Sellers or buyers market?

[Tlschroe]

I moved in march. We started looking in Madison, AL in October with some select areas in Hunstville as well. Most of the houses we were interested in are still on the market. New construction in the area of monrovia is not moving and you can get great deals on new construction. It is definately a buyers market and your realtor was terrible. We used Debbie Collins with Keller Williams and she was fantastic.

[sunshine girl]

Thanks tishroe for the encouraging advice. I appreciate the realtor suggestion, but think we will forego going to see anyone until we have done more personal research. We have not been to some of the farther out nooks and crannys yet. Next trip.

[kypeep]

In the NE section of Huntsville (east of the city), there are many homes with land that have sat on the market for 6 months to a year to longer (or have been on MLS, taken off, and re-listed at the same price). The houses are over-priced, the owners probably don't need to sell. Best I can tell, these folks are fishing for a "bite" from unsuspecting BRAC transfers. Just beware if you look out that way that you are going to pay alot for what you get at this point in time. Don't know as much about the rest of the county, so can't speak to that.

[Southlander]

In Decatur's historic areas, it's definitely a seller's market, for the most part. Anything decent and remotely updated and priced somewhat within market range is sold quickly. There are a few that people are wanting half a million for...very unreasonable for the Decatur market.

[cglover]

It's a buyers' market, particularly in new construction. For instance, Woodland Homes has pushed so much dirt it is making deals all the time. They have some nice houses--but dealing with new construction is not always easy due to punch lists & so on. I've built, bought almost finished houses now for the third time and it's a devil I know--but loathe just the same for a bit.

It's worth it in the end to have that fresh, nice new house though

[MadHaus]

Having built (both custom & production bldr.) and bought builder's spec houses, I no longer want brand new but would prefer a house <5 yrs. old that has been through its shakedown and had all punch list items resolved. The gently used houses that we bought were far easier for us because we chose who did the improvements and called the shots on quality control. Other positives were that we didn't have to endure construction noise and mess in the neighborhood, cable had already been run and we didn't have to wait 6 - 9 mos., the address was already in the map books so service techs and delivery drivers could find us, landscaping had matured enough to look good, and we generally got the benefit of certain upgrades at less than cost (in my experience, some things such as privacy fences or blinds/plantation shutters cost more than they add to resale value.)

In the interest of full disclosure, I'll state that we're about to put such a house on the market (just signed a listing agreement but have a couple of final touch-ups before it's shown.) We've scrubbed, painted, had the carpet steamed cleaned, etc. We surprised the agent by pricing the house below her CMA-based figure because we've had good experiences doing so before and we think we'll get a quick sale even in a challenging market. Now I just hope that not all of the current buyers agree with cglover!