“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.
December 2019 – We finished the month with 47 new listings, down from 48 new listings last month. There 21 fewer homes for sale right now than last month and the median price in November was $250,000. The best news of all?!?! The Wisp was able to open on December 13! As I write this, I am looking out my window at the amazing view of operational chairlifts and real human bodies skiing down the mountain!
The specifics:
-There were less new listings in November …47 new listings versus 48 in October. That is much higher than the 5 year average of 32.
-Pending sales (homes that went under contract) were down 10.2% – 44 total homes. This is again down from last months 9.3%.
-Closed sales (homes that actually sold) were down 12.8% from last month, with a total of 41 sales county-wide. Ironically, exactly in line with November 2018.
-The total number of active listings is now down to 340 active listings from 361 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 87.9% from 87.3% last month. The five year average is 87.2% and year to date is 90.8%.
-The median sold price was back up to $250,000, up 19% from last months $210,000. The 5 year average is $241,940. 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 194, WAY UP from 107 days last month.
November, overall, was a typical month in the real estate market. We are up to 464 total sales for the year, which is an incredibly high number we haven’t seen for quite some time. The economy seems to be on fire and fueling more activity than usual. Now that the weather is cooperating, we may be able to put together a magical winter sales market, as well! Merry Christmas 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