With the New Year upon us, I am looking at the Real Estate market we left behind in 2017 and, along with everyone else, left with my head spinning just a little bit. We started off oddly active, then continued to bull our way straight into a short but record breaking spring market, which is always the strongest time of the year, which of course abruptly ended more quickly than it started. The year then started to drag, with the bottom out of the market they were sitting hoping to catch the tail end of the whirlwind romance they had been teetering on the edge of, but often to no avail. So the resale house inventory grew, prices softened, and the old market we had forgotten about started to emerge! We saw houses listed for more than 24 hours, offers under list prices and conditions, like the building inspection return to the table. With buyers treading cautiously, sellers, often overcommitted elsewhere, almost woefully optimistic about unpredictable prices time moved on and the market was dragged along with it. Even coming to the end of 2017, all we can say for sure that if you are selling and buying today – the balance has always seemed just… what you sell for and what you pay for your new home, the values move up and down together. You will not sell your house for the same price this spring as you would have last spring, but what you are buying will cost proportionately less this spring as it would have last spring – and to be perfectly honest, I like this spring better… you pay less, mortgage less, and have the peace of mind or fair valuations, home inspections and thoughtful planned financing – not just who can pull it together fastest and under duress! Let’s make 2018 OUR year!!! mccarthomes.com