Thursday April 14, 2011 6:45 am Written by Randy Vance

Is it a Buyers Market or a Sellers Market?

As a real estate professional, I am constantly asked "How is the market?"  As a conditioned professional my response is "Are you buying, selling or renting?"  Like all good sales professionals we "spin" this question to suite what a client wants to hear.  But the question is from a professional point of view what is it, a buyer’s market or a seller’s market?  To be perfectly honest, it is neither a buyers nor seller’s market.  As most of you know, the market is filled with Short Sales and Bank Owned properties.  I field many questions from clients thinking that this means they are going to purchase a property significantly under the current market value.  Despite what looks like a high inventory of homes, there is still fierce competition for entry level properties making it difficult for offers to get accepted.  Buyers need to understand that they have to act quickly and be willing to write offers within the first 48 hours of property being listed if the property is priced right and in good condition.  The silver lining for today’s buyers is that interest rates are still historically low and there are several First-Time buyer programs to assist them. 

Obviously the problem for most sellers is the home values have taken a major hit over the past 4 years.  However, sellers who have owned their homes for at least 10 years, and did not refinance them are still sitting in a positive equity position.  Like most sellers, they long for the days when their homes were worth 40% more than they are today but realistically they have only “perceived” a loss on their home. 

So if you ask me is it a good time to buy or sell a home, the answer is yes