It seems that the national real estate market has been at the forefront of the news in recent months as part of the economic downturn that began late last year. Real estate sales differ greatly from place to place, and although the Texas real estate market is stronger than in many other states, the Brown County real estate market is feeling the effects.
The Brownwood Board of Realtors provided some mid year statistics from their Multiple Listing Service comparing sales that occurred between the first half of 2008 (January-June) to the first half of 2009 for residential property in Brown County. Looking at these numbers, the average sales price of homes in Brown county has dropped about 8% overall. The average sales price in the first half of 2008 was $94,365 while the number for the same time period in 2009 dropped to $86,828.
A more startling statistic is the total number of residential sales in the county. Between January-June 2008, local Realtors sold 256 residential properties while in the same time period in 2009 only 164 residential properties were sold. That is about a 35% drop in the number of transactions by local Realtors between those time periods.
Stan Crawford, owner of RE/MAX Goldstar in Brownwood took time to answer a few questions about how the local market slowdown has effected his company’s business.
BrownwoodNews.com: Has your office felt any kind of decline in the local real estate market?
Stan Crawford: Our office started business in January 2007 and we were extremely fortunate to enjoy good sales and an increase in agents from that time through August of 2008. We did have a drop in activity at that time that lasted through March of 2009 but sales have picked up this past spring, but not at the pace we enjoyed in 2007 and part of 2008. We are seeing an increase in home sales for first time home buyers and those that are purchasing in the $50,000 to $100,000 range, but the larger, higher priced homes have still remained slower. Land sales have also dropped with buying clients much more cautious at this time in purchasing large tracts.
BrownwoodNews.com: Has your office or agents made any changes in the way they do business
in response to the current market conditions?
Stan Crawford: Our office and agents are changing the way we do business and are having to become more aggressive in working with and for our clients. It is a buyers market now and that has not been the case for several years in the Brownwood area. We are spending more time in the “front seat ” with clients as they are looking and comparing more properties than in the past before making their decision. Our agents have been doing more mailings, contacting for-sale-by-owners, and spending more on advertising to keep our name in front of potential clients.
BrownwoodNews.com: What do you see for the 2010 real estate market?
Stan Crawford: I feel that the 2010 real estate market will depend on which direction the stock market goes and how high gas prices might go and the interest rates for home purchases. With a low stock market and high gas prices, potential buyers become very concerned about the overall economy and adopt a “wait and see attitude” which could cause the real estate market to stay at its current level of activity or even drop. If we have good news in that regard, I think that we will see an increase in real estate sales and activity. Real estate companies could have a good year.
The National Association of Realtors released a report this week stating that nationally, existing home sales rose 7.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.24 million units in July from a level of 4.89 million in June, and are 5.0 percent above the 4.99 million-unit pace in July 2008. This could signal somewhat of a change in the market to come for the rest of the year, but buyers, sellers, and Realtors will have to wait and see how the market plays out through the remainder of 2009.
First time home buyers can also take advantage of up to an $8000 tax credit if they purchase a home before December 1st, 2009. Contact a local Realtor for more information or visit Realtor.org.
