In the midst of all the bleak economic reporting in the news, I was intrigued to see this month's update from the Realtor database.
The total dollar volume of homes sold in Clarksburg in September 2008 increased 58.20 percent compared to September of 2007. $6,570,174 worth of homes sold in our community last month.
The number of homes sold almost doubled (fourteen versus eight) this September compared to last September, and the median priced on those homes dropped by only 0.31 percent. So that's the good news.
The not so-good-news (if you're a seller) is that, on average, homes are taking longer to sell -- 210 days compared to 67 last year. Part of that increase is attributable to "short sales," in which owners attempt to sell their house for less than they owe the bank while asking the bank to forgive the balance. The lender reviews for each of these sales can be extremely time consuming, which is one reason for the increase in days on the market.