Staging is Key

The local market conditions are usually clouded by the multitude of national news stories regarding our real estate market.  The problem is during the rainstorm of negative information, consumers can't see the gold nuggets at the end of the rainbow. Local markets and even neighborhoods within those local markets can vary greatly from the national statistics.

Let's recap 2011 and compare to 2010 in the Rockwall County area, the smallest county in the state of Texas that fares better than most where housing is concerned.  The good news is that our market remains surprisingly stable.  Homes are moving and the pricing is not in the tank as some information out there would have you believe.

Average list price increased by .3% holding steady at about the $277,000 mark.

Number of homes for sale decreased by 11.4% to 796 making the inventory go down slightly which is good for sellers to see the inventory keep inching its way down reducing their competition for the available buyers. Closed sales increased by 3.9% to 1,184 and Median home prices fell 3.4% to $173,000 which just means probably more first time home buyers are buying in this time of fabulous interest rates so a few more lower priced homes are sold.

The moral of the story:  Sellers: Spruce up and clean and then clean again. Ask your real estate agent’s advice on staging.  While it may not be your style, heck, you may not like it at all once it’s done but it works!  A well staged home in any price range is sticky.  It stays in the minds of agents and buyers alike.

 A homejeannie tip: please, please do not “unstage” the house after the pictures are taken.  As I said, you may not like it, but your professional knows how to make it be the best it can be for prospective buyers and buyers like to see in person what they see in the pictures looking the same or better.

Signing off for now—the HomeJeannie

All information is provided by North Texas Real Estate Information Systems and is not guaranteed.