We have reclaimed our site here, and it’s time for an update on the market in the Catskills and central New York.
It’s not a strong market, but it’s more active than it was throughout the winter.
The main theme is lack of inventory. And the subtext is that buyers want a bargain.
The pandemic-fueled seller’s market of 2020-2021 is over. The hikes in interest rates cooled that off quickly, and the market went downright chilly over the winter as buyers tried to assess just how far the interest rates would go.
Warmer weather has brought out the buyers, and they’re making offers. But those offers tend to be fifteen to twenty percent below asking, if the list price is close to market value. And if the asking price is inflated, the offers often don’t come in at all.
What are buyers basing their offers on?
Many look at assessed value. But in rural areas like the Catskills and surrounding counties, assessed value really doesn’t reflect the sale prices of homes in a community. Values went up so quickly in the boom market that assessors have not kept up. It takes a few years for assessments to assimilate all the new information.
Others look at Zillow’s notorious “Zestimate,” a tool the website publishes with each listing. What is it based on? Other sales in the area. So if the property is similar to many houses nearby (picture a suburban neighborhood), it’s a useful tool. In a rural area with a wide variety of housing stock, it’s not to be trusted. Yet it’s there, in black and white, and buyers use it as a guide.
Their Realtor should be giving buyers an idea of a realistic offer, but there’s a growing trend of Realtors working a massive territory, which means showing properties in markets they really don’t know.
Seller’s agents should also be encouraging their clients to price properties realistically. But if they are listing properties all over the state, there’s no way they can offer as informed an opinion as a Realtor who lives and works in one area.
My policy is to work in markets I know. If my clients want to look outside this area, I explain that I’ll be less useful, as there will be things I just won’t know as well as a local agent. Most of the time, I refer them to a local Realtor. I have turned down listings outside my area. The client’s best interests come first.
In my opinion, the future of real estate is specialization. My company focuses on historic and country properties. We refer sellers whose property isn’t a fit to Realtors who focus on their type of property. We focus on our market. And it’s the reason we succeed.
That local knowledge is what a seller needs to listen to when they set a price, and what a buyer should be guided by when making an offer. Otherwise, a lowball offer on a well priced home doesn’t even get a counter offer. It simply gets the email I recently had to send to a buyer’s agent: “Sorry, it’s just too low.”