A New Administration: Do You Notice A Change Yet?

Happy Friday after what seemed like a short week with the Marin Luther King JR holiday and Inauguration Tuesday.

The new administration is four days young. Do you notice a change yet? With the interest rates as low as they are… and prices equally low, common sense says that buyers will snatch up property and with the potential that Obama will freeze foreclosures, value may stay constant.

There are now conflicting opinions as to when the real estate market will turn around. There is still hesitancy amongst buyers as an uncertain economy persists and strict mortgage requirements make it difficult for financing. The predicted extremes I’m aware of are that we will not see an increase in home sales until quarter 4 2010. On the other end, folks feel that the optimism generated by the administration will create activity this first quarter 2009. The reality may be in the middle somewhere.
If the economy shows signs of slight recovery, this could instill the confidence buyers need to let them know values will not decline further. 

In Provincetown, a market that seems unlike any other, we’ve seen an increase in shopping activity and right now there are 15 pending sales. 

On Monday, prior to the inauguration, we did see more inventory hit the market in Provincetown. Most of these were homes that were previously for sale in 2008. After Tuesday, there was one condo listed for sale and this was not previously listed. Although many sellers re-listed their homes, others continue to keep their homes off the market, either refusing to take a 10-20% decrease in value or are renting their homes to help prevent foreclosure. Right now there are 45 single family homes and 157 condos on the market for sale in Provincetown.

If there is a change in the positive direction, it will be slow, akin to a large ocean liner making a complete u-turn…wide and slow.

In the next few weeks we’ll keep tabs on how many new properties are listed for sale. If prices and inventory stay low… this could aid in any turn around.