West Virginia Mortgage Activity Goes From Cool to Cooler Still
Ralph and Blanche Ettinger placed their single-family home up for sale in June and waited for a buyer to come along and snap it up.
More than six months later, the Martinsburg (W.V.) Journal reports, they were still waiting when a buyer emerged with an offer - only the second offer they received the house.
It sold for $260,000, about $29,000 less than the couple’s initial asking price. Ralph Ettinger said the wait surprised him.
“When we put it up, they were going in weeks,” Ettinger said. “We knew it was going to take longer than that, but we didn’t think it was going to take six months.”
Ettinger isn’t the only homeowner to see a property languish on the market before selling for considerably less than the original asking price.
The once red-hot real estate market in the Eastern Panhandle of the West Virginia housing market has cooled considerably since last year, resulting in declines in home prices and increases in the lengths of time properties remain listed.
While the number of homes sold in all three Eastern Panhandle counties in January 2007 increased slightly over the number of sales during the same month last year, the number of days on market has driven prices down and contributes to sharp decreases in the average sales prices.
“Today the seller is waiting longer on his dollar,” said local broker Greg R. Ahalt. “(The longer listing times are) driving them nuts and holding them back from movement forward. They’re not used to it.”
The total number of units sold in Berkeley County increased 7.89 percent from 76 in January 2006 to 82 during January 2007, but a property for sale in Berkeley County in January 2007 spent 102 days on average on the market, a nearly 79 percent increase over the same time the previous year.
At that time, West Virginia mortgage costs were lower and activity was considerably higher. Now, the market is higher than the average buyer can handle, resulting in downward pressure on prices.
- Morgan County enjoyed a 160 percent increase in home sales during the same period, even as the length of time a property listed jumped 64.5 percent from 107 days to 176 days, reflecting a market that may be slowing, not crashing.
- In Jefferson County, the percentage of units sold in January 2007 decreased 10.26 percent from the same month in 2006, while the average number of days a property spent on the market jumped from 63 to 90, up 42.9 percent.
With home mortgage demand languishing, cumulative sold-dollar volume in the Eastern Panhandle also took a hit, losing a million dollars in total value in January 2007 from the same month the previous year, exclusively as a result of the total sales volume in Jefferson County plummeting 24.44.
It’s clearly a buyer’s market, and potential first-time buyers are starting to take notice after months of sellers and purchasers trying to wait one another out, said Andrea J. Burke, with Re/Max Success Realty.
“For several months, we were at a standoff. Buyers didn’t want to pay too much and were waiting to see if the prices would drop more, and the sellers were tired of dropping prices so neither side moved an inch,” Burke said.
Follow this link to continue reading in the Martinsburg Journal …