“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.
Our market remains hot so far in 2020.You would think the warmer temperatures and winter weather ‘struggles’ we have experienced would put a damper on things here, but the truth is – the numbers tell a different story. Vacationers are still coming up, regardless of the weather. We are selling out 100% of our rentals on these prime ski weekends, so that tells me there is more than a ski resort that is a draw to so many. We are blessed to live in a special place and I think people truly love coming here as their sanctuary/family getaway. THAT – and not the weather (or lack thereof) is what is driving the real estate market we see. Supply is LOW. Demand is HIGH. That is a winning recipe for shedding inventory and driving prices up. I think our ‘spring market’ is here in full force, albeit a little earlier than usual.
The specifics:
-There were FAR more new listings in January…41 new listings versus 17 in December. That is 18% lower than the 5 year average of 50 properties in January 2019.
-Pending sales (homes that went under contract) were up 60.7% – 45 total homes. This is up from last months impressive 36.4% and it surpasses the 5 year average (36 homes).
-Closed sales (homes that actually sold) were down 29.2% from last month, with a total of 34 sales county-wide. That is still higher than the 5 year average.
-The total number of active listings is now down to 257 active listings from 277 last month.
-The average sold to original listing price (OLP) ratio is 90.7%, up from 85.5% last month. The five year average is 87.8% and year to date is of course 90.7%.
-The median sold price was down again to $190,000. This is down 16.9% from last months $228,750. The 5 year average is $249,000. (Jay’s note) *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, over 100 days shorter than the 273 days last 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