From Christmas day to the present, home buyers have been coming out of the woodwork and snatching up the Chattanooga area inventory of homes for sale. The inventory of homes nationally in 2012 dropped to almost half of what it was in 2007. In the past three years, the entry level homes have sold the best, but in 2011 higher priced homes started to sell again. The Walldorf Trio even sold a $1.7 million home in 2011. That was the fifth most expensive home sold in 2011. Our experience during several recessions (the Great Depression and the Carter Years), helped us get an exquisite luxury home sold.
In 2012, we have seen more half million dollar to one million dollar homes selling.
The home sales are trickling up by price range year by year. The Walldorf Trio has sold five homes from $400,000 to $1,000,000 this year and has another home in that price range selling in early July. It is time to put some of those homes back on the market that wouldn’t sell during the past 3 years, since homes are now selling & inventory is low. I have even sold within $200,000 of what I sold for the whole year in 2011, which wasn’t a bad year, and we still have six months to go in 2012. That is how brisk home sales have been. If you purchased you home at the absolute height of the market, you still may not get your money out of the house. If not, you have a chance of selling your home faster and recovering most, if not all of your investment (that all depends on the area of town you are in and what you paid for the house).
The CEO or Redfin (a Zillow like web-site in many large metropolitan areas) reported on the Redfin blog on June 4, that, “the overwhelming sentiment among home buyers is that there aren’t enough good homes for sale.” Buyers want and need more homes on the market right now.
In an earlier Wall Street Journal interview with Redfin’s CEO in April, he said that, If inventory increases [due to more people putting their homes on the market as it is improving], he isn’t worried about it affecting the market negatively. If interest rates start to go up and the economy softens, that would be a bigger concern for Glenn Kelmon, CEO of Redfin (See the video at http://www.chattanooga-tn-real-estate-blog.com/?page_id=4798 ).
During the past two weeks, reports have come out that the interest rates are at all time lows. The economic reports have also been strong since December. The time to sell seems to have come back around. Call us to see if it is the time to sell your home. Nathan Walldorf of the Walldorf Trio, 544-7700, www.SearchChattanoogaArea.com.
Also, get our free app called ChattaRealty to help you look up homes as you drive around town.