“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” – Mark Twain
My name is Jay Ferguson and I am one of the owners of the real estate division of Taylor Made Deep Creek Vacations & Sales. I am entering my 19th year in the real estate business here in Garrett County and at Deep Creek Lake. If you are interested, you can find out more about me personally and my background here.
I will be writing a monthly blog post about our local real estate market, sharing & interpreting statistics and offering some insights into the market as a whole…as I see it. These are my personal thoughts and musings about the market in general and are not intended as anything more specific. And, to be clear, I am an optimistic, glass half-full kind of guy.
Lastly, every stat I reference is based on the official stats published by Bright MLS on or around the 15th of each month. My plan is to give you straightforward stats coupled with my analysis from the front lines and let you interpret what you read in your own way.
May 2019 brought even more new inventory – 114 new listings on the market for sale. Its par for the course as sellers put their homes up for sale during the time of year where the vacation audience is at its peak. Homes are looking their best right now and docks are in the water. Social media feeds are loaded with snapshots of #LakeLife and gorgeous sunsets. It’s an amazing opportunity to carve out your own slice of lake life at its finest!
The specifics:
-There were even more new listings in May than last month…114 new listings versus 106 last month. That is spot on to the 5 year average.
-Pending sales (homes that went under contract) were down 10.2% from last month.
-Closed sales (homes that actually sold) were up 24.2% from last month.
-The total number of active listings was again at its highest point in May 2019 – county-wide, there are now only 430 listings for sales versus 363 last month.
-The average sold to original listing price (OLP) ratio is 92%.
-The median sold price is up significantly to $285,000. I say this every month, but it bears repeating again – this number is always going to be off month to month. We don’t have a cookie cutter market, as ALL of Garrett County is factored into theses stats. Some months, big dollar lake homes sales skew this number higher and other months. Interested in more specific stats for YOUR property/neighborhood? Drop me an email jay@deepcreekvacations.com
-The average days on market (DOM) was 180 days, down from 184 days last month…another improvement. It remains lower than the 5 year average and has been steadily improving.
In summary, May brought even more new inventory to choose from. The weather has been very wet…not many sunny days…but, all in all, everything is in full bloom and very green in Garrett County now. Summer is here and vacations are in full force and effect. Have fun and we’ll see you next month!
Questions about the market? Whether you are buying or selling, I can put my experience to work for you! Contact me anytime for a free market analysis of any property you may be interested in purchasing or selling!
Jay Ferguson
Co-Owner
Associate Broker
301-501-0420 – cell