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This is an interesting topic and one that may be hard to understand. The market has slowed down over the last 3 years due to several reasons and economists argue over them everyday. You could make a long list.

The number one reason property values have dropped is very simple. Buyers are not buying. You can start a long list of reasons but still it goes back to number one every time.

Three years ago I could understand why a buyer should be cautious and the news media was all bad. Today, the news media is still negative but things have changed quite a bit since then. Prices of property has dropped 15 - 50% depending are where you are, interest rates are super low and most people are working.

For example, in the Branson area you can easily purchase a home for 30% less than in 2008 and interest has dropped another 1.5 %. I had a seller take his home off the market to refinance it. Most of the time I would say that does not make any financial sense when trying to sell your home. The seller had two mortgages, a fixed rate primary loan and a secondary ARM loan. They have excellent credit scores and were quoted 3.6% interest rate combining both loans and lowering their monthly payment by $ 500.00 per month. I told them to go for it.

I am not sure why buyers are not taking advantage of the opportunity they have right now. I wish I was buying a home now. I could get almost twice the home for the same monthly payment. Is that cool or what?

Hopefully the buyers figure it out soon before interest rates go up and the government increases qualifications for loans and down payments. They are trying to do that right now.

It will take some time for the market to work out of this slump but wow, how good are the buyers going to feel that purchased when property and interest rates were cheap.

Till next time,

Rob