I randomly got a facebook message today from an old school friend: “I was thinking about how your business was doing with the housing market turning south?”
I think that’s an interesting question. If you talk to most realtors, they would scoff “The market is doing fine, it’s all media speculations. Our interests rates are not as bad as they make them out to be.” But has market really not slowed down? Looking from the stager’s point of view, the homes are staying on market significantly longer. At the beginning of the year when I can de-staged a sold home under a month or maybe two, now it’s taking 2, 3, 4 to do so. Has my staging abilities weaken over time? I don’t think so. So why are homes not selling? (Here are some of my own speculations on Why Staged Homes Don’t Sell. Click the link to read them.)
Frankly I think there are no reason to fret nor panic. Like any economics theory, everything comes in cycles. Typically things are slower in the December months, because people are distracted by the holidays. Furthermore, even if it is a “buyer’s market,” most people need to sell to buy, so it roughly evens it out in the end. For people who need to buy or sell, they will still buy or sell. For me personally, yes, there are less staging projects on hand, but it gives me a great chance to do year end reviews and prep for next year. And lord knows there are a lot to do before next year!
How about you, what do you think? How’s your business?