The Real Estate Journal reports all over the country markets are experiencing unusual springtime behavior. Lauren Baier Kim reports:
Driving to work this morning to Dow Jones’s central New Jersey campus, I spotted many house “For Sale” signs, along with cheery yellow daffodils and forsythia. A real-estate nut, I had to resist the urge to pull over. I frequently eye the housing-construction project across the street from my workplace, where in a few months, there may be model homes to explore. Warmer weather stirs an urge in me to go house-hunting, but buyers across the U.S. apparently aren’t sharing the same enthusiasm. Articles around the Web point to a lukewarm housing market for the spring in many areas of the country.
What’s the deal? Is the real estate market just soft everywhere? The best analogy that I have heard is from the CEO of Prudential Douglas Elliman, Dottie Herman. Dottie recently compared the recent boom and today’s housing market to driving fast on the highway. You may be speeding down the highway at 80mph (the market of the past 7-8 years) and suddenly see a state trooper when you decide to slow down to the “normal” speed limit (today’s market).
Relative to the almost insane appreciation that has been seen over the past several years, the current market is slower. That said, the current market is also healthier, more “normal” and indicative of a much more traditional housing market like those of the past where property takes a bit longer to sell and marketing strategies must be more creative. You can’t simply pick any price anymore and think your home will receive multiple bids. These days, smart pricing is as important as ever and exposure is key.
