The sub-title of this post could be “Or Take It Off the Market.” If you look at the market numbers, you will see a few numbers that might confuse sellers. First, you see that the time on market that the average home stays is just over 90 days - not terrible.  Also, you would notice that the median prices are up slightly for our region. If you are selling a property right now, you may be mislead by those stats.
You need to remember that the numbers for Days on Market (DOM) and median price are for homes that have sold. Since your property is still on the market, these numbers may not apply to you. We currently have too many homes on the market and many of the ones STILL on the market have been there longer than the average DOM of the ones that sold. Now I’m sure there are unique reasons for these properties to be on the market so long, but MOST of the time a property does not sell because it is priced TOO HIGH!Â
Althought the median price of homes that have sold recently has gone up, that does not mean your homes price has gone up. The only way to be sure your home is priced to sell is to let your REALTOR do a CMA (copetitive market analysis). A CMA will compare your home to others that have SOLD recently. The market determines the price your home will sell for and the prices in this market are moving so fast (read “going down”), that you need to compare your property to ones that sold in the last 30 days. Just because you neighbor sold a similar home 18 months ago for $50K more than you have your’s priced, does not mean your property is priced to sell.Â
A CMA may show your property is overpriced. You may not like that news, but do the market a favor - either price it correctly, or take it off the market. We currently have too many homes on the market and this is helping drive prices down further. We need to reduce the inventory to create a healthier market. Are you part of the problem, or part of the solution?
Normally, on election night I go to both the Democratic and Republican “victory� parties. That’s one of the benefits of supporting candidates instead of parties (CAAR supported 4 R’s, 6 D’s and 1 I). Last night, however, I spent election night with The Police.
No, I was not arrested for supporting candidates across party lines, I was attending The Police concert at JPJ. During the concert, a friend sent me text messages with the election results. I’m sure I was just caught up in the moment, but it seemed like the band was speaking to me with the timing of their songs. For instance, when I got a text message telling me David Wyant had lost, the song I can’t Stand Losing You was being played. That was followed up by Everything She Does Is Magic, which I hoped was a good sign for Ann Mallek’s service on the Albemarle Board of Supervisors.
Late in the show I continued to blend the music with politics as the lyrics of the song Every Breath You Take reached out to me with words of advice for ALL elected officials:
Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
I’ll be watching you.
I love the day after Election Day! Of course, for some it is a sad day, but since CAAR supports candidates from both parties (4 R’s, 6 D’s and 1 I), we generally have a lot to smile about the day after. This year was no exception as we were successful in 9 of the 11 races in which we were involved.
But that is not the real reason I love the day after Election Day. The real reason is that it gives our community a new energy level that is similar to the first day of school. It is part fear of the unknown and part anticipation of the possibilities. It is also the end of the campaign season and the end of the anxiety associated with competition. It is time to move on and to stop saying “we’ll deal with that after the election.�
I want to applaud ALL who ran for their willingness to lead and serve. Win or lose, I am pleased to have these people as neighbors in our community. There was only one local race where the candidates “got personal� and failed to place integrity higher than victory. I am proud to say that CAAR was NOT involved in that race.
It takes a special person to go through the rigors of a campaign, but it takes a really classy individual to run a clean campaign. The temptation to “go negative� because it works in the short-run is great, but I am proud to be part of a community that refused to go there (except for one race).