I attended a Local Brokers Council Meeting several days ago and came away from that gathering in a sober mindset. In our State of Georgia which has 159 counties, only ONE county is not considered a declining market by the Georgia Association of Appraisers! A local broker of one of the largest real estate companies in our area shared that they had four transactions fall through just recently by the appraisals coming in too low to make the contract work. We also have other challenges to address such as:

•  Higher credit scores needed to obtain a loan

• Anxiety of Sellers facing stiff competition with the plethora of inventory and not enough equity to sell at a profit

• Cautious Buyers who are hoping that prices will continue to be reduced and inundated with the number of homes on the market that meet their search criteria

• The frequent media coverage painting a picture of recession, gloom and doom

• Rampant foreclosures