Kinda Quiet Here on the Western Front
An eerie quiet settled in a couple of weeks ago. Realtors here in Sullivan County often point to an August lull, but if its the seasonal lull, it started early. (August is generally a slow month because of end of summer vacations the first couple of weeks, and the ramp up to getting the kids ready for school the last couple of weeks.) I'm fielding some calls and emails asking about properties, but have had very few appointments. A few calls in the last couple of weeks have been from folks looking to head up at the least minute to look at properties — without much preparation or advance notice. In my experience, that tends to indicate more casual looking rather than serious buying interest.
Whenever I mention to colleagues that things seem very quiet, I usually get the response, "David, you always say that, and then in a week or two, you're out of your mind busy." But I gotta say, this feels different. Its July (now August), when we typically see a fair amount of buyer traffic. For the past few weeks, real estate has been at the top of the news, and that news hasn't been great on a macro national level. The stock markets have also been unsettled. With a lot of uncertainty in the air, people may just be holding and waiting.
But whatever the reasons, the weather's been great and the phone ain't ringing.
As a footnote:
"D.R. Horton, betting on our region with its first project in New York state... planned to build 111 homes aimed at a new market...starting at $300,000."
Alas "ending at $300,000" would have been more appropiate AND realistic.
Posted by: seymorpansick | August 05, 2007 at 03:20 PM
If the phone's not ringing and you're not that busy - do you time to report the data and stats for August 2007?
Thank you.
Tony Ritter
Narrowsburg, NY
Posted by: Tony Ritter | August 06, 2007 at 08:26 AM
Good one Tony.
Posted by: Chris L | August 06, 2007 at 12:45 PM
Yup, Tony, when I'm back from vacation. I took a few days off and will be back later in the week.
Posted by: David Knudsen | August 08, 2007 at 04:31 PM
Yup, Tony, when I'm back from vacation. I took a few days off and will be back later in the week.
Posted by: David Knudsen | August 08, 2007 at 04:31 PM
Yup, Tony, when I'm back from vacation. I took a few days off and will be back later in the week.
Posted by: David Knudsen | August 08, 2007 at 04:31 PM