Of interest to many home buyers and sellers in the Fort Worth 76179 area code real estate market is the Month's Inventory report for October 2011.  Some of the communities within this area code include Lake Country Estates, Eagle Ridge, The Resort at Eagle Mountain Lake, Marine Creek Estates, etc.  The report indicates that inventory levels remain high in this area code for most price bands.  However, when viewed against the previous three years (reports not included here), inventory levels have generally come down dramatically across most price bands. 

As a realtor, I would advise sellers in the $150K - $200K price band (above report) that want or need to sell their home within the next 30 days, to set or reduce the price of their home such that its price would fall within the top 6 best priced homes of the 74 homes currently for sale.  I base this assumption and recommendation on the number of pending sales (6).  Arguably, an even better strategy would be to price within the top 3 of the best priced homes since we know for a fact that the rate of actual sales in October for the subject price band were 3.  When priced aggressively, sellers often find multiple buyers for their home and this situation can actually bid up the sales price above the asking price.

Because I've been looking at the data year after year and am more familiar with the trends, I would recommend that potential buyers should buy sooner rather than later.  Inventories are constantly adjusting on a downward trend and when the markets become normalized (4 to 6 month supply inventory levels), there are fewer choices and that leads to higher demand and firming prices.  Local and national economic forces are obvious factors that affect the rate of home sales and inventories due to public perception of the risk of unemployment.  Providing the economy doesn't make any major negative deviations from the status quo, I see local inventories across most price bands continuing to drift downward to a normalized range within the next year.  I also see the potential for a Seller's Market (3 months of inventory or less) in the near future. 

If you have any comments about this blog please click on the comment link at the bottom.  If you would like consultation about your home, please call me direct at 817-480-8425 or email me at Bernie_Christian@KW.com