4/15/10 Market Blog
At SullivanCountyNYHomefinders.com I will keep you up to date on the most current Real Estate trends in our area of the Delaware River Valley and the lower Catskills in New York State. I will call it as I see it as your Sullivan County NY Realtor.Who's Looking at your house? 4/15/10
We are heading into the Spring/Summer Real Estate season when Sullivan County NY is at its peak of natural splendor and a boom of entertainment and activity is about to begin. Homes look great in their natural setting, with bulbs blooming, trees budding, streams crackling, deers, fox, wild turkeys,bears and birds of huge variety all about.Is this a great time to market your home or a great time to buy a home in Sullivan County NY? Its both and here's why.
After two years of gloom and impending doom in the Real Estate market news, places like California, Arizona, Michigan, Vegas and Florida seemed to have led the overall National Real Estate numbers downward, which casts a shadow on the whole country. These places over the last ten years or so, have generally over built, over inflated and over taxed the Real Estate market causing its more severe downturn than the rest of the country. Rural areas like Sullivan County, not so much. Homes are still afforable here. More like down right bargains.
Sullivan County and many other towns and villages in upstate new york still offer real estate properties at huge discounted prices as compared to Long Island, New Jersey and forget about the five boroughs, Westchester, Putnam,Dutchess and Orange.Prices have decreased in these areas too, but prices are still very high in these counties compared to Sullivan County. What you can own here for the money is no comparison. Lakefront homes, the cabin in the woods, the old farmhouse with a huge barn on rolling pastural acres are here on the Sullivan County MLS for the picking.
Now that Mortgage lenders have tightened up their lending criteria. Appraisers are sifting through under valued foreclosures in Sullivan County NY that were scooped up over the winter at ridiculous prices. Homes that have been on the market have had asking prices reduced five to ten percent from last year. Somes homes up to thirty percent and more. These factors have produced a new crop of buyers on the market. The best kind.
About Sullivan County Buyers
I find that most buyers I am dealing with this month and for the past year are extremely well informed, absolutely serious and 100% prepared financially to make an investment. They generally have saved their money, have substantial down payments and know exactly what they want for their money. They have investigated properties and watched the market trends for months and perhaps years. They generally know about Sullivan County and the Catskills Real Estate market. I believe that most have longer term life plans that factor into the investment. Sellers, these are the people that are looking at your house. Of course, first online.
Why sell Now
For Sellers, if you purchased your home or land in Sullivan County ten years ago or more, you have a nice return on investment if you sell today. Its not as nice if you are flipping from a 2005 to 2007 purchase. But if your home is maintained, improvements were made and you have sometime to wait it out, Now's the time to get on the market. Pricing is critical though, so you would have to list with an appropriate asking price based on sold comps and some appropriately priced active listings. Over priced listings are usually expired listings soon. If you want to be alone for awhile, have an Open House at an over priced listing. Understanding that buyers have huge exposure to real estate information on the web is helpful in forming your opinion about an asking price on your home. If you are just thinking about selling, browse through the Sullivan County MLS link here and see what the competition looks like. Its steep.
Its spring, the phone is ringing, so I'll be back in short order.
Vinny
