Did you hear the story about what’s happening in the local real estate market? It is so awful, so slow, that only a small percentage of all homes on the market were selling. And, most of the homes on the market are foreclosures or bank owned properties. Also, those homes that did manage to sell…sold for 70 cents on the dollar. Every one of them.
Believe it or not, I hear a version of this often from buyers that are beginning to look for a home. They hear stories about a fantastic below market price that somebody got, along with a constant diet of news about the economy and slow real estate sales nationally. No wonder that they smell blood. The truth about the market is another tale altogether. First of all, throw out all the stories that talk about the national market. What’s happening elsewhere has nothing to do with what’s happening here. Real estate sales are all local. And really, each area or neighborhood has different overall results. But it still gets down to each home, each Seller…each has different circumstances that motivate them to sell. Some have no equity to work with, some do. Some have to sell, some don’t. Every deal is different.
The market is a bit challenging now, but it’s not a bad market. Sales are about what they were last year. Inventory is down and prices are up some. So, it’s headed in a positive direction.
One of my favorite photo subjects, the State Capital Building at the corner of Washington and Capital Streets. Gee, I can’t think why they named it Capital Street long ago? And you know, I lived here for many years growing up and beyond, and I never put two-and-two together that Washington Street was named after George Washington. No one ever told me. Totally logical but it just never crossed my mind. I happened one day to encounter a statue of George and a plaque on the south side of the building just a couple years ago that enlightened me. Probably one of the reasons I have a thing for the Capital, my grandfather had an office in this building working in the State Board of Accounts. When I was a very small boy I remember coming to visit him there. It hasn’t changed that much since then…which is a good thing. The rest of the city has changed dramatically though, in every direction from this building. To me the Capital Building is is sort of a living museum. It still functions as the traditional center of our state government. But the architecture is stupendous…amazing classic design, and the materials used inside and out are, well, museum quality. The shutter on my camera always seems to click whenever I’m within range.
For me it was just the word Green that I had a problem with at first, as it seemed like the whole thing was too multi-faceted to be described by a a trendy one-word label. Impending doom from the hole in the ozone layer with polar caps melting? That just felt far-fetched at first until you really get the whole story from many different sources. But, that really is happening. I know it doesn’t feel any different today outside than it felt last week or last year, but that’s because the changes are gradual and are run on Earth’s time rather than ours.