This past week our listings saw an average of 1.4 showings each.   It has been a slower week for traffic considering that we should be in the busiest time of the year.   However, sales are definitely picking up as the pending home sales for Mecklenburg County have increased by 4% since just last week when we last reported them in our monthly E-Newsletter.

Several times in the past few weeks, I have found myself updating clients and friends on the state of the market.   I have found that my own personal experience with current buyers paints a pretty telling summary of what’s going on with Charlotte real estate.   Here’s how it looks:

When I look at properties with one of my buyer clients, we’ll typically visit about 8 properties in a few hours.   During the course of such an outing, we are finding that on average  seven of the  eight houses are mediocre homes with hefty price tags in comparison to what’s recently sold.   Then there is often one home out of the eight that clearly stands out amongst the others; a far nicer home than the others at a much better price!   So, for my buyer the choice is very simple.   Next, I’ll pick up the phone and call the listing agent to let them know that I have an interested buyer only to find out that the home already has three offers.   Not many buyers want to get into bidding wars in this market, so usually we are back to the drawing board.

I suppose you can look at this as a gap between the Solds and the Sold-Nots.   We are in a VERY dynamic market right now and prices are clearly lower than they were a few years ago.   But real estate is about Supply and Demand just like any other product.   Unfortunately, many sellers don’t quite understand that concept.

There are lots of buyers out there ready to make a purchase but the supply of homes at the ‘equilibrium price’ is dwindling.   Although overall inventory is high, the majority of the homes listed aren’t going to sell anywhere close to their asking price or even at all.   So, the agent’s job in today’s market has truly become about finding the diamond in the rough.   Those few homes, owned by motivated sellers, that are in great condition at a fair price.