Leavenworth Real Estate Update

I ran some stats today for the Leavenworth real estate market. The statistics show what my instinct tells me. Generally it is a Buyers market based on months of inventory and percentage of pending listings. However, sellers are continuing to raise prices and are perhaps more confident than they should be. Of course all of this depends on price point and location. These statistics are for single family dwellings (not condominiums or manufactured homes). These homes are in the general Leavenworth area which includes Plain, Fish Lake, Lake Wenatchee, Leavenworth and Peshastin. Homes under $250,000. This is the price point showing the most activity. It is a fairly balanced market with a 48% pending ratio. That means there are 10 active listings and 11 listings that are pending. In the past 12 months 67 homes have sold. At this rate there is a 2 month supply of homes. Between $250-350,000. Only a 15% pending ratio which means this should be a strong buyers market (I'm not sure many of the sellers know this.) There is currently a 5 month supply of homes in this price range. We see increased supply as asking prices increase. $350-450,000 - 8 month supply. $450-650,000 -7.5 month supply. $650,000 and up - 24 month supply! That's a two year supply!!! Of course this depends on location and style as much as price. Waterfront homes continue to be popular and cabins are always popular. One word of caution. Overall inventory in terms of raw numbers remains low. There are only 75 single family homes for sale in the area. Poor quality or overpriced homes could easily have a large effect on these statistics.

The Psychology of Numbers

Much of real estate revolves around negotiating between sellers and buyers. This is something I count as one of my skills and I am really happy to provide it to my clients in the Leavenworth real estate market. Much of negotiating revolves around what I call the "pychology of numbers." We all know that a house listed at $199,950 is a $200,000 house. It still looks a little more affordable if we price it at $199,950. (Not that there are many $200,000 houses in Leavenworth.) However, let's imagine a house that is listed at $225,000. If we want to get a deal for the buyers do we offer $199,950? Of course not! We offer $200,000 because it looks bigger. Buyers want their offers to look big and sellers want their listings to look affordable. Another thing to remember when pricing a home as a seller is how agents and buyers search for homes. Mostly these days it's by computer- either on the MLS or on the internet. Buyers search by price range - often in multiples of $25,000 or $50,000. What's the worst price for a home? $205,000. You are missing all the buyers who are looking at $200,000 and under. You probably would have better luck at $215,000 or more. You look like a bargain compared to the $250,000 houses. Zillow may be working on their algorithims day and night, but as long as humans are the ones buying and selling, pyschology will be an important part of the equation.