Uncertain Weather Contibutes to Listing Shortage

02/05/2003

It seems to me that the radical weather fluctuations experienced during a seasonal change (ie. Winter to Spring) have the greatest impact on the market. You see, inherently, the masses tend to walk slowly into change during the seasonal transitions and yet boldly run during the stability of mid season weather. The affect on the market can be seen especially now as spring is presumably, "Just around the corner". People are waiting for that threshold of predictable weather to arrive and provide them with the stability that will allow decision making to flow much easier into their lives.

Point in case: At our last sales meeting my Buyer Specialists were expressing their client's frustrations due to the scarcity of listings currently on the market (not much to choose from). My two listing partners brought forth an interesting statistic that confirmed their counterparts concerns. It would seem that between the two of them, there were almost 40 potential listings that had not yet made the commitment to list their home even though they had taken the process up to that point.

I firmly believe that at least 25% of those potential 40 will choose not to list at all. As for the balance, their cards are held in the wind, so to speak. As soon as the weather becomes stable, so will people's plans and the spring listing bananza will be in full swing.

So what does this mean to you? If you're thinking about making a move, resist the temptation to wait, for time will only bring more competition to the listing market. Believe me the growing glut of potential purchasers will receive your home thankfully and that just means more money will flow to your bottom-line. And as always, my advise is, "Don't Be Greedy" - a well priced property takes less time to sell and always sells for more money than it's overpriced competition. Thanks for listening.

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