WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Vermont Housing Market in Deep Freeze?

Vermont Housing Market in Deep Freeze?

Burlington, Vermont - May 11, 2007

Jill Stone and her husband have been trying to sell their Burlington home for a month now.

"It's actually been going great, in the sense that we've had a few showings, and we've had a few offers. But the offers are coming in lower than our listing price," said Stone.

The Stone's situation is not unique. For years the housing market had been red hot.

"In inventory terms, we had a crisis. We had historically low number of homes available and everybody wanted one, so you had 3, 4, 5 people competing for each home available. It was severe," said Tom Heney of Lang McLaughry Spera, a real estate company in South Burlington.

But then things began to cool. The number of houses for sale in Vermont has about doubled in the last two years.

The downturn in the housing market in Vermont has not been as dramatic as other parts of the country. Experts say it's not a seller's market anymore, but it's not buyer's market either.

"It's what I call a stable market. So, you're not seeing anything appreciating, but we're not seeing the big dips -- we're not seeing people having to drop 25,000, 50,000," said Geri Reilly, a realtor from the Burlington area.

Despite more inventory, prices are stable. That does give buyers some flexibility when shopping for homes.

"You don't have to make an offer right away, there's plenty on the market for people to take a look at. When we were buying 2 and half, 3 years ago, you had to make an offer that day or the house was gone," said Stone.

"Buyers can go out, look at maybe 5, 6, 10 houses, have a choice, think about it, make an intelligent decision. They don't have to rush home and get the checkbook or bring the checkbook with them," continued Reilly.

The Stones are lucky to have the luxury to wait for the right buyer to come along.

Concluded Stone: "As of now, we're going to wait for the right offer."

A wait that, despite most likely being longer than it would have been a few years ago, should be over soon.

Alex Martin - WCAX News