Tips, Trends and Tales from a Pro
Viewing entries tagged
Co-op
Are the challenges for homeowners who need to buy and sell at the same time any different in a fast seller’s market with limited inventory than in a slow buyer’s market with abundant supply? A strategic approach to a simultaneous closing of your current home and subsequent purchase is essential in any market.
Last August, I characterized 2016-2018 as “real estate’s great adjustment years” when four trends prevailed: rising inventory, slipping prices, more time on the market and multiple price reductions. We’re in for more of the same in 2019 as buyers and sellers come to terms with market changes and prices stabilize. In the current environment where uncertainty reigns, it behooves the real estate professional to be especially vigilant in the preparation of the all-important co-op board package and recognize the co-op’s obligation to protect the interests of shareholders as they evaluate a buyer’s qualifications and also seek to maintain property values.
Are we approaching a turning point in Manhattan’s housing market? Are prices nearing the bottom? Only with the benefit of hindsight can we determine highs and lows, but it feels very much like 2009 when home prices sank and remained flat until regaining traction and climbing past the peaks of 2007 to new highs seven years later in 2014.
Numbers tell only part of the story. At the end of each quarter, we’re showered with statistical reports that require us to consider the macro and the micro of our market. Yet each neighborhood and even each building has its own contextual history. To best serve buyers and sellers, agents need to dig deeply into quarterly reports and then plough even deeper into individual comps, examining both sold and current properties to scrutinize every factor that influences a sale including condition, staging, monthly carrying charges, price drops, time on the market and extenuating circumstances.
