The market is as hot now as it was in the 2006 housing boom days. With housing being so similar today to back in 2006 right before the crash, many homeowners are worried about the market right here in Brazos county crashing like it did in 2008. The good news right now is that Foreclosures and short sales according to N.A.R. represented less than 1% one percent of the sales in August.
Hi everyone I’m Sherri Echols, Broker Associate with RE/MAX Bryan – College Station. I totally understand your concerns, I was selling homes back when the market crashed and I saw the decrease in home prices. I sat across from many homeowners who lost their homes to short sales or even worse foreclosure. It was horrible. So the question that many people are wondering is, “Is that going to happen again”. Honestly, as experienced as I am in Real Estate, I just don’t know. But, what we can do is look into the facts as much as we can. #1. One thing we all can be certain about is that there isn’t much to be certain about. I mean really, I’m not trying to be a pessimist, but it’s also very important to be as much of a realist as possible. We cannot truly foresee what the housing market will do. One thing we are seeing and are certain of is that there are a lot of people still losing their jobs and we are still seeing many restaurants and small businesses close down, and much of that is on a local level, so it’s scary. We also don’t know how long this pandemic is going to last and what the economic impact will be on the economy as a whole or on the housing market. But here are a few things we do know as of right now, and just like there’s a new social media site that takes over in just a few days, or just as quickly as technology changes, well my viewpoint may also change before this video even gets out. But as of now, what we are seeing locally in Bryan, Texas 77802 and College Station, Texas 77845 is that homes are selling very quickly. The lower the price of the home, the more offers and competition we are seeing, when multiple offers happen one buyer secures the contract, which leaves the others still on the hunt for a home. For buyers, getting an offer accepted is very competitive because inventory is so low which makes it definitely a seller’s market. In my humble opinion, there are several reasons for this.
One is that a lot of sellers were holding off earlier in the year due to the uncertainty of what’s happening in our world, Also, interest being at nearly record lows, allow more buyers to enter the market, and also given that we are in an election year which is just right around the corner, historically housing tends to stay good during these times. So, with the market looking so good, many people are asking if I feel it will continue to significantly go up. I must advise that I do not foresee the market going up significantly over the next year. I feel that once the election is over and the president settles in, then we may see that the negative effects of what’s happening globally will take a toll on the housing market. Also, given the dependency, our area has on Texas A&M students, and the fact that so many are not back in town yet, we may continue to struggle a bit, but again, that is just my humble opinion. I just can’t see with all of the jobs that are being lost and businesses both locally and nationally closing down, how that cannot have a negative impact on the housing market. So throughout the years in this industry when the seller’s in the past have come to me around this time and asked me if they think it’s a good idea to sell now, with the Holidays’ around the corner, I’ve always recommended that if they can wait to list, it was probably better and to try to list their home right after the holidays and to shoot to have it ready to be active for sale by around January 11th or so, and in previous years, I would recommend waiting.
However, that is NOT what I am recommending now when sellers call me and ask my opinion. I think now is an opportune time to sell given the low-interest rates, dramatically low level of inventory on the market and high buyer demand, also the unlikeliness that home prices in this area will go up much more than they already have given where we are located and the uncertainty of what lies ahead, I think it is an opportune time to sell.
According to Lawrence Yun, the National Association of Realtors chief economist “Shortages of homes for sale have proven problematic in the housing industry over the last few years, but have grown even worse in recent months. “Housing demand is robust but supply is not, and this imbalance will inevitably harm affordability and hinder ownership opportunities,”. I agree and believe that now is an opportune time to sell. Now that’s just my personal opinion and I don’t have a crystal ball, but I will say that I’ve been pretty good at forecasting market trends in the past based upon my extensive involvement in the market.
