Housing Slump is all a Marketing Scam...

OK, when we started the process of selling our house, the agent told us the average # of days for houses to be on the market.

The average had been higher for December, then lower in January, then lower again in February - which was something like 45 days.

45 days average on the market is a slump?
I thought that seemed pretty reasonable. A month and a half seems like a decent amount of time to sell a home.

+ PLUS - our neighborhood has notoriously good sales percentages.
(You tend to notice stuff like this after living in a place more than 5 years)

Basically, though, our buyers made their offer (and we accepted) about 35 days after putting the house on the market. Of course all the other finer details seemed to take longer than the whole viewing and buying process.

But 35 days doesn't seem long AT ALL!

Anyhow, my opinion is the whole housing slump is a marketing ploy.

Yes - Maybe some housing markets are slower.
Yes - Maybe expensive homes may take longer to sell. (I think starter homes are just fine)

But, overall, it's all marketing. Agents can get more buyers in the market by saying it's a buyers market. Plus, they can get sellers to come down more in their prices than normal, by making sellers think the market is a little soft.

All in all - Agents win!
Sellers still sell, but with lower expectations.
And buyers think they're gonna get a better deal.

My opinion - the market is normal. Don't listen to the B.S. If you have a normally priced starter home - you will sell it.

Al