I remember back at the first of the year, we were encouraging sellers that the time was ripe for putting the house on the market, having it staged and priced right. We were writing post after post encouraging buyers to get off the fence and get the home they wanted.

At that time, many sellers were still thinking they could get 2005 or early 2006 prices for their houses. Many were holding on to a home appraisal or a market analysis that was out of date in reality, but not in their minds.

Buyers, at the first of the year, were convinced that prices would drop and interest rates would come down more.

Everybody was doing their best to "hold out for more."

And then the subprime meltdown…

If you look at the graphs on our MLS Trends page which we update every Friday, what do we see??? 

What we see is that the best market we have had, so far this year, was in mid-February to mid-March. That's where the active listings and the pending sales converged to their closest point in the last year.

We are now encouraging sellers to "get it in escrow" by the end of July or be willing to own it into the fourth quarter or longer. The question every seller wrestles with – what's best for me, lowering the price, or paying to hold it for another 3 to 6 months?

As for buyers -

• First Time Buyers – oh the deals that are available! You need a good agent and mortgage broker.
• Move Up Buyers – you may not find better leverage than exists now for years to come. Lose the hang-up on best price for your existing home and think leverage, leverage, leverage!!!