Gosh, it’s been more than a week since my last post!  I guess I needed a week off blogging.  Well, here is some news to you started this week.  It’s not all good news, but is the bad really all that bad?

The chart above is compiled from data from the Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, Inc.   It shows the total number of resale properties for Baltimore, Harford, Carroll, Howard Counties and Baltimore city for August 2007 and August 2006.  

August is a funny month for real estate anyway, the summer well known as the busy season, has August which is usually a bit slower than June and July.  Parents & kids are starting to really get into back to school mode, and it’s so darn hot, do you really want to move all your furniture? 

Anyhow, this August was a good bit slower than last August, and it is the first time the average sales price is lower from one year to the next.  Being that this average is based on all homes sold, I believe this has more to do with the halt in higher priced home sales.   As I discussed in a previous post, mortgage rates for jumbo loans (those about $417,000) have really sky-rocketed, making already expensive homes even more out of reach.

Now that interests rates have started to come down, I think we will see a busy September and October.  In my own business, I’m seeing buyers that want to buy, but they want to make sure they are getting the right deal, given the market.  There are buyers out there, and if you are selling, you have to make it worth it to the buyer (one way or another) to see the value in why they should buy your home, a harsh truth in the new market.