April 2020 Real Estate Market Update – Livingston County, Michigan

We have your April 2020 Livingston County Real Estate Market Update. Let's jump right into this thing.

Obviously we've had just absolute massacre in the markets everywhere and we've gone been all going through a lot of things here. It's really time to get a hold of your financial situation. It's time to see where your expenses are, see where your assets are, your liabilities, see whether the cash flow is coming in and out every month, and understand where one of your biggest liabilities. I know many people think it's an asset, but one of your biggest liabilities, where that is, and what kind of equity you might have in that home. And if you remember, an asset is something that puts money in your pocket every month. A home is something you're paying every month. So it's really a liability of yours. It's something you're paying on every month and it's your bank's asset. Needless to say, it's still one of your biggest liabilities and you're paying. It's probably your biggest payment every month. You have to know what's going on with it, where your equity lies in that cause. That's the only thing you can hopefully get out of it possible, whether it's a line of credit because it needs some liquidity or maybe it is selling a home. So let's jump right into this - Livingston County, April 2020. We have three years of data because you want to see the trend. It's going to be very important here when we're doing this to see the trend. We have the last month here, in arrears, because we have all the data fresh, hot-off-the-press.

Days on market

Fifty-six days two years ago, 69 last year and then back down to 51 days this year. We're so close to the center of the storm that we have because of the low inventory, which you're going to see here in a little bit. We're getting higher prices and we're getting shorter times on the market because of that. We're seeing that across the board.

Active homes in the market

This is a one-day sample size. The day the data was taken, how many homes were active in the market? Five hundred seventy-nine two years ago, 635 last year and 604 this year. So again, we are seeing a little bit of a drop. It's more significant to some of the other counties.

Months of inventory

This is the rate that homes are selling. How long would it take to sell every last home if no new homes came on the market? Two months two years ago, 3 last year and then now up to four this year. And we're seeing this trend, this increasing trend in every county. We're headed towards more of a balanced market for now. We'll see. But again, we're seeing huge crush in demand, right? So there's a deflationary event like this, you gotta stay home. Well that means fewer people are out searching home, especially when you can't search for homes. So that's why this number is like this. Remember, one to three months is a seller's market, four to six is a balanced market. And then seven-plus months of inventory is a buyer's market.

New homes in the market

This is a month-wide number. So how many homes actually got listed that month and this is going to bother your mind a little bit. Four hundred sixty-eight two years ago, 482 last year, was very consistent, 151 this past month in Livingston County. That is absurd. And again, seeing this across the board, I believe it was a one-county thing. Wayne might've been pretty consistent actually. But all the other counties just crushed very deflationary.

Price per square foot

One hundred forty-two dollars a square foot two years ago, $144 last year, $157 this year. Again, we're seeing that we're so close to the storm. We have low inventory. It's making prices rise here in the short term. Multiplying that by your square footage, that's about how valuable your house is. Again, you need someone on our team, you need an appraiser or someone to actually come to your house to get it appraised and get an actual value on your home. This is a county-wide number, remember that.

Sold

This is the number of people actually closing on their homes and at the closing table signing. So, 253 two years ago, 237 last year and then 158, a big decrease this year. What does that mean? Thirty percent decrease or more? We've gone on around there, a quick number. So a huge decrease there. We're seeing that again across the board going forward. It's going to be absolutely crazy to see what happens. You would look at one expert like Ken McElroy per se, a bunch of Rich Dad advisors. They think, the market's going off the cliff and then you look at people that are out there as well. You got a lot of like the Wall Street people who think they know the market's going right back up and look at the stock market going right back up. I tend to lie on the side of - remember, we want to be in the middle. We want to be in the middle, on the edge and what we can see both sides of the coin. I tend to see the side that we're going to be going towards massive, massive volatility eventually here. So with that many people out of work, businesses closing down, that doesn't lead to good things. And in the short term, yes, prices go up sometimes. Prices are going up and housing, because of inventory, crush, and a deflationary event. But I just can't see that lasting forever.

So anyway, I appreciate you guys tuning in. This is, as I said, the most important investment that you have, the biggest liability that most people have and you need to know where you stand that way you can make it a correct decision for you guys, for yourself. I appreciate you guys, your time, your energy is the most important thing we have. So I truly, truly appreciate it. If you have any questions, please go to @legacygroupmi, on our Facebook or YouTube channel. Especially if you're on the podcast, go there, put your questions, comments, concerns, tag people, share it. We appreciate your, your time, your energy. It's always the important asset we have. We will see you guys in the next one. Stay safe.