It's The End Of The World As We Know It...

...And I Feel Fine! Not only is this a great classic R.E.M. song, but a truth to our current Real Estate world. And I do feel fine. Why you ask? Our market here in Clark County (and around the Pacific NW) is actually returning to a more stable and "normal" market.

Not a day goes by that I don't have this conversation at least two or three times. Normal? How can I say that? Isn't everything collapsing around us? No, it isn't. It is true that we are still adjusting from the crazy anomaly of the last few years. But that is what we all need to remember, we experienced an anomaly. When have we had the volume of loan programs like in recent years? We haven't. We knew that we couldn't keep appreciating at the record percentages of 30+% across the board.

Are you now losing value? No, I don't think so. Did you overestimate what your appreciation was and feel like you have lost? Probably. When we were all riding the real estate roller coaster in an upward direction we failed to notice that it started to level out and we kept thinking we were going up. Then what happens? We feel like we are falling when if we had stayed in the car we would have realized that we were no longer on such an insane incline.

Learning that your home is worth thousands more than you think is really easy to hear. Learning that your home isn't worth as much as you think takes much more time. However, it doesn't change the reality of our market. Seller's need to listen to their agents and remember that the buyers are being very picky and non-motivated. They are waiting around for the prices to adjust to where they should be.

Real Estate is still great! Don't listen to the national media and all the new agents who have never experienced anything other than the anomaly.

Take care,

Dale Chumbley

Clark County Real Estate Blog
The Chumbley Team