A BUYERS MARKET, Really?
This is a long one, but worth it.
I find myself thinking about all the really great deals out there nationally, and especially right here in our semi-rural area in mid-Missouri. But, I find myself asking, “where are all the buyers?” Typically, when interest rates are this low, with tons of available money from just about every area lender, our local real estate professionals move inventory. It is just not normal to move slower than a snails pace!
So, I started to do a little reading, only partially due to boredom, the other out of curious concern that I may need to pick a different career if I can’t get my brain wrapped around this phenomena. Is it credit issues, people without jobs, forks loosing their jobs, the media… just what is causing this “nothingness”?
I found an article in the January issue of REALTOR magazine written by Gary Keller the describes what is happening better than I can, so I would like to share it with you:
A buyers’ market should be just that - a buyers’ market. It’s not a fence sitting, waiting, loitering, delaying, dawdling, postponing, vacillating, hesitative, wavering, faltering, pausing, foot shuffling market. It’s a buyers’ market. by its very name it means buyers should be doing one thing and one thing only, buying. So where are the buyers, and why aren’t they buying?
The great irony of a buyers’ market is that even though the opportunity to buy is high, buyer urgency tends to hit an all time low. The media becomes the excited purveyor of negative news and uninformed advice, and buyers buy it all. Actually, it feels like the only thing they’re buying. The buyers reluctance is ironic since not so long ago buyers were incredibly excited about buying – and it was a sellers’ market…. Buyers were afraid of losing out by not buying, even though the advantage was all to the seller.
Now a shift has occurred. Fear is still in the drivers sear, but the tables are turned – the fear of paying too much seems to stop most in their tracks and immobilizes them. When buyers should have been afraid of paying too much they weren’t, and now that they shouldn’t be afraid of paying too much they are. It’s one of the great paradoxical moments of any market and the herd instinct at its most pure. Reluctance in face of great opportunity becomes an agonizingly defining characteristic of a shift.
Wow… it never dawned on me to think of it like this before…. no matter what paper you read, or what station you watch on TV, the storylines are always painted or tainted to whiechever way is the worst on the housing market. However, just blaming our lack of buyers on our never-let-go-of-it media when we are in the middle of economy shift is a cop our and just because the media said it, does not make it necessarily so. Case in point, I feel as if our local housing trends are starting to turn the corner. January 2009 has brought increased inquiries on listings via the internet and phone, more showings, and more properties going under contract. So obviously there are a few buyers our there, but why are they buying?
Why do you buy anything? Isn’t it about urgency, usually? Typically, you are usually to a point that you need it. It is not that you want it or just have to have it. I am not talking about 6, 7, 12, 18 months ago, because I truly believe we have all curbed or adjusted out spending habits when gas prices went sky high. Fear set in, just as Gary Keller said, and it fuels reluctance. So, for a lot of folks, they have to be ready. Wants and needs are a buyers’ motivation. Is their readiness enought o motivate them to buy? Buyers’ personal reasons determinants of their readiness to buy. And everyone moves at different speeds! Buyers have to have the ability and the readiness, but without the willingness to mentally and emotionally make the choice to buy, ther are not willing, just waiting. That is our market in a nutshell. It is not a buyers market unless fear and reluctance vanish. So, what should we do?
Time will tell! For everything that goes up comes down, and everything that goes down goes back up, as will real estate. Although you may never sell at the top or buy at the bottom, you can buy right and do well over time. No one can predictably time the market. We have great properties out there and it might be a great time to consider trading up as falling prices are an opportunity for move up buyers, the smaller loss at sale can be compensated by greater saving at purchase. Make sure you get expert advice. Buyers and selers need professional advice in a shift more than ever. Get the whole story on your local market! We are here, happy to help! For now, I love what we do, so I will keep the real estate torch burning for you. Your business and referrals are always appreciated
Donna
Leave a Reply