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 Hi, This is Gina Mullen with Gina Mullen Realty and I am here to answer some of your questions regarding the real estate market. Today, I'm going to answer the question I get asked most by my clients and that is:

Is there a shift in the market? The answer to that is yes, but it is a little more complicated than that. There has been a shift in the market, however it is not a bad thing. We are not seeing the bubble burst. We are not seeing a downturn. They are predicting that there will be a downturn in the rest of the country, however the industry is telling us that DFW will be somewhat protected from that because we have such a demand for housing with all the people that are moving here as well as the companies who are moving their headquarters here.

That being said, we've grown accustomed to selling homes in 7, 10, 14 days in the last several years and that is not a normal market. That is a chaotic market and it is not sustainable. It creates chaos for sellers as they may have so many offers on a house that they feel compelled to make a decision as quick as possible, however they have so many offers on the table that it can become overwhelming. Sometimes sellers don't always make the decision that they would if they only had one or two offers and were able to thoroughly think them all the way through.

In addition to that, it was really difficult on first-time home buyers. Their main competitors in the previous market that we had were investors and investors were paying cash. First-time home buyers had financing and a cash contract will almost always win over a contract with financing. So, first-time home buyers became very frustrated. What we saw was that a lot of first-time home buyers were moving from the resale market into the new construction market. It was a lot less chaotic. They didn't have to worry about 15 or 18 offers on a house and they were able to contract on a house and know that it was theirs.

Why are we seeing so many price reductions? This is the next question that I get. As agents, we were allowed to price ahead of the market in the previous market, meaning that we could comp a house for sale and we could push the ceiling on that somewhat because we knew the market could absorb it. The problem is now is that with the shift, we still have agents doing that but listings need to really be priced at what the market is currently telling them that they can get for their home. If a home is not updated in today's market, the listing price will need to accommodate that because we see more and more buyers who do not want to even paint at home. Those are all things that need to be taken into consideration, if the house is not updated and if the agent has priced ahead of the market. That's why we're seeing most of the price reductions that we're seeing now. All indications are that we are going to have a very healthy spring in the resale market and I think that everyone will be pleasantly surprised with how we end real estate busy season this year.

We can sell houses all year long. Busy season is usually a good indication of what the market is currently doing and from what we've been seeing the last couple months in the listings that our team is getting ready to go to market, it's going to be a very strong spring. So, this is Gina Mullen with Gina Mullen Realty and if you need any help with any real estate needs, please feel free to contact us at 682-888-3217. 

Thank you.