Thursday, August 21, 2008

Bryan and College Station Real Estate Market

Many prospective buyers in our market are looking for information on the state of the Bryan and College Station real estate market. It's been a different year, there is no doubt about it! We have seen some issues pop up that haven't been at the forefront of our concerns in previous years. For the most part, however, both Bryan and College Station are having great market years!

Listings priced between 120-160K are going fast! Average days on the market are around 30 with many buyers being beaten out before we can get back to the office from viewing. Inventory is extremely low. Currently College Station has 50 single family homes between the price point of 120K and 160K on the market. Last month, at the height of the "housing crisis" we saw 47 homes like this go under contract. Bryan currently has 57 single family homes listed between the price points of 120K and 160K on the market. Last month Bryan saw 36 homes sold in this range. Still less than a two month supply!This is what constitutes a seller's market. The definition of a sellers market is one in which inventory is at a less than 5 month supply of what is selling.

Moderate price points of 170K-299K are still relatively balanced in both Bryan and College Station real estate markets. Currently indications of a three month supply is seen in both cities. This is still a seller's market but certainly a less strong one.

Higher end price points of 300K and up in both Bryan and College Station single family homes are taking longer and longer to market and move. Currently we are seeing over a six month supply in these price points with much improvement to be had. This is where the hit the seller's market!

One of the biggest real estate issues we have had this year revolves around appraisals. Now, more than ever, it is extremely important to use an in town lender as they will use appraisers who know this market. Many times the appraisal comes back too low for the scenario, even with multiple offers. Case in point is a home that I have listed currently in a Bryan non-traditional neighborhood. This is an older neighborhood with mature trees, very centrally located, and has a definate prestige factor. The appraisal from the buyer's out of town lender came back at a much lower price (24K less) than my client originally bought the house for 3 years ago, but we had 4 offers on the property, 3 at full price. Obviously, with that much interest in the home it is improbable at best that we had listed the property for a value too high. In examining the appraisal two things stuck out. The first was that the appraiser didn't bother going into the property and doing their own measurements. We have documented in two different appraisals that the square footage that BCAD (Brazos County Appraisal District) have and the actual square footage are different. The second item is that the appraiser would only take comparables within a mile of the property sold within the last year. For a property in a College Station neighborhood, or Bryan neighborhood that is large, such as Pebble Creek, Edelweiss, Copperfield, Austin's Colony...that would be an easy task. Not so easy with this beautiful Bryan home!

Negotiating the waters of a real estate transaction can be difficult! Call today for your very best representation! (979)574-1084

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

Congratulations, it's very nice to read not everybody is desperate...Every while we can read US real estate market is hitting the bottom and always we realise it can go even deeper. What's worse for me, as West Toronto realtor, our market is going into cooldown too. My area is still having nice perfomance, however, there are places, where sales are dropping by 10-30% and that's not very good, despite some slowdown was inevitable...
Jill