Tom Carpenter

The Wheeling WV real estate market is doing far better than nationally. When I say that I mean there hasn't been a huge crash where the active agents can't make a living. The primary market I work in is the Ohio-Marshall County area in the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia. In 2007 there were 1,118 units closed and in 2008 there were 990 units closed. That is a downturn of about 11.5%.

While that is not great news our firm is actually off to a better start in 2009 than we had in 2008. We are +6 units for the first month of the 2009 year over the 2008 year. However, last year there were actually 56 closed units in January and this year only 28 closed units in January, which is obviously a 50% downturn. I don't fret over such a small time frame but we need a significant increase in February across the board. Right now we are slated to close 11 units in February so if the rest of the board is on a similar schedule by the end of February we'll be catching up to last year's numbers.

There were 64 closed units in February of last year and our firm had a market share of 10.4% for the year. This year we have an amazing 21.4% share but one month does not mean much. If our 11 pending units with closing dates in February are 20% of the market then we should close 55 units in February as a board and if it's closer to the 10% we had last year it would mean 110 units closing in February. I'm certain there won't be that many closing in February as the total number of units pending at this time is 96, figuring no more that 60% of those will close in February that would be about 58 units set to close in February. It still appears that our market share is up.

There are 14 brokerages who work primarily in this market, and I hope we all see 2010. It is a time to be cognizant of our ethical duty to not mislead home owners about pricing expectations. Yes, it is critical to price a home correctly today. With that said I just found out my youngest daughter was one of two students in her school to be selected to go to Morgantown for a chorus event. She's so excited and papa's very proud. I will follow up on this blog. Feel free to contact me with any questions at TomCarpenter@PrudentialSelectHomes.com