How's the Market?

BRYAN, TX — The numbers don’t look fabulous. But what we see in the Brazos Valley is the effect of the fear in the market- from the stock market decline and horrible national news. Bryan-College Station is in an insulated community but we still see some of the affects of the national news.

By insulated, I mean that BCS has A&M University and great growth. Add to that, the state of Texas has the number one economy in our country. Plus, even when the rest of the nation had huge increases in their real estate markets, we prospered and remained in the middle, not seeing gigantic increases in values. And now when the rest of the nation’s prices are adjusting and depreciating, we have remained in the middle, not seeing huge decreases in values.

In fact, prices show that they are appreciating here…

Item 2009 2008 Change

# Listings in Inventory 1, 188 1, 351 -12.1%

# Closed Sales 91 132 -31.1%

Average Sales Price $172,928 $169,261 +2.2%

# Volume $15,736,430 $22,342,476 -29.6%

Days on Market 130 126

These numbers refer to Single Family home sales, comparing this year to last year.

So what is going on right now? It depends! We are seeing the higher priced homes being reduced to get them sold. We are seeing the homes in the $120 - $150K in College Station that are in good condition and good areas, selling right away. Right now we have more buyers than we have good properties to sell.

Financing is a little more of a struggle than it was a year ago BUT THERE IS MONEY AVAILABLE! Buyers need decent credit and they need a small down payment but that can come in the form of a gift until your $8,000 tax credit is received! Call if you need info on this gift from Barack.

What am I always saying? Don’t listen to a reporter to obtain information on one the most important financial decisions of your life. Get a good lender and a great realtor for the facts!

Happy May!

Cindy Seaton, REALTOR

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