Whether we are at a party or run into someone at the store, it never fails and it never takes long for someone to ask us “so how’s the market?”. Everyone always wants to know, whether they live in our area or not. Recently, there has been a slight shift, so here is an update.
The market remains active even though in October into November we started to see a real pricing push back from buyers. Sellers are coming off of a 3 year trend during which homes were selling in multiple offers over the asking price. While we are not saying that multiple offers are going away yet, what we are saying is that with the rise in interest rates, buyers are being very cautious to not overspend on a property. So while this area is still in high demand, every 1% rise in interest rates means buying power goes down 10% and purchase prices are starting to reflect this!
Essex County remains the strongest real estate market in New Jersey with an overall 2.9 mos. supply of inventory. In fact, inventory has dropped over the past month and this trend will continue for the next 4-6 weeks. Once we are at about the 3rd week of January (weather permitting), we will begin to see new listings dribble onto the market and this will be the beginning of the 2019 spring market.
We encourage you to reach out to us NOW if you are planning to sell in the spring market of 2019.
One thing we have learned over the years is that it always takes longer than you think to prepare your home for sale. We have all of the necessary resources at our disposal to help make this process go as smoothly as possible for you. We are very hands-on and work tirelessly with you to prepare a timeline for your sale. We will make sure that you are given a clear road map for you to follow to get your home ready. We offer flexible appointments. This will help to take the stress out of this piece of the home sale process. It will also allow you to make some repairs in advance should you choose to do so.
The Lichtman Rabney Group at Hearth Realty is led by a former NYC attorney and a former Senior VP at Atlantic Recording Company. While we are award-winning agents with over 25 years combined experience in the local market, our true measure of success is through the satisfaction of our clients. It has never been our goal to do the greatest number of transactions, our goal is to bring the greatest value to you. |
