What are the "Dog Days" of summer?
"The hottest, most sultry days of summer. In the northern hemisphere, they usually fall between early July and early September. Dog Days can also define a time period or event that is very hot or stagnant, or marked by dull lack of progress. The name comes from the ancient belief that Sirius, also called the Dog Star, was somehow responsible for the hot weather." Wikipedia
I am starting to feel the real estate market has hit it's own dog days. Stagnant, dull and lack of progress pretty well define what's happening right now for most of the Atlanta market. We are getting some good showings from motivated, pre-qualified buyers who have to move because of a job relocation etc. But most of the buyers are staying home and move up buyers have pretty much shut it down for the summer.
Investors are starting to kick tires as the values are amazing. I faithfully read John Adams column in the AJC and he is spot on in his analysis of the Atlanta market. We are at rock bottom and prices will not go much, if any, lower.
So buyers, get out there and buy the real estate deal of a lifetime. I promise you will find motivated sellers. They would start drooling and barking if they could get some interest from a buyer in the dog days of summer. Buyers will get some amazing deals.
Sally English and The English Team. Atlanta real estate agents
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Dog Days of Summer Market for Atlanta Real Estate . . . .
and Phoenix and Leesburg and Manhattan and Spokane and. . . . . . . .
We face this every summer and every summer agents forget that . . . we face this every summer.
Good Morning Sally,
Thanks for the market update. Have a great day.
and Northwest Wisconsin.... There's some comfort knowing that dog days are happening in other parts of the country. I guess. Well, back to getting the word out to buyers that now is an AMAZING TIME TO BUY.
It's the "dog days of summer" here in seacoast NH too! Hope the dog is playing w/ the squirrel
Two good buyers in the past two weeks, but showings are off.
It seems that we are always shifting our focus these days... in the Spring, I chased first-time home buyers and listings under $300K (for the first-time buyers!) and now I'm running after all the couples and families who are relocating to the area.
The good news is that it should cool off in "Hotlanta" in about 5 or 6 weeks...
In the Middle East, they use the word, "Hamsin", which, in my opinion, sounds much better. More international, sultry, mysterious. The word hamsin literally means 50, which is supposed to be how many days this heat-wind lasts. No matter what you call it, people are still coming out of the woodword from Canada, France, Israel and all points USA to buy Florida real estate. The bargains are too hard to walk away from....at least 50%, if not more, of the deals are cash. Crazy here.
Scott Miller, Realty Associates, Boca Raton, FL
Elise (sp?) Glink filled in for Clark Howard this week and I heard her say that prices are still dropping. Unreal!!!
Hi Sally. I was thinking of this exact same post...
Certainly the dog days up here in Naperville.
Thanks for writing,
Ken
Hello All:
Ok, I stepped out and did some real estate agent type work (yes, that what we do in the front lines of the real estate wars) and opened my email to find a flood of Active Rain comments. Thanks to all of you for chiming in on The Dog Days of summer. I will stop back by (after I do some more real world real estate stuff) and try to take a close look at all the comments and give you all some feedback. Thanks again for stopping by.
Sally
The dog in the photo is my English Springer Spaniel, Millie. SHould have given her a credit I guess!!!!
This time of year can be a bit of a female dog (pun intended).
Patricia: The official word on the squirrel is "no comment"
Kerry: my active market segments appear to be similar to yours! Hope those relos actually buy rather than rent.
Patsy: I am a huge Clark Howard fan. But sometimes with Elise Glink I find myself wondering where she comes up with her info. She seems out of sink with Clark.
To Realtors all over the country who are experiencing a similar market: hang in there!!!
Aaron: Pun of the day.
Ken: the early bird gets the worm.
Len: you always have words of wisdom. Thanks!!!
Sally
Scott: Hamsin, well you learn something new everyday. We have abotu 50 days of Hamsin in Atlanta. High heat, high humidity and low motivation!!!!
Sally
Sally, I love John Adams but I can't depend on his predictions about the market anymore.
Three years ago I went to an evening seminar of his. It was when prices had leveled off before they started to take a big fall. He said not to worry. Real estate is different than stocks. People don't have to sell and won't sell for big losses. He said prices will just stay flat for awhile and then continue on up and that it was a great time to buy investment properties. Even the best can call it way wrong. He, like any agent, has a vested interest to tell people we are at the bottom. In many areas, I think we are at a bottom because the replacement costs are so much more. When you can buy a house for less than the cost to remodel a kitchen, I think that's a pretty low price.
TIM: Well yes, John is not perfect and neither were Arthur Laffer, John Keynes, Ben Bernake, Alan Greenspan, Paul Volcker or any one esle who has tried to predict our economic future.
I agree with you when you say some people don't have to sell and will not sell into a market that returns them less than what they think the value is of their property. But disagree to some extent with the stock analogy. Yes, real estate does not have the liquidity of stocks. But, like stocks real estate values are controlled by the marketplace and not established by sellers only.
Replacement costs and market value are starting to converge (market values are actually below replacement value in many markets) and this indicates to me that we have hit bottom or something real close, barring a complete collapse of the US economy. I will not rule out a complete collapse of our National economy, but if that happens I guess it really won't matter what real estate values do.
Sally, it certainly is the dogs days of summer here. People are more interested on going on vacation than buying properties. Thanks.
Ah yes, vacation. We all need a vacation, especially workers in the real estate industry. Many can not afford to go somewhere on vacation because of the economy. My advice is to take a vacation by clearing your mind. Go on a hike, read a good book, go to the movies...do something to take your mind off work.
Buyers on vacation.....been a long one. I would think they might be homesick by now (drum thump and cymbal clang in background).