The question everyone asks their Realtor

SO... HOW'S THE MARKET??

This is an often asked question to Realtors and Appraisers (and maybe the produce clerk).

But just what is it that people want to know? A few years ago, I think the underlying question really was, "So, how much has my great real estate investment increased in value this month?"

Today when I'm asked, I'm really hearing "Has the value of my terrible real estate investment stopped plummeting yet?"

We all know an agent, that when asked this question ALWAYS says "Things Are Great" while maintaining their silly grin. We've all gone through the seminars where we've been taught to be positive, no matter what. But I guess, depending on what side of the closing table you're sitting on, things may be great once in a while for you.

The truth is, Milford, Oakland County, Southeast Michigan and the entire Country has just experienced the worst decline of residential real estate values in modern times. Most markets I work in have shown a bottoming out of the decline during the past 6-10 months. Some neighborhoods have even had a slight rebound in values. Several markets are still in decline.

I just finished a market study for a six square mile section of a township in Oakland County. Just during the past three years, that area has lost 65% of its value. The good news is that for the past 10-12 months, there has been a steady increase in values (30.7% improvement from the bottom point) that brought it back UP to that 65% loss mark. Looking at the chart at the top of the page, it doesn't look like values could have dropped any further during that first quarter of 2009.

It doesn't show here, but the in April and May of this year, the median sale price was actually higher than the listing price. It's not really a "Seller's Market" being reflected, but the bank owned homes being listed so far below their true current value, that the investors and first time buyers were actually bidding up against each other to win the property. This has been a wonderful opportunity for those segments of the market, but the private home owner who is just trying to get their home sold is losing more value each time one of these under priced bank properties sells.

So, how's the market? ..... Tell me, are you a buyer or a seller. Then I'll let you know.