Everyone is asking around Lancaster County and Central Pennsylvania – what’s going to happen with home prices, and when will we see the “good times” for sellers? It all comes down to, would you believe it, economics…

Supply and demand. Demand and supply.

Let’s pretend the home market is at a certain level of activity – prices and supply of homes for sale. Now, something happens to change the level of buyer activity (rates dropping for mortgages, silly tax credits, etc) and homes begin to sell. Now, buyers become a bit frantic and sellers (and realtors) sense this and price start rising. Multiple offers, same-day sales, overall a sense of craziness. Sound familiar? That was 2003 -2007 in a nutshell.

Now, something happens to the market (say, a crash?) that puts a damper on buyer activity. All of a sudden there are “too many” homes on the market and the prices are still trying to go up, but the buyers are not playing that game (neither are the appraisers for the banks, BTW). As the number of signs in yards grows, the sellers are the ones who get frantic.

Finally, sellers give up and start lowering their prices to get the home sold and move on. Or, they default for whatever reason and the distressed property sells for a cut rate. Now the “race to the bottom” of the real estate cycle has begun.

Lancaster PA home sales are in this last phase now. Where is the bottom? No one can say for sure but I predict prices will have to fall another 10% to get close to a “reset” point in the market here (prices have already fallen about 8-10% on average). Obviously, good economic news and job creation through small business expansions will be a huge factor in resetting the market.

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(c) 2011 Jeff Geoghan

On the Pennsylanvia Agreement of sale associations are identified as either a “Condominium” or a “Planned Community (Homeowner Association)”. Either way, there will be a set of rules laid out for varying issues such as maintenance, services, community conduct, limitations on activities or alterations and other topics. These rules are updated and promulgated by both a sitting elected board and/or a hired manager or management firm. As a buyer, you would do well to read them when they are supplied to you by the real estate agents involved in the transaction. Per the PA agreement of sale, you have 5 days to decide to void the sale in writing should you find issues in the association documents that you can’t agree to live with.

In practice, most buyers either don’t read the document or have no trouble with the rules. However, there’s always those who wanted to “do something” with the property that ends up being forbidden – it’s always best to get this stuff out on the table VERY early in the transaction and think it through. If you’re interested in buying a Lancaster PA townhome or condomimium unit, it’s important to stay on top of your buyer’s agent about getting the docs right away.

If you have questions about homeowner and condo associations in Lancaster County, feel free to reach out to me at jeff@yourlancasterhome.com. As always, I’d appreciate your subscription to my channel!

If you have any questions I’d love to hear them at jeff@yourlancsterhome.com. As always, channel subscriptions at YouTube are most appreciated.
(c) 2011 Jeff Geoghan Visit our homepage for Lancaster PA Real Estate

Let’s take a look:

The short answer – a bit of a whimper.  Both sales and prices fell just short of 2008 numbers, which given our last few months was a bit disappointing.  Average days on the market for home listings was down 7 percent, which combined with an 8% drop in expiring listings were bright spots in an otherwise lackluster December.

Looking at the past 3 years of home sales, we see how December 2009 fared:

Following the red line, we see that home sales in 2009 were trending well against past years up until December, where they fell below both 2008 and 2007.  Note where the January numbers start (at the left of the chart).  We started 2009 at about 175 homes sold – it will be interesting to see what happens with January 2010.

I am preparing a comprehensive home sales annual report for 2009 which will be available to my clients and the media.  If you are interested in a copy of the report, which will go into more detail regarding sales trends and examine sales, prices and many other metrics by town & school district, please leave me a contact or email.

What’s going to happen in 2010 Lancaster Real Estate action?  Look for my upcoming 2010 real estate predictions in this space.

Here is the Hempfield School District market review for last week, ending April 25. The Hempfield School District PA homes for sale current inventory activity of according to MLS:

• Sold: 4 properties sold last week for an average price of $240,250 with an average days on market of 111.
• New: 9 houses were listed last week.
• Pending: 18 house went under agreement last week.
• Expired and Extended: 5 listings expired last week and 12 listings extended their contracts with their listing agent.
• Active: 252 homes are active with an average days on market of 154.

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Listen to this article as a podcast at:

For Lancaster PA homes for sale click here. Jeff Geoghan is a top real estate expert in Lancaster County, PA, and an involved community member. Jeff’s work has been featured in the Lancaster Newspapers, WGAL Channel 8, PA Business Journal and Wall Street Journal. Jeff’s blog on Lancaster County and its homes is nationally-featured. Contact Jeff for more help with your Lancaster PA Real Estate needs. Jeff is also a photographer – view some of his lancaster pa photography portfolio. Comments are welcome!

Here is the Hempfield School District market review for last week, ending April 11. The Hempfield School District PA homes for sale current inventory activity of according to MLS:

• Sold: 1 properties sold last week for an average price of $345,000 with an average days on market of 124.
• New: 11 houses were listed last week.
• Pending: 14 house went under agreement last week.
• Expired and Extended: 0 listings expired last week and 8 listings extended their contracts with their listing agent.
• Active: 268 homes are active with an average days on market of 148.

___________________________________________________________________________

Listen to this article as a podcast at:

For Lancaster PA homes for sale click here. Jeff Geoghan is a top real estate expert in Lancaster County, PA, and an involved community member. Jeff’s work has been featured in the Lancaster Newspapers, WGAL Channel 8, PA Business Journal and Wall Street Journal. Jeff’s blog on Lancaster County and its homes is nationally-featured. Contact Jeff for more help with your Lancaster PA Real Estate needs. Jeff is also a photographer – view some of his lancaster pa photography portfolio. Comments are welcome!

Here is the Hempfield School District market review for last week, ending March 14. The Hempfield School District PA homes for sale current inventory activity of according to MLS:

• Sold: 6 properties sold last week for an average price of $219,833.
• New: 19 houses were listed last week.
• Pending: 10 house went under agreement last week.
• Expired and Extended: 0 listings expired last week and 7 listings extended their contracts with their listing agent.
• Active: 287 homes are active with an average days on market of 138.

___________________________________________________________________________

Listen to this article as a podcast at:

For Lancaster PA homes for sale click here. Jeff Geoghan is a top real estate expert in Lancaster County, PA, and an involved community member. Jeff’s work has been featured in the Lancaster Newspapers, WGAL Channel 8, PA Business Journal and Wall Street Journal. Jeff’s blog on Lancaster County and its homes is nationally-featured. Contact Jeff for more help with your Lancaster PA Real Estate needs. Jeff is also a photographer – view some of his lancaster pa photography portfolio. Comments are welcome!

Here is the Hempfield School district PA market review for last week, ending January 24. The current inventory activity of Hempfield PA homes for sale according to MLS:

• Sold: 3 properties sold for an average price of $486,000, these homes were on the market an average of 81 days.
• New: 17 houses were listed last week.
• Pending: 7 houses went under agreement last week.
• Expired and Extended: 3 listings expired last week and 12 listings extended their contracts with their listing agent.
• Active: 298 homes are active with an average days on market of 140.

For Lancaster PA homes for sale click here. Jeff Geoghan is a top real estate expert in Lancaster County, PA, and an involved community member. Jeff’s work has been featured in the Lancaster Newspapers, WGAL Channel 8, PA Business Journal and Wall Street Journal. Jeff’s blog on Lancaster County and its homes is nationally-featured. Contact Jeff for more help with your Lancaster PA Real Estate needs. Jeff is also a photographer – view some of his lancaster pa photography portfolio. Comments are welcome!