Your take on supply vs. demand
Most of you think buyers have the upper hand in this housing market. Just not tremendously so.
Just under two-thirds of you obliging folks who took the first-ever Wonk survey this week say the supply vs. demand situation is tipped in favor of buyers. Many think it's "somewhat" so. Less than a quarter of everyone surveyed opted for "heavily" in buyers' favor.
This doesn't mean the rest say sellers have it easy. Just 9 percent think the market is tipped in favor of sellers (and half of those folks say only "somewhat" so).
Fourteen percent believe the market is basically balanced between buyers and sellers.
And another 14 percent aren't sure.
In case you're wondering, 44 people took the survey. Thanks, guys!
And because it's a survey rather than a poll, we don't have to guess how homeowners and renters weighed in, or wonder whether the people who say it's a sellers market are sellers or buyers. This is the breakdown:
All the people who say the market is balanced in favor of sellers describe themselves as renters or people "in the market to buy." They're paying attention to Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Howard County and other spots out of state.
Only 20 percent of the folks who think the market is "heavily" tipped in favor of buyers are self-described homeowners. Everyone else is either watching the market, thinking of buying in the next year or so, in the market to buy or waiting to settle on a purchase.
Most of the folks who believe the market is "somewhat" tipped in favor of buyers don't describe themselves as homeowners, either. Forty percent do.
But 80 percent of the people who think the market is basically balanced are homeowners.
There's no pattern I can see about the counties and price ranges you're watching, other than the fact that they're all over the board. Every Baltimore-area jurisdiction, and everything from the under-$100,000s to over $1 million.
What a diverse mix of folks! Very cool.
So what's your take on the balance of power between buyers and sellers?
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Comments
Most of us think that actually qualified buyers with real cash for sown payment and closing and who have financing lined up in advance because their good jobs and credit history have the upper hand in this and every other housing market that has ever been. And tremendously so. Yes.
There are just very few who belong in this small subset who don't already have a home they are happy with.
As to the rest (and majority) of the buyers out there most don't really have much weight to throw around.
(and no, I don't really mean to be snarky in this)
Posted by: MrRational | September 26, 2009 11:03 AM
My wife and I have been house hunting for the past six months. It seems the market is still overpriced by about 20 percent. I can't tell you how many homes we have looked at that were purchased in '04 and '05 and the owners are trying to make between 50000 and 100000 dollars on their homes. More power to them, but there is a lot of inventory building up and once you get out of the first time home buyer category it seems a lot of stuff is just sitting. Conversely, I wanted to ask you what happens in a situation where the government has the house appraised at 600,000 but it sells for 500,000? If the situation were reversed I know the city of Baltimore would appraise your house at the 600,000 dollar mark, but will they automatically appraise your house at the lower mark if you buy the house for less than what the government says it is worth? What is going to happen to city government when all of these houses that people bought for 300000 in Canton are really only worth 250000 or less? Are we going to see an era where government has to drastically reduce its services? Keep up the good work.
Posted by: Mr. Baltimore | September 28, 2009 7:55 AM
Mr. Baltimore - I agree with you that many people still are over-pricing their homes. My wife and I bought a couple of months ago and had a very hard time finding a house we thought was a "Good" value. We didn't visit many house because they were 50-100K over priced. Many of the house that did meet are criteria were either short sales or in bad condition and we didn't want to take that route. In the end we tokk a risk and put in a bid 60K less then the asking and ended up settling for about 45K less then the listed price and we are very happy with our choice and the price we paid. Since then I have watched those other overpriced homes drop their pries 2-3 times and settle for 10-20% below their original prices. I suggest you take the risk and make a lowball offer - We ended up paying what the previous owners did in 2004
Posted by: JB | September 28, 2009 11:58 AM