They've Fallen, and they Can't Get Up (yet)

More CHEERY News from the National Association of Realtors and CNN/Money:

Sales of U.S. existing homes dropped 3.8% in June to a seasonally adjusted, annualized rate of 5.75 million units, the lowest sales pace in nearly five years, even as frustrated sellers pulled their homes off the market by the thousands.

Sales of single-family homes plunged at a 30% annual rate in the second quarter, the steepest decline in 28 years, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. Sales of single-family homes were down 12% in June compared with a year earlier.

Even with a significant 4.2% drop in the number of homes for sale, the supply remained at a 15-year high at 8.8 months' worth of sales.

"The numbers were not terribly surprising, but they were somewhat disturbing, " said Mike Schenk, senior economist for the Credit Union National Association. "The slump in housing will be longer and deeper than advertised."

Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had been expecting sales in June to fall to a 5.90 million annualized pace.

"While weaker than expected, the sales pace and the underlying data within the report are probably no worse than what was feared," wrote Tony Crescenzi, chief bond market strategist for Miller Tabak & Co. "If the housing market is to recover from its current woes, inventories must fall."

"This is a pretty good time to buy or sell a house," said Tom Kunz, chief executive of Century 21, the nation's largest realtor.

Kunz said people in the market to buy homes have good jobs, rising incomes, affordable interest rates and a plentiful supply of dwellings to choose from. " We're going to start telling consumers the other side of the story," he said.

The "other side of the story?" Hmmmm....you would think with all these reports that people's homes would be selling for half of their listed price. In reality (Realty reality, say that 5 times fast) most sales I am seeing are closing within 3% of the Listed Price.

I am seeing sales occur within 12 days of the listing hitting the market.

I am seeing competitive offer situations.

Am I seeing things? Perhaps. But the truth is that all of this is happening if the Sellers are willing to price their homes at a point where the market (i.e. the Buyers) says they are willing to pay.

Granted this is MUCH easier said than done. I have talked to some Agents over the past few months who have suggested using a dart board to set the price on their listings. And these are Agents with 20+ years in the biz. Pricing has always been more of an art than a science, now more than ever.

I guess the one bit of advice I would give every Seller would be to listen intently to the feedback they are getting from Buyers and their Agents regarding price and condition.

The unfortunate reality for some Sellers is that both options can take a chunk out of their bottom line. It seems rather ironic that more Buyer's aren't out there reaping these rewards. My guess is that by the time they start jumping back in with both feet, the pool might already be dry, and another cycle of rising prices will follow.

It always does.