The Elegant Augusta Real Estate Blog

Lydia Taylor April 7th, 2008

This is as a good a time as any for a market report. My last report was the middle of December of last year, which saw single-digit increases in unsold inventory in every market area I looked at. Since we have now concluded the 1st quarter 2008, a comparison to those older numbers would let us know what has happened to home inventory over this last quarter.

Current Status of the Augusta Real Estate Market - Single family residential inventory as of 4/6/2008:

The first number is the # of unsold home listings as of 12/7, which is the date of my last Augusta real estate report. The second is as of 4/6. Percent change is the third number*.

Richmond County: 1554, 1641, up 5%
Columbia County: 1276, 1464, up 13%

Aiken County: 536, 534, no change.
Edgefield County: 70, 68, down 3%

Augusta, Georgia: 1193, 1273, up 6%
Evans, Georgia: 470, 601, up 22%

North Augusta, SC: 301, 316, up 5%
Aiken, SC: 121, 125, up 3%

What pops up right away are those figures for Evans/Columbia County. Wow! There is a significant increase in the amount of homes for sale- 188 in Columbia County and 131 in Evans. While it is difficult to know the mix of homes that were on sale ‘then’ versus ‘now’ one thing is for certain -it remains a buyers market, with lots of inventory to choose from.

What to do if you are an Augusta Home Buyer:

If you happen to be a buyer, take advantage of the market. Find more than one home you like. That’s right, more than one. Then take a shot at your #1 pick, and if you don’t get a good deal, walk away and work on home #2. There is no reason to not get a good deal on a home right now. Want to read more about that? Take a look at my recent article on getting my Accredited Buyer Representative designation - I talk in detail about making offers on new homes.

What to do if you are an Augusta Home Seller:

Home Sellers need to really work on the fundamentals- staging your home (inside & out), pricing your home in-line with recent comparative sales, and marketing your home aggressively. All of this you have control over - and remember a buyer’s mind is often keyed on that first impression, so work on curb appeal and your entryway first.

Make sure your listing agent takes the MLS photos after your clean-up is complete, and don’t list until you are ready to go. Get any obvious repairs done and get that house absolutely flawless. That first week or two on the market is critical. Review the MLS photos and writeup with your real estate professional, and ask them what they are going to do to market your home. For example, in addition to marketing in all the obvious areas online (where most people start their home search) I send out a Listing Alert to all the registered users of this website, which numbers in the thousands. It’s not uncommon to get 15-20 calls on a listing the very first day from a blast like that, and I want to make sure your home is squeaky clean and appears perfect to even the most critical buyers.

If you need any help, please give me a call anytime, I’d love to help in any way I can.

* These numbers are for residential real estate (homes for sale). Listings data obtained from NorthoftheSavannah.com’s feed from GAAR-MLS (The Greater Augusta Realtors-MLS). This data does not include commercial listings, lots and land, or multi-family housing.

• Market Reports
• Comments(3)