November Market Update

Someone told me a long time ago that if you ask a Realtor how the market is, their answer will depend

on if they have sold a home recently! Therefore, if you asked all of us local Realtors how the market is,

you may get 500+ different answers. Fortunately, feelings do not define the real estate market. Local

real estate market data is comprised like the famous line from the old TV show Dragnet, “Just the Facts,

Ma’m, Just the Facts.” However, as a recent home seller myself, I can promise you that buyer’s and

seller’s feelings impact the market, though the data is truly just the facts. The two best things about my

job as a Realtor are that regardless of anyone’s feelings, the market tells on itself and the data is what it

is, as we Realtors do not make up the numbers!

When it comes to selling a house, the facts of the data must match what you are selling. The local real

estate market is still good as we have 193 properties currently under contract in Craven County.

However, pricing is becoming more crucial as sellers should be pricing their home for the market of the

moment and not the market of six months ago. We saw October 2023 have the lowest list price to sale

price ratio of anytime in the past few years at 97.4%. This means sellers are starting to have to

negotiate, which is just a sign of the market normalizing. Prior to the pandemic the average selling price

compared to the listing price stayed around 96%. During the pandemic, we saw that ratio climb over

100% as buyers were paying more than the asking price. As the market normalizes, homes that are

priced right will still have multiple offers and sell for close to the asking price or more. However, homes

that are overpriced will stay on the market longer and sellers will have to negotiate more.

Sellers must not only get their home ready for the market by pricing it properly according to the facts,

but a seller must also make the house feel right for a buyer to like it. Psychologists will tell you that

within 15 seconds of walking through a front door, most buyers know if they could see themselves living

in a particular house. Due to mortgage rates making monthly payments higher, buyers are becoming

pickier. As inventory of homes increases for buyers to choose from since we now have 375 homes on

the market in Craven County, sellers are needing to ensure the house feels right to attract buyers when

they walk in the door. Gone are the days sellers could expect to put any house on the market and sell it

in a few hours for more than they are asking. Buyers expect homes to be clean and well kept, smell

good and have some updates. This does not mean a seller can’t sell if their home is not up to date or

has deferred maintenance. That seller just will not be able to demand top dollar for the property. Also,

I am not advocating for completely redoing a house just to sell it. However, there are easy and

affordable things a seller can do to help them get a home sold faster and for more money.

Hiring a professional to help you get your home ready for the market could be helpful for most people. I

know some Realtors help their clients stage the home and we have great staging companies locally like

Wall to Wall Staging. A professional stager can give ideas on how to use what a seller already owns to

stage a home, or they can bring in furniture, art, and other accessories to enhance the ambiance of a

property. We are seeing a resurgence of people requesting professional stagers as this is a proven

method to help people get their property sold quicker and for more money. A quick story to prove the

point of how staging and the feeling of a home really matter. A seasoned agent had a property listed in

Jimmies Creek for 6 months and could not sell the house. The home was vacant the whole time and had

no furniture in it. The agent had gotten the sellers to lower the price a few times and still was not able

to get the house sold. The listing expired and the sellers contacted me to help get the property sold. I

suggested having a professional staging company come into the house. Once we had this property

staged, I had updated photos taken and advised the seller to raise the price from where the home had

previously been listed. The home sold in three weeks. The average days on the market for the year now

is 35 days. Selling a house in less than a month prior to the pandemic was not normal. I am just trying

to make the point that the way a property ‘feels’ to buyer matters. Since we were able to change the

feeling and perception of the buyer by having the property staged so people could see the space and its

use easier, we got the seller more money for the same house.

Maya Angelou said, “people won’t remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made

them feel.” The great poet must have also been talking about houses when she made that comment as

this holds true. I have shown properties over the years to buyers that have beautiful descriptive write

ups, were great deals and was perfectly clean. However, the feeling from the house or the thing the

buyer remembered about the house had nothing to do with the write up, the deal or the cleanliness.

What invoked the feeling of the buyer is how they would describe the house as I can remember “the

blue mustang house,” “the John Deere Kitchen,” or “the naked old man’s” house to name a few. I know

all inquiring minds want to know…. yes, the John Deere kitchen had John Deere green cabinets and

wallpaper with tractors on it as it still pops up in my Facebook memories! The point is a house must

feel right for a buyer to buy the home. That feeling starts when a buyer sees a property online, through

the buyer driving into our town, pulling into your neighborhood and yard, and as they walk through a

house. Make sure you have your facts straight to get the feelings right for the buyer.

When facts and feelings are in line, it makes the selling process go smoothly for sellers and be a joyous

occasion for buyers. With average prices of homes up 9.84% for the year but only 4.64% compared to

October of last year, make sure your feelings are not outweighing the facts if you are a seller. If you are

a buyer, do not let the feeling of higher mortgage rates keep you from buying a home if you can afford

to do so now. As our area grows, prices should continue to head in a positive direction. When interest

rates do lower, more people will start wanting to buy a home again. The fact is when more people want

to buy a home, there will be more competition for the nice homes causing prices to increase even more.

Base your feelings on the fact that real estate has always been and will remain a great long-term

investment. If you are a buyer or seller and unsure what the facts are about the market for your current

or next home, I know a good Realtor who would love to help you get a feeling for the market!