“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.
October 2019 – We finished the month with 48 new listings, down from 52 new listings last month. There 50 fewer homes for sale right now than last month and the median price in October was $210,000. People seem to get better deals in the fall with the listings that may not want to spend another winter on the market for sale. We are squarely in the off-season here at the lake right now, waiting for ski season to start and the holidays to arrive. In looking back on this stats blog that I have been writing all year, I am thankful for those of you who continue to read and follow up with the real estate market at Deep Creek Lake!
The specifics:
-There were less new listings in October …48 new listings versus 52 in September. That is slightly higher than the 5 year average of 44.
-Pending sales (homes that went under contract) were down 9.3% – 49 total homes. This is again down from last months 11.5%.
-Closed sales (homes that actually sold) were down 25.4% from last month, with a total of 47 sales county-wide. That’s up 2.2% from 2018.
-The total number of active listings is now down to 361 active listings from 411 last month. End of season = less inventory. This is also primetime for people to take their homes off the market for winter.
-The average sold to original listing price (OLP) ratio is down to 87.3% from 91.0% last month. The five year average is 87.4% and year to date is 91.1%.
-The median sold price was $210,000, down 19.2% from last months $260,000. The 5 year average is $235,030. 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 107, down from 116 days last month.
In summary, we had an average October in several categories. New listings, new pendings, closed sales were all right in line with the 5 year average. Where we gained a lot of ground – there are 80 less homes for sale overall versus the 5 year average and homes sold 40 days quicker than the average. Have a great day and thanks for reading!
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