It’s easy to be enthusiastic about our local market when we’ve had steadily declining availability and steadily rising pending sales for months. The fact that our prices are now stable is even more encouraging, although some sources think that the Feds have effectively raised house prices by about 5%.

I am starting to see signs that things aren’t all good on the horizon.

I work in an office that has about 400 agents*. There’s another Brokerage upstairs that has over 100 agents. There are probably a dozen non-real estate offices in the building as well. It’s a Saturday morning, and I needed to drop by the office. You would expect there to be plenty of buyer’s agents around, meeting clients for tours and frantically getting paperwork together to try and close before the first time homebuyer tax credit runs out**.

There were maybe a half dozen cars in the lot, total. When I got in the office, I saw no signs of other people, save one briefcase sitting by a computer. The office was totally silent. Frankly, the whole thing was spooky. I realize it’s a beautiful Saturday in October, but if the market is really hopping, there should be people who need to get work done today, period.

This observation is very local. Heck, it might be that all the action happens to be on the other end of town today. Possible, but unlikely.

What does this mean to you? If you are a buyer, it means you will have less competition very soon and that’s a good thing. If you are a seller, it means that correct pricing and doing little things to spruce up your property are the key to getting a purchase offer in a timely fashion.

* And growing. If you are a Vegas Realtor and are considering a move, go ahead and hit the “Contact Me!” link so we can talk.

** Theoretically, it should still be possible. Realistically, if the contract isn’t already accepted by the seller, it’s going to be difficult. Don’t count on writing an offer today and closing by the end of November unless it’s a private seller (not a short sale) and you have an absolutely tenacious mortgage broker.