I'm selling the house myself with an MLS listing too. I read some statistic that said only 5% of the time does the selling agent actually sell the house. Usually, it is the buyers agent doing an MLS search and bringing the buyer to you. You have to pay the buyer's agent fee either way, so why not just pay that alone? I'm curious what the avg buyer agents fees are in NC (ours here are 2.5% - 3.0%) I wonder if many sellers would be open to negotiating a discount if someone did not have a buyers agent? Some people are old-fashioned and think that if you don't do things the traditional way, that you are doing it wrong or vulnerable to a scam. sigh.

FLtoNC · 07-09-2007, 04:47 AM

Whe I sold my 1st house 8 years ago, I used a service in which you pay to list your home on MLS, but do not pay the seller's agent commission. I still had a seller's agent, but he didn't do quite as much as if I went with another realtor. I paid $495 to list the house and then a 3% fee to the buyer's agent when I sold. Prior to that, I tried Buy Owner. That was a complete waste of money, and I think that was around $1000.

It took me 8 months to sell my house in FL. My first realtor held open houses which yielded nothing, but did not advise us properly on the sales price of our house. In 3 months with that realtor, we only had 2 showings, and they were closer to the beginning of the listing. I switched realtors, lowered the price, and immediately had a LOT of showings. We showed our house anywhere from 1 - 4 times per week from that point on. I received offers, but they were very low, so we held out. In the end, I found my own buyer who didn't want to work with a realtor, but I had no choice, since I had a contract. I negotiated with my realtor to lower her part of the commission and didn't pay commission on the buyer's part, because he didn't have a realtor. I ended up paying 2% total.

I think what matters the most in selling your home is advertising through the MLS and the price. Price is the bottom line, because in today's market, you are competing with sooooo many other homes.

judogl44 · 07-09-2007, 05:56 AM

We're in the same boat. Listed May 3rd-have had about a dozen lookers and those all in the early stages and NONE from our agency. They held one Open House and last week a "Broker's" Open House-which I told them should have been done in the early stages of listing. Here (MN) they charge 6%-I told them we would do only 5% and that we weren't happy with that. Listing up Sept. 3 and we will try on our own.

sixinthefamily · 07-09-2007, 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATLBound

I'm in that situation but luckily I can afford to buy a property under $360,000 while our property up in PA sits on the market. I told my wife be prepared that our PA property may sit until Spring of 2008. Financially we're prepared. It seems like everyone is scared to make a move since there's no buyers. However if you're a buyer you can probably get a great deal on new construction since builders are giving great deals. I just hope sellers in general don't just give away their homes in a stale real estate market. I've read that home sales across the country are down 20%. "I feel" for real estate agents and house flippers in this very slow real estate market. My agent told me something interesting. He said that you have a much better chance of selling your home Jan 2 than you do March 1st or any other time. He's been doing this stuff for 20 years. So I told the wife if we don't sell this Summer/Fall we should sell in during January. But yes overall it's tough selling properties right now unless you're giving it away.

I am from PA too. Sold my house in Febuary in 10 days. I was shocked. Your realtor may have something. I think most people list in the spring. When we were on the market we were one of the only listings to choose from.