December 2017 Year End Report for Highlands and Cashiers, North Carolina’s Western Mountains

Nearly seventy percent of the closings occur in the months of June through November? Most closings have a due diligence period of 60 days. This translates to nearly seventy percent of the properties sold being under contract in the months of May through the end of September.

 

We are often asked, “when should we put our home on the market?” The numbers show the best time would be to list your home in the months of March through June.

 

Beginning the process in February or March (sooner if you would like) gives your agent time to review the Highlands Plateau real estate market with you, review your home and prepare for the sale.

 

The process should be thorough to ensure the best presentation to the market for your home. This is accomplished through the staging and use of professional photography for the marketing materials and allows time to begin the marketing process. The first showing of your home will be on the internet. Proper presentation with both staging and high-quality photographs is essential for maximizing the perception of value to the buyer. Placing your home on the market in early spring will allow it to show up in the searches for the buyers planning their trips for the spring and summer selling season.

 

The Sotheby’s name comes with a massive marketing exposure for your property not only locally, but throughout the country and the world via the internet. If you are considering the marketing of your home for sale or are just curious as to what the potential value may be, we would be pleased to meet with you to discuss your options.

 

Single Family Homes

2018 begins with 812 active listings on the Plateau. There were 626 closed sales over the last 12 months and currently 51 properties are in due diligence with 26 pending sales. This amounts to a 13.8 month supply. Down slightly from last month. In 2016 there were 567 closed sales. The average closed sale price was $600,784 in 2016. The average for 2017 was $561,903. The average discount from the original list price for the current period is 7.92% with the average time on the market for sold properties at 333 days versus 2016 with a 404-day average. The trend is looking good for 2018 sellers. The improvements in the days on market, the steady increase in the number of homes sold year to year, and the shrinking of the discount of list price to sold price all point to a trend of stabilized pricing in the coming year.

 

As we look back we anticipated the average and median pricing would decline slightly from the 2016 season to the 2017 season. And in fact, this is what happened, the single-family sold price average declined by six and one-half percent and the condo market dipped nearly 15% percent.
The good news is we anticipate a continuation of the demand for homes on the Plateau with projected sales of between 750 and 775 for the 2018 season, moving us into a balanced market with prices leveling.