Lake Wedowee Market Update

Posted at 6:45 AM, Jun. 25, 2007

While lower lake levels may be putting a damper on fun this summer, it hasn’t hurt the inventory of homes for sale on Lake Wedowee.

As of June 21, the official first day of summer, there are 93 lake homes on the market. Considering only eight homes sold in May, we have almost a year’s worth of inventory. What does this mean? Well it depends which side of the closing table you will be sitting.

If you are a buyer, this could be a good time to do just that. More inventory means more options for you. We are hearing of all kinds of incentives being done right now. One house that is under contract, we have heard the seller is throwing in a floating dock and in the second home market it is not uncommon to purchase a home partially or fully furnished.

We have also seen houses sell for much less than asking price. In April and May, we saw two homes sell for 77 percent of the list price. However, just like the $1.25 million sale, those examples are not the norm around here. In fact, the average sale price is 94 percent of the final list price. Keep in mind those averages do not take into account price reductions.

What these numbers mean in simple terms, is that Lake Wedowee is becoming a buyer’s market instead of a seller’s market like it has been for the past few years.

If you are in the process of selling your house or are thinking of putting your home on the market, do not fear. We are actually ahead of the game if you look at last year’s numbers. Twenty lake homes sold through June 21, 2006 with a median sale price of $285,000 while this year 25 lake homes have sold in the same time frame with a median price of $304,000. The meat of the market is in the “under $500,000 price range” (60 of 93 listings and 22 of 25 sales) and that doesn’t look like it is going to change regardless of what homes are listed for.

Adjustments to price have already started on this lake, and as the season progresses, and sellers get more anxious to see results, the market will continue to fix itself.

I mentioned earlier about seller’s giving incentives to buyers some of those include: paying closing costs, leaving furniture, giving a dock allowance and even selling the boat or jet skis along with the property. Sellers are getting more and more creative these days to get the end result they desire and as your REALTOR®, it’s my job to guide you through the process from start to finish.

It takes more than putting a sign in the yard to get things sold these days, but... Hey, that conversation is for another day.