Anyone who has been paying attention to real estate lately has probably noticed that the market feels harder to figure out than it did a few years ago. Not because nothing is happening, but because what is happening doesn’t look the way people remember. Over the last several years we have gone through one of the most unusual, and abnormal, stretches the market has seen in a long time. The extremely fast pace from 2020 through early 2022 created expectations that were never going to last forever. When the market slowed down after that, many homeowners started to wonder if something had gone completely wrong. In fact, the word “Crash” made it’s way into headlines as more than just a sensationalized prediction of the future.

Right now, almost every conversation about buying or selling boils down to the same two questions:

1)  Will my home sell if I list it now?

2) How can I possibly know what my home is really worth anymore?

Despite what it might feel like, here’s the (somewhat boring) reality: homes in every price range are still selling every week throughout East Gwillimbury. What has changed is not whether homes sell. What has changed is how they sell, and how long it takes. During the hot market years, buyers had very little choice. There were relatively fewer homes for sale so when something new came on the market buyers felt pressure to act quickly. Multiple offers were common, and sellers got used to the idea that once the sign went up they could sit back and count their piles of cash.

That is not how the market works right now. Over the past few years the number of homes being listed for sale has increased faster than the number of buyers entering the market, giving more options. This allows them to slow down, look at more homes, compare details more carefully, and ask more questions. They are also less willing to pay more than they think a home is worth. That frenzied FOMO (fear of missing out) simply does not exist. This doesn’t mean the market is weak. It means the market is balanced. In a balanced market, buyers have choices and sellers have competition.

This changes the way homes sell. Well-priced homes sell while overpriced homes sit. Homes in good condition sell faster than homes that need work. Most of the time, the issue is price. Not memories. Not emotion. Not what the market used to be. Price based on the market today. The market speaks very clearly in all conditions. If buyers are not responding, the market is telling you something. Even if the stated reason for hesitation is condition, size, or location, the unspoken end of the sentence is “for the price.”Given all that, is figuring out what homes are likely to be worth even possible? For several years prices were moving upwards so quickly it was easy to simply follow that trend and pick a number. Now that the pace has slowed down, it has become much harder to know what a home should sell for. But not impossible.

Buyers now pay much closer attention to differences between homes. The wear and tear condition, extent and quality of updates, layout, location, and how many homes are for sale at the same time, all have a direct impact on value. Because of that, two homes that seem similar from the MLS photos can sell for very different prices. 

For homeowners the hard part is taking the emotion out of it and realistically evaluating their home versus what has sold recently or is currently for sale. After all, that’s exactly what buyers will do. 

But whatever the case the idea is not to guess. Guessing (or perhaps more realistically - wishful thinking) usually results in over-estimating the value. If sellers want to attract the most amount of buyers, then the smartest course of action is to price based on a detailed, objective review of the market. 

Overall, East Gwillimbury continues to be a desirable place to live so there will always be demand for good homes at a fair price. In most market conditions these general rules apply: price too high and buyers wait, price right and buyers respond, price too low and buyers compete. Even more so right now. It has never been more important for sellers be precise in their pricing as there is way less wiggle room with these rules.

People still move for the same reasons they always have. Families grow, jobs change, people downsize, people relocate, and life keeps moving. Therefore homes in EG are still selling. Buyers are still buying. Prices are still pretty good in many areas. Crash? An overstatement. Pockets of price and expectation adjustment? A more accurate description.