November 2019 Newsletter

The Skotak-Brown Group wrapped up November with 5 new listing contracts signed, 6 pending sales and 2 closings! Brittany Skotak and the entire team at the Skotak-Brown Group currently have listings available in every price point. We are also actively working with buyers from as far North as Sarasota to Marco Island.

Overall, the real estate market held steady as buyer activity began to rise in October, as predicted. The October 2019 numbers indicate that the desire to buy continues to trend strongly as the new year approaches. Pending sales rose 23.7 percent, closed sales increased to 9.7 percent, and showings were up 40 percent compared to October 2018.

Although overall inventory fell 17.7 percent in October, there were still more homes that came onto the market in October compared to September 2019, largely due to the new construction market where builders are pricing homes aggressively and offering buyer and agent incentives.

According to Brittany Skotak of The Skotak-Brown Group, “median closed prices in the upper end of the market [homes priced at $2 million and above] rose 8 percent in October 2019 to $3,200,000 from $2,962,500 in October 2018. However, when 57 percent of the market’s available inventory are homes priced under $500,000, and the majority of new listings every month are also in this range, it’s easy to understand how the overall median closed price reported for the entire market appears to be decreasing.”Price reductions also played a large influence in buyer behavior as buyers use price reductions as an indication of how eager sellers are to sell.

“Consumer confidence is growing and coupled with a local robust economy, savvy buyers know that this market is the best value for their real estate investment,” stated Deborah Potok of The Skotak-Brown Group. “However, sellers should understand that a local robust economy does not support setting an unrealistic price for your property.”

There are still overpriced properties in the $1 to $2 million price segment and those sellers are taking too long to implement a price re-position or not re-positioning at all, thus skewing the overall increase in the ‘days on market’ figure. Unfortunately, chasing the market is not an effective selling strategy for a market that has not been seasonal for several years now. The Skotak-Brown Group advises sellers to price to market value because serious buyers are watching the market carefully and will not respond to an overpriced property.

The question now becomes, should sellers be concerned about listing during the upcoming holiday season? “Absolutely not,” says Skotak. “If you want to sell now, the holiday season produces very serious buyers.” Serious buyers along with current low mortgage rates can produce an active holiday buying season. if you are considering selling your home, please contact our experienced team for a complimentary market analysis.