Crescent City/Del Norte County Market Report for May 2008

Crescent City/Del Norte County Market Watch - Yuk!

Well...not much good to say here, but we actually stack-up better than the rest of California and many other areas in the U.S. such as Florida (I had to say something positive, so there it is).

Our sold residential listings dropped from 15 in April to 11 in May, and the DOM (days on market) increased from 193 days, to 221.

There are 274 active residential listings, with an average DOM of 177 and a median price of $295,250. 46% of the listings are over $300,000, but only 17% of sales since the first of the year have been in that price range.

IT IS STILL A BUYER"S MARKET. What are buyers buying?...listings under $200,000. Several of May's sales are mobile homes in parks and there are several more showing on our pending list, so if you have a mobile in a park that you want to sell, now is the time, if it is properly priced.

If you are in the market for an upper end home, well, holy cow, now's the time. With 46% of the listings in that price range, but 17% of sales, do you think there might be some anxious seller's who are willing to negotiate? Heck yeah.

Sellers - The more inexpensive properties that are properly priced are selling, but you can still sell your upper-end home if it is priced right. Now is not the time to listen to your son, neighbor, or bridge partner on how much your home is worth (unless they are an experienced real estate agent). Now is the time to ask your agent for a market analysis based on the current market with the most recent comps available. Go over the data with your agent and price your home in the lower 50% of the price range if you want to sell. If you are dead-set you are going to get your price, darn it, or "I'm not selling," then you won't sell, so just pull your home off the market and wait for inventory to shrink and prices to rise. It will happen eventually.

Here's the market at a glance:

I am here to assist you with your real estate needs!

Brought to you by Fran Gatti at Bus: 707-464-5400, Cell: 707-218-8162 Email: fgatti@charter.net Website: FranGattiHomes.com My Blog: Fran's Blog Fran is the #1 buyer's agent for 2007 per CCMLS