subject: Study Existing Home Prices Before Pricing Your Home For Sale [print this page] It's not hard to see that the present time stands out as one of the most difficult real estate markets ever in our country. There have been bad times before of course, but often those bad times were regional in nature, such as when a huge facility that employed many people suddenly shuts down and everyone is out of work, and eventually their houses are for sale. This scenario makes for many houses for sale in one local area, and it has a devastating effect on sale prices as well.
This situation has recurred in many areas in the United States since the industrial revolution began two hundred years ago. And in actuality, the present housing market is similar in some ways to that historical problem, but the real estate market it bad all over the country and in other countries as well. Formerly prosperous areas are suffering, too, and in some ways they are in a worse position than middle or lower-class areas that more families can afford.
The huge number of houses for sale in the majority of metropolitan areas of the US is nearly unprecedented, and a distinct trend is that more high-priced houses are for sale than usual. It can take more than a year to sell a house, and frequently it takes a series of discounts to move properties. Because more buyers can afford cheaper houses, they often sell and move off the market faster than nicer, more expensive houses. It's perfectly logical that there are more buyers or reasonably-priced houses in a recession when you need to sell a house.
Bad mortgage lending practices in conjunction with a slow economy has cost many people in our country their jobs, leaving homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages. When you try to sell your home, look up and down nearly any street and you will see houses for sale, and some of those houses are owned by banks and mortgage companies. The number of houses in foreclosure is increasing, which means lenders are losing their profits, and some homeowners are losing their houses.
If you are seeing vacant houses for sale, you know that those houses are in foreclosure, more often than not, because the lenders, now the owners, don't want to deal with tenants in the foreclosure process. Owning vacant houses that are vulnerable to theft and vandalism does not appeal to anyone, and lenders are tying to structure arrangements for the former homeowners to stay in the house as tenants, which can be a good solution for both parties.
