How Is the Market in the Charlotte Area?

Charlotte Real Estate Podcast with Dan Jones

Today I want to talk to you about what’s going on in the general Charlotte area for the fourth quarter. Quarters one, two, and three have been a killer time to buy and sell real estate. Here in the Charlotte area, interest rates are still low and you can still get a decent deal. First, let’s talk about what’s going on with the inventory and compare it to last year. Last year, around this time, we were looking at about 50 to 60 days’ worth of inventory depending on what Charlotte market you were looking at. If you took out some of the new construction that stayed on the market for 300 to 400 days, it went down a couple of days. Right now we’re looking at about 48 to 50 days of inventory, which is roughly the same as last year. A lot of people were concerned that that market would slow down, or that we were headed for a bubble. We could be headed that way if interest rates keep going lower and prices continue to skyrocket, but we’ll follow that market and keep you up to date. Currently, there are just under 2,000 properties in the Charlotte area that are actively being marketed. In the last three months, we’ve had almost 3,300 properties closed, which puts us right at 1,100. The numbers come out to be about 1,075 or 1,080 closings on a monthly basis. “If you’re buying a house, it is truly important, now more than ever, to make sure you have an agent who knows the market extremely well.” Some people are now overpricing their homes substantially and they’re not selling, so we’ve had almost 1,400 or 1,500 people in the last few months that were not able to sell their house in this incredible seller’s market. In regards to selling your house, just because we’re in a really good seller’s market doesn’t mean you can price your home at, say, $550,000, when the house is truly worth $30,000 to $40,000 more. In that case, what’s going to happen is that people will see the house and think it’s overpriced. As you do price reductions until you get to the point where you should have been originally, people will undercut you because they think something’s wrong with the house, and they might not even come to see it. If you’re buying a house, it is truly important to make sure you have an agent who knows the market extremely well. Your agent should be someone who can get you access to all the best deals the moment they come on the market so that you’re the first in line. A lot of our houses in the $250,000 and less range are going off the market within hours. Finally, out of those roughly 3,300 people, about 1,800 sold their property in 10 days. There are tons of agents out there underpricing homes, and there are a lot of sellers leaving tens of thousands of dollars on the table, so be careful. At the end of the day, we can’t be over- or underpricing; you have to hit the nail on the head. You will get top dollar for your house every time. If you’re really looking to get your home sold, give us a shout. We’d be happy to help.