By James Wedgeworth on May 28th, 2009
I was watching Fox News last night and Shepard Smith was giving a report on the real estate market. He said the good news is that home sales in the United States were up 2.3% in April of 2009 compared to April of 2008. On Hilton Head our increase was a little more than that.
He went on to say that the bad news is that prices had dropped 15.5% from the same month a year ago. We found that to be true on Hilton Head Island. The point he was making in his newscast was that people are buying the deals and a lot of sellers are dropping their prices because of the slowness in the market. Buyers are saying “make me a deal and I’ll buy, and if you do not make me a deal I won’t buy” . We have definitely seen this in Hilton Head Island real estate.
Our average sales price in April of 2008 was $1,054,473 and the average sales price in April of 2009 was $729,827. We are heading in the same direction as the rest of the country.
What does this mean? If you are a buyer, you can get a deal. If you are a seller, unless you give a buyer a deal – you won’t sell. Buyers are waiting for deals.
By James Wedgeworth on May 27th, 2009
First quarter home sales on Hilton Head Island were at their lowest point in 2009 with 107 sales compared to 162 sales for the first quarter of 2008 which had been our previous lowest point. The high was 410 sales during the first quarter of 2005.
What does this mean? If you are a buyer there are some great opportunities out there because when sales are slow, inventories are high and prices are reduced.
Most people wait until it is too late to buy and wait until prices start increasing. I tell my buyers to buy while prices are low and inventories are high. It seems like we always buy stocks and real estate at the wrong time.
By James Wedgeworth on May 26th, 2009
In all my years of selling real estate on Hilton Head Island, I have often had one of my property owners say that they wish I could help sell their property in their hometown. I always tell them that I have more than I can handle on Hilton Head and I would laugh.
Recently, I had a client of mine call me and say that they really needed my help. They had a property in Raleigh, North Carolina that they really needed to sell and they wanted my advice.
As it turns out, I happen to know the #1 Real Estate in North Carolina; we share the same coach. I called her, she listed and sold the property and the people were very pleased with her service. (more…)
By James Wedgeworth on May 21st, 2009
Almost every day people ask me about how many agents have actually left the real estate business during the recent slow down in the market.
I heard from another Realtor (even though I do not have proof of it) that we had about 300 Realtors who had licenses last year who did not renew their Board of Realtors membership this year. I really do not think that is a true indication – probably the best indication is the number of people who still have an active MLS license who are working different jobs to try and make ends meet. This has been a very tough time for all Realtors – even the ones on the top who are selling significantly less than they did several years ago.
The good news is that it makes us go back to the basics. Charlie Reed has a saying on our wall in our office that says, “good habits are formed in bad real estate markets and bad habits are formed in good real estate markets”.
Yes, there will be agents leaving, but there will be agents replacing them. Even in a slow market you have people who start in the market.
I got in the real estate market in November of 1981 which was a terrible real estate market. It was a great time to learn because you really had to scrap to make ends meet.
I often say that in a slow market the buying public needs the service of a Realtor much more than they do in a fast market.
By James Wedgeworth on May 20th, 2009
I was talking to one of the other Agents on Hilton Head who had just made a sale on a [...]
By James Wedgeworth on May 19th, 2009
Many times when I list a piece of property the buyer will say, “we only need one buyer” and they [...]
By James Wedgeworth on May 14th, 2009
How do I find out what my house is worth?
It amazes me how people determine what their property is worth. [...]
By James Wedgeworth on May 13th, 2009
Back when I was a college student a long time ago, I never will forget my marketing professor saying that the [...]
By James Wedgeworth on May 12th, 2009
We are very fortunate to live in a community that is so interested in the arts.
For the last several years, I [...]
By James Wedgeworth on May 11th, 2009
When people purchase real estate on Hilton Head Island they will justify it logically, but purchase it emotionally.
What do I [...]
