Howell Michigan Real Estate Market is still SLOW

At the end of the first quarter of 2007 we would normally expect the market to be moving along fairly quickly. (Based on 9 of the last 10 years.)

Well, it isn't. Taking a quick look at inventory levels I see that we have about 200 homes listed for sale right now.

In all of last year there were roughly 125 homes that were actually listed and sold.

Doing a little math you can see that right now there is almost one and three quarters years worth of inventory.

We've really never seen any time like this in the 15 years I've been full time in the business.

A rough time to be selling but a great time to be buying.

But be careful, you really should make sure you are working with a company who represents you and not a bunch of those sellers!

Home values have really fallen in Howell

I was just meeting with a listing agent and looking at homes in Howell Friday and I was surprised at how much values have fallen.

This is something that you probably won't hear from many real estate agents unless you are a seller.

Here is one example:

Howell luxury home on an acre sold in 2004 with multiple offers at ~$440,000.

The same home is now back on the market with an asking price of ~$330,000.

And, there are about 60 other competing homes on the market right now in the area.

Now is a great time to be buying but you want to be careful. And you want a full time buyer's agent to help you.

Our office is in Ann Arbor but we have agents who live in the Howell area. Let us know if you need help.

Big office gets caught with hand in real estate cookie jar

A big Coldwell Banker office got caught steering their real estate buyers and sellers to a company that they owned without complete disclosure.

We see this type of behaviour all the time in SE Michigan, but rarely does the real estate company get caught.

Here in Howell you want to be careful if you see related mortgage companies or related title companies. Often it is hard to know if there is actually money passing under the table from your wallet to companies related to the real estate brokerage.

Here is a link to a Washington Post article:

WA Post article on class action suit