A look at fourth quarter sales and some advice to home sellers.

As we are at the half way point in the quarter, the number of sales transactions are down this year as compared to last year. There have only been 13 sales of residential homes in New Canaan in October and to date in November, as compared to 21 sales in 2006 during the same period. If you currently have your home listed for sale you might consider that properties listed above the market just sit there. Sometimes it depends when the seller bought his home. Someone who bought at the peak might be tempted to list the home higher than someone who had bought at a time when prices were lower. However, if the seller can’t sell his house because he is asking too much, then the same seller can’t become a buyer of his next home. This contributes to a slowdown in the market.

If you are holding out for an above the market price to maximize your investment, this may not be the time. If you want to sell your house then list it at the market price and you will sell it. If you don’t really want to sell, then don’t put it on the market. It is very stressful to have your home on the market. Cleaning up every morning, having people walk through at inconvenient times and then reject the house is very painful and expensive. This may be the time to take a fresh look at your motivation to sell or not.

New Construction statistics

New homes are a huge part of the New Canaan real estate market and they hold a great appeal for many buyers because their features are fresh and exciting and the new buyer does not have to do any fix up or remodeling. Of all the 249 homes that are actively on the market for sale today, 26.5% are new construction and 18.7% of all sales this year have been new construction.

However, a buyer might realize a better value if they were to purchase a home that needed some renovation or updating and controlling the project themselves to ultimately attain the house of their dreams. Understanding the scope of the project and gathering accurate information about architects, contractors and materials might be somewhat time consuming, but the result of ending up with a home that you really love at a better value might be worth the effort.

I would be happy to share my insight into homes that have unrealized value and my network of professionals to help you design your perfect home.