As a buyer on the sidelines, I am interested in looking at a property when it is first listed, then wait for a price drop. The home I am interested in I looked at in January. People may be also looking at only new listings because many properties have been on the market for months, once yours has been on MLS for a couple weeks, it's not "new" anymore. Also locally the laid off circuit city employees not as much the Wall St crisis are probably having a decent impact, if they didn't have an emergency fund, they are probably running low on cash and maybe need to sell their home fast (cheaper per sq ft) than your home.

Bear,

Real estate is more regional and local, rather than national. That being said, I don't think the true impacts of much of the recent legislation have begun to affect the market yet. I do know that the last bill that President Bush signed, is causing some 1st time home buyers who are using seller-paid financing programs like Ameridream, Nehemia, and Genesis to buy prior to October 1st.

As for your specific home, we are entering a seasonally affected time of year due to school now being in session where there are historically less buyers. I'd recommend asking your agent for feedback from the showings that you have had and what changes you can make to "freshen up" your listing, including pricing.

Best wishes!

Hello, Bear,

This is an interesting question. I don't know if there is an exact "scientific" answer that I could give you on this. Based on the buyers & sellers that I am working with, I am finding that the buyers that are out there looking at homes are now even more slow about making offers. Many of the buyers who have been on the fence & not made many moves to begin looking at homes are still sitting on the fence, waiting for prices to drop even more or the bad news to be over with! And for the sellers I still see many homes coming on the market which are competing against my listings but are priced well below my listings & have many more "benefits" to the buyers. So I would say that overall this "wall street crisis" is having an impact, but I don't think the market is dead in the water because of it. I think that the things many of us have been saying for a long time still apply: the sellers have to have their homes in pristine shape & have to have more to offer the buyers out there in the market, that the sellers have to be prepared to take price reductions to compete with the additional homes coming on the market or the other sellers who are taking price reductions, & the sellers have to be prepared to have buyers come in and negotiate their price (no matter how well the home is priced & shows). Buyers are still out there, but, as before, they are taking their time making decisions, are negotiating much harder than before, and are much more particular about the homes that they are looking at.

As for the home that you currently have on the market, there may be a number of reasons why the home is no longer getting showings (after getting the 6 the previous 2 weeks). If your home is listed with an agent, what is the feedback that your agent is getting from the other agents who have shown the home? How does your home compare to the others that are on the market in your area? Does your agent have any suggestions on what can be done to try to jump start the showings? I don't think that I would automatically assume that the reason you are not getting showings is because of the "wall street crisis". Best of luck to you with your sale. Talk to your agent to see what their thoughts are on your home.

Barbara Reagan
ABR, GRI, ePro, CRS
Long & Foster Realtors
Cell: 804-869-1191