Fear of the unknown has been said to be one of man's biggest phobias. Right now that fear is the underlying reason that we have a relatively dead in the water closing scenario around the county. The fear is a combination of actual and potential job losses, the fact that housing prices are still fluid and could erode down even further and the fact that obtaining a mortgage has been made very difficult by most of the lending institutions. I just complied some more stats from the West Penn MLS and frankly the results are eye opening. Certainly not good numbers if you are trying to sell a home.

This morning I had a new driver ride along with me on my school runs (I don't think I ever mentioned it, but I have been driving a school bus for the past 5 years along with my real estate services) who told me that he is a self employed architect and his business has slowed to a virtual crawl. He has two children who ride my bus every day to and from the middle school. They were kinda shocked when they got on at their stop to find their dad sitting in the front seat of the bus. Anyway, I bring this up to point out that this is a scary time for just about everybody. There's a scramble out there to find employment... anywhere you can. This environment will keep buyers in the wings until there is a turn-around with the economy. Until that happens the market data will undoubtedly continue to reflect gloom and doom.

I was talking to one of our other experienced agents at the office this morning about the market situation and her comment was when this finally turns around we won't be able to keep up with the buyer demand as there will be so many buyers who have held back hitting the market all at the same time it will be like a feeding frenzy. Maybe so, but I'll take the wait and see position on that one. One thing is for certain there will be a lot less real estate agents standing when and if that does happen. And that is a good thing.

But back to the stats I referred to above. In the area comprising Peters Township and it's surrounding township and communities on Mar-29 there were 449 homes actively on the market, and month to date there were only 29 actual closings. To the southwest in the Washington areas comprised of the City of Washington and it's surrounding communities on Mar-29 there were 256 homes actively on the market and month to date there were only 12 closings. Not a pretty picture. Stop back for more local market information or visit my comprehensive web site for daily updates of homes coming on the market, click on the link in the masthead above. Your comments are always welcome.

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