Leland NC Real Estate Pending and Sold Contracts for September 2008

Every month this year I've tracked Pending and Sold contracts for the Leland, NC area. The idea is to look for market data trends for our part of the greater Wilmington NC Real Estate. I track market activity by totaling stats for Pending and Sold contracts for single family homes in Leland, NC and Belville, NC from the Wilmington Regional Association of REALTORS(tm). Rather than just pick one month at a time to comment on Leland, NC area real estate market activity, I run a moving average, which shows trends.

During September 50 homes went under contract in Leland and Belville, with an average list price of $235,157. The average size was 1,687 square feet, average price per square foot was $137, and average Days on Market (DOM) was 89. This number (50) is very high compared to previous months, for which the average was 17.4 homes. The result is that the moving average for 2008 jumped to 21.0 homes under contract.

Sold home contracts in the Leland NC area was a different story. During September 39 home contracts closed, which brought the previous moving average of 48.6 down to 47.6, which isn't too big a drop. The average selling price was $211,094, average size 1,624 square feet, average selling price per square foot $128, and average days on market 88.

If you're a fan of statistics and would like the full report, just e-mail me at brucerbrown@yahoo.com. If you're not a stat fan but just want a quick analysis, here's my take: Leland NC real estate activity is definitely on the increase. We had a great leap in houses put under contract in September, which is very cool. We also had a less thrilling softening on closed contracts - very possibly because of deals falling apart in the second part of the month during the country's financial crisis. Hopefully closings will pick up soon with a federal plan for backing lending institutions.

Financial Crisis = Great Opportunities!

The financial markets are in turmoil. That much is pretty clear and until the U.S. federal goverment decides what it will (or won't) do about it, the financial industry is on hold. Many consumers and investors are waiting, too, waiting for the government to decide so the financial folks can react, and then eventually, either immediately or after a while, business can resume at a more normal pace.

But in the mean time . . . . what are the really smart money people doing?

I don't think the savviest investors are sitting around wringing their hands waiting for Big Brother and all the younger Cousins to decide what the financial world is going to be like for them. The smart money is already making moves. Did you notice Warren Buffett invested $5 Billion dollars last week in a financial institution. No one on the planet has reason to think Warren Buffett is anything but probably one of if not the savviest investor alive. So he made a bold move.

How about you? Maybe you don't have $5 Billion to invest, maybe you don't have $5, 000 to put into personal or investment real estate today, but you can take positive action, you can be getting ready to move as soon as possible. This is clearly a time when those who wait will get the crumbs, those who can and do act right now will get the biggest pieces of the cake, and those who get ready to act as soon as they can will still get nice-sized slices. So how about you?

Hey, how'd Fall get here so soon?

Ya know, once again I'm surprised (and delighted) that the humidity switch gets thrown so suddenly and completely in the Wilmington area. Not long ago we were getting through our two humid months (July and August) and then the humidity hung around a bit longer after our mostly no-event Tropical Storm Hannah, and now . . . bingo - it's cooler and waay much dryer and all round pleasant. Yippee, one of our two best seasons of the year is upon us. Of course we did have a bit of a rain storm Thursday, it kinda snuck up on us and the heaviest rain came during high tide (ooops). Fortunately, once the tide fell, all was fine, and the dock was much cleaner, too!