Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Back in the Saddle

I'm sorry for the lack of posts in September, we just got very busy around Stillwater listing and selling homes.

It seems every day someone asks me about how the Stillwater market is doing and how the economy is effecting the market. These are complex times that we live in and I'll answer the questions for you to the best of my ability. As of August 31, 2008 we have sold 629 houses to last year's 626, so a very very slight increase in sales. The median home sale price is up $2,750 to $135,000 while the average home sale price is up $7,012 to $153,438. The average home price being higher than the median home price indicates that there are some very high priced homes that have sold which have lifted the average sales price higher. That's the good news. Now for the bad news, August 08 versus August 07 shows a significant decrease in the number of homes sold. Typically we don't like to look at a short term indicator like a month versus month, but the numbers were off so drastically that there might be a need to keep a close eye on this market.

Will the economic bailout help our real estate market? Will the stock market's rapid decline hurt our market? The answer to these questions will be revealed in my next post, but here is a preview: Hmmmm, my 401k lost a lot of value Monday, but my rental properties kept paying that same old rent which is giving me a 12% return on my investment.........

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