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Are Prices Starting to Rise?

As with many things, prices are local--very local. In addition, price indices are rarely apples-to-apples comparisons.  They usually take prices on one date and compare them to prices as a whole on another date.  For example, the Case-Shiller Index actually takes the total sales of all the property in a city and compares it to the total value of the property sold in that city in an earlier period, to calculate the rise or fall of real estate values over a period of time.  That means that it's hard to know what would happen to one specific property when it got sold or resold.

In the current market, sales are being driven by first-time homebuyers and are strongest at the low end of the price spectrum.  Overall, prices are flat or still falling slightly, although this does lag in time, due to reporting delays.  However, we are beginning to see appraisal problems again, which had not been occurring in recent months.  That indicates that prices are rising, thereby pushing up sales prices above levels of past reported sales, which are used by appraisers to calculate value.

What's the bottom line?  Prices at the lower end are being squeezed by supply and demand factors, and are probably heading up.  Higher-end sales are still waiting for that phenomenon to take place.

Independent Realtors

The rise of so many national real estate franchises has led some people to believe that only national companies get business from out -of- towners moving in, and that only national companies can expose your property to a wide range of people. That turns out not to be true.

H. Pearce belongs to Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, an organization of high-quality independent firms. This group sells more real estate than any franchise company. It also has comparable statistics for productivity and earnings.

That shouldn't be surprising news for owners and buyers. After all, is McDonald's the best restaurant in any town? And does your favorite breakfast food get sold through a few franchises, or through a plethora of mom-and-pop eateries?

As with other industries, the trend is clear: Big firms gobble up smaller ones, until there is a perceived need for personal service and distinctive work. At that time, new firms spring up to fill the demand. It's true in banking, retailing, and a host of other fields. We're no different, and we're glad that the evidence bears out the quality and competence of the locally-owned real estate company. Go local--have your dollars stay here!