Real Estate slide?

The market here has gone from favoring sellers to buyers. I won't say it's been overnight...maybe over the last 3-6 months....but it has definitely cooled. Several of our neighbors our looking to sell and they are probably looking at roughly -20% off the price they would've gotten 6 months ago.

 

yep. People are also in the market now for smaller, more urban residences. This does not mean to say that Charlotte's condo market is heating up since the cheapest thing in Uptown is still well above the average person's range. How many "affordable luxury" condos starting at $350k for 700 square feet does a city need?

 

i saw something about this the other night. real estate supply has exceeded demand. when prices start to drop people will not be as motivated by $$ to sell. the appreciation will go back to a normal pace. they were specifically talking about metro DC, northern NJ and westchester NY areas.

it is very good example of market forces at work.

 

The inventory around here is really up compared to previous years. Sales are near the same dollar wise but just more houses on the market which equates to longer time on the market. My townhouse just sold last week. In past years places near me were selling in two-three days but mine took a little over a month. I still doubled my money and walked away happy.

 

dont i know it

 

It differs from place to place. Trying to sell my Mom's house outside of Cleveland and the market sucks. Pulled my house in TN and in one week it jumped $4K.

I have talked to a lot of "Younger" people and they are definitely looking for the urban experience with a condo in some tower downtown. The only thing I warn them about are the urban schools if they are planning to have kids. Even if you go private you will find yourself driving 20-30 minutes out of town to get to the private school.

Once the kid is older and off to school I would consider an urban thing. Hell by that time that market will bust and I will be able to pick something up cheap.

 

We are moving to St. Louis in July and are definitely looking for the urban experience. It's a little trickier there because there are (recently) improved neighboorhoods surrounded by plain ol hoods.

No kids yet, so no problem with the schools, though that still limits resale value because it limits your buyers. We will deal with that when the time comes.

 

In St Louis you can get the urban experience without actually being downtown. Check out the Wash. U area and Clayton.

 

Clayton is pricey..its sort of the southpark area of STL.

I like the Central West End..the area near Wash Medical Center. That way, I can walk to work too

 

I'm expecting a big slide in certain parts of Charlotte. Especially the Uptown area. TOO many condos are going up. And even worse...they are being bought by investors that are planning on dumping them when the project is completed.

Buildings due to be done in 12+ months...investors are buying for a low earnest money deposit NOW. They are betting that as the project nears completion that the units will have appreciated...quite a bit. We are going to start seeing some of these things come to completion...then have 25% go on the market...LOOK OUT!