“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 click here find out more about me personally and my background.
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.
July 2019 – We finished the month with 71 new listings, down from 81 new listings last month. The biggest stat that I report on below is the number of new, pending sales. A whopping 78 new pending sales in July! I believe the recent drop in interest rates helped to fuel this activity, but the growing desire to own a piece of paradise is evident when you are looking at properties in Garrett County & Deep Creek Lake!
The specifics:
-There were more new listings in June, but less overall than last month…71 new listings versus 81 last month. That is lower than the 5 year average and is typical as we trend towards the end of the summer vacation season.
-Pending sales (homes that went under contract) were up 69.6% – 78 total homes. This is an absolutely staggering number – July is historically a busy month, but this smashes the 5 year average of 57 total pendings.
-Closed sales (homes that actually sold) were down 4.8% from last month, with a total of 42 sales county-wide. Keeping this in perspective, its really only one less home that sold.
-The total number of active listings is now down to 431 active listings, partly due to the high number of pending sales in July.
-The average sold to original listing price (OLP) ratio is up to 4% from 91.5% last month.
The median sold price was $192,500, down from $266,250, and $285,000 in May. The 5 year July average is $211,000. 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 164, down from 199 days last month. Properties sold over 30 days faster in July. More people in town, easier to view homes and make offers.
In summary, July was a very HOT month. There were a lot of ‘postcard’ days to be on the water or even just in the area, be it a quick trip or a longer stay. Our healthy real estate market didn’t disappoint with all of those potential purchasers in town, posting record pending sales. There are still plenty of quality homes to choose from as we head into August and the cooler autumn weather!
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