Think "Summer" but act "Fall"...

August 2007

“Think Summer, but act Fall.” Now what could that mean? Relax...you have a lot of summer remaining to enjoy, but use some of that time to be ready to make more appropriate real estate decisions in the Fall. Start your planning early. All those “doom and gloom” folks from past years are now shifting to the “look and buy” category for the Fall. Why? Because I doubt that you will find a better time in the next five or ten years to buy shore real estate here in New Jersey.

Let’s take a twenty six or twenty seven months history lesson in real estate by going back another four or five years before those 26/27 months. The shore real estate market was in the “boom-boom” period, with all ongoing market appreciation, buyer demand, and rising listing and selling prices. You could sell a property in February/March only to have it sell again in October/November at a much higher price. Inventory was low; demand continued to be high. It was a great time to be in the market, a great time to be buying or selling, and a great time to be a shore real estate agent. I remember it well.

But the times they were a’ changing. And they did. In the middle of 2005 for many, in the fall of 2005 for others the market slowed down. It wasn’t exactly abrupt, but it happened over a few short months. So from that point until now, the 2005, 2006, 2007 slowdown continued. Where did everyone go? First of all, the listing inventory went through the roof with the number of sales going the other way. We found 2006 was the bottoming out for all of this. By 2007, the real estate climate was improving...not great, but better.

The first six months of 2007 saw a ten to eighteen per cent gain, depending on whose figures you were using.the inventory, although not back to normal, was much lower. And slowly, buyer activity has been increasing, along with the consumer confidence necessary to make some more lasting decision-making.

So what should a body do as we close out the summer and move into the Fall of 2007? As the National Association of Realtors has been saying for some time: “It’s a good time to be buying or selling real estate." But right now almost everyone is saying it louder and louder. I’ve been saying to my clients, and others who talk with me about real estate: “If you are planning to buy shore real estate in the next three-to-five years, don’t wait, do it now.”

Let’s wrap this up with just a few additional points to be made: you can still find some great properties out there right now; buying now starts the “appreciation cycle” which is sure to come along again in the near future, although interest rates are historically low – they are going up; buying right now gets you the better rate, and you can’t do anything with “getting on the wave” – you’ve got to be in the market to rise with the market.

Real Estate “Tip of the Month”

Start that planning during the remaining days of August, with your goal being to have an idea of what sale properties are available right now, what has sold in the past six months, and what kind of mortgage might be available for you. If you have done all of this homework in August, you will be ready to visit selected sale properties in September. Planning is the key to the entire process. As I always mention to readers, “getting the right agent is your number one priority for getting the right property."

Dustin A. Peters is an Agent with French Real Estate, Inc. – Ocean City, NJ. He invites readers of this column to submit comments and questions to him at DustinPeters@Realtor.com.