Myrtle Beach Real Estate February 2019

Market and More

Have you ever wondered how accurate the Zillow Zestimate is on your Myrtle Beach property?

In addition to this month’s local real estate report, I thought it would be helpful to share some of the challenges sellers are having because of the online price estimates that exist on your property.

First, let’s look at the market...

1. Average Sales Price Increased $6.9% over prior year

2. New Listings Increased 14.9% (more listings are coming on the market)

3. Closed sales in January were down (-4.7%) over prior year

4. Average Days On Market down 5.6% compared to last year same time

As you can see above, the market is very active. We saw a strong month for sales yet the fact that listings increased and sales decreased, we could be at the beginning of a soft correction. 

There is a big difference in a correction and a crash. We don’t feel we will see a crash but as the market corrects itself we could see a softening in prices and an increase in the time it takes to sell a property. That’s is mostly due to the anticipation of rising inventory throughout the year.

IMPORTANT: Relying on Online Price Opinions can cost you thousands of dollars. We are seeing more sellers rely on these so-called "Zestimates" these days.

Please take a look at this property profile that we found on Zillow.

Do you see what I see?

Notice how much Zillow says this property is worth. The Zestimate says $879,705.

Looking closer, notice that this property just sold less than 4 months ago for $2,000,000.

This is a problem. Zillow says estimates the price to be $879,705 but it just sold for so much more. Good thing the seller didn’t listen to Zillow.

Unfortunately, most sellers are looking at Zillow or other online portals and think they are getting an accurate estimate of value.

We get calls often where an owner will tell us they want to sell for $200,000. Once we do the research, we find out we can get them much more. 

And, we also see the opposite. An owner thinks their property is worth $200,000 but it’s really worth $150,000. 

The bottom line: I strongly urge you to get a professional opinion from an agent (myself) before you put your property on the market. Price determines how much you get in your pocket and we don’t want to see you leaving money on the table.

I thought this Zillow listing would open your eyes to the dangers of relying on the internet to help you make buying or selling decisions.

I am more than willing to give you a more accurate assessment of what a property could sell for. That’s what we do every day. Even if you aren’t in the market to sell today, I am still willing to share market statistics with you.

My goal is always to help you reach your goals and protect you as best I can along the way. Please let me know how I can best be a resource for you.

And, don’t think I hate Zillow. We actually invest thousands of dollars investing in Zillow ads so we can attract buyers for our listings. I love Zillow and this information is intended to prevent you from making financial mistakes by relying on online estimates.

Is there anything we can help you with now?

Your Realtor,

~Greg Harrelson