Health & Fitness
St. Louis Real Estate Marketing: Hot or Slow?—Buyers Tips
Understanding hot vs. slow market and where things stand in St. Louis. The market is really in transition in St. Louis. Sellers are selling fast and buyers are getting great prices.
A HOT market is a "seller’s market." During a seller’s market, properties can sell within a few days of being listed and there are often multiple offers. Sometimes homes even sell above the asking price. Though most buyers want a "deal" on a home, reducing your offer by even a few thousand dollars could mean that someone else will get the home you desire.
A SLOW market is a "buyer’s market.” During a buyer’s market properties may languish on the market for some time and offers may be few and far between. Prices may even decline temporarily. Such a market would allow you to be more flexible in offering a lower price for the home. Even if your offered price is too low, the seller is likely to make some sort of counter-offer and you can begin negotiations in earnest.
More often than not, the market is simply "steady," or in transition. When a market is steady, no real rules apply on whether you should make an offer on the high end of your range or the low end. You could find yourself in a situation with multiple offers on your desired house, or where no one has made an offer in weeks.
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Transition markets are more difficult to define. If the economy slows unexpectedly, as it did in the early nineties, people who buy on the high end of a seller’s market (like the late eighties or even sooner 2000-2006) could find their home loses value for several years. Certain states such as Florida have been hit hard resulting in record foreclosures. So far, no one has proven reliable in predicting when markets change or how good or bad the real estate market will become.
Today may be a great time to consider purchasing a foreclosure or a short-sale home. However depending on your patience and time, you may not be able to live in the home immediately and sometimes costs actually may be higher than buying an updated home at a good price. There are options for buyers such as a special loan, a 203K loan, which rolls in the repairs into your mortgage for a slightly higher mortgage rate. Or, you will have to have significant cash on hand to make the repairs, but a get immediate equity in your home.
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Either option buying an updated home at a good price or a foreclosure are both good options for the right buyers in St. Louis. Although foreclosures have decreased in the past year, there are still many of them in the metro area as well as short sales. Sellers are spending a lot of time and money preparing their homes for buyers, which means “move-in” ready for buyers.
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Beverly Taki is a Missouri-licensed real estate broker who has successfully represented clients for 25 years. She is a broker salesperson at Keller Williams Realty St Louis. 10936 Manchester Road, St. Louis, MO 63122. Beverly has earned a certificate in dispute resolution from Pepperdine University, specializing in negotiation and mediation. Taki can be reached at beverlytaki@kw.com or 314-677-6366. Her website is beverlytakistlouis.com and her blog is realestatestlou.com.