Your Real Estate Barometer

Weather forecasters use a barometer to help them gauge weather conditions. Where do you turn to get your updates on current conditions in real estate? TV, newspaper, radio, the web? Ever wonder if what you read or hear is accurate?


If you have listened or seen nationally syndicated reports lately, you probably remember comments like "this is the worst market the U.S. has seen", or "it's the worst time to buy", and interestingly enough..."it's the worst time to sell". While discussions of the overall U.S. real estate market makes for good ratings in national news reports, it's not relevant to most Buyers and Sellers.


In a recent press release, here’s what Gary Keller, co-founder and chairman of Keller Williams Realty had to say about waiting out the current market:

• First, residential real estate is not a national market product — it is a local one. To say from a national position that this is either a good time or a bad time to buy real estate is like saying the national forecast for the U.S. today is 92 degrees — it is a useless and irrelevant perspective. What is happening in your local market is all that matters.


• Second, trying to predict when it is a good time to buy, or not, means you’re trying to time the market. Staying on the sidelines is the surest way for most people to never time anything correctly.


• Last, and maybe most important — there are always two markets in every market. There is the market of properties that are good buys and there is the market of properties that are not a good buys. Interestingly enough, this is true in either buyer or seller markets. To categorically say that this is the time to buy or not is absolutely ignoring the fact that every market really has two markets inside it.

Our local market continues to be steady. In fact statistical numbers from the Williamson County Association of REALTORS® indicate that properties are continuing to hold their value, even though there are less transactions. The median sales price of single-family residences in Williamson County in August 2007 was $367,500 compared to $370,000 in August 2006. While that is a slight decline (less than 1%), it's quite steady and strong compared to August of 2005 when the median sales price in Williamson County was $301,000. The real estate market works similar to the stock market, with peaks and valleys, just over a more conservative timeframe. 2006 was a record breaking year with a huge increase in the value of homes! Now the market is resetting itself slightly. That's to be expected. Did anyone really think that homes would continue to increase 23% in value each year?

So what ARE you using for your real estate barometer?