A post of a personal nature…but a question asked. Why Does it take you so long to do Market Reports?

I’m in the process of getting Market Report posts done for September, 2016 numbers. A person who follows my blog regularly, asked the question yesterday,

“Why is it October 28 and you are still doing SEPTEMBER Market Reports? It seems like this is already old news. Why don’t we see them on September 1 or 2?”

Ok. That’s a fair question that needs an answer.

The easy answer would be, “They are a lot of work.” Well they are!

But the truth is there are several factors at play. First, I wait until the 15th of the following month, to make sure that the MLS has been updated with all the closings for the month I’m writing about. So, I don’t start on September reports until October 15.

Second, I have TWENTY-TWO, yes 22 major condo buildings in the Midtown area. I’d probably push 35 or more if I did ALL the condo buildings!!! That’s some serious buildings to pull numbers for.

Third, there is more to a market report, than just throwing numbers out there. I believe my readers expect some type of analysis of the information. Often, it’s pretty straight-forward. Not much inventory, some are Under Contract, and some have Sold…and the Days on Market are short and sweet.  But not always. Take the September, 2016 Market Report for Viewpoint Midtown.  One of the Sold listings had been on the market for some 110 days!!! That’s crazy in this market. So I had to take further time to look into that specific listing and be able to offer up an explanation of what happened. I can usually look at a listing and tell what the issue was. In this case, it was a Seller who had a tenant that wanted to stay in the condo, and they were looking for an investment buyer vs. an owner-occupied buyer. And that took some time.

I get a lot of great feedback on my Market Reports. These are not those “zestimates” that you hear about….this is an actual real estate agent, that works in the market on a day-to-day basis, looking at the activity, not in a high-reaching view, but building, by building. What sells down the street may have some impact on your value, but it’s more important to know what is happening right in YOUR building. As that will have a more direct impact on your value if you are planning to refinance or sell.

So, it takes time to write some 22 blog posts about all the Midtown Atlanta condo buildings. In fact, for September, I may have to condense some of the buildings into a multi-building post, just so I can get the info out there.

I hope it’s information you find helpful when YOU have a question, “How’s the real estate market?”

Now, let me get back to Market Reports!!!