The Editor:
According to local banks visited recently in Estevan, it appears that realtors in town are holding onto a dream that once was. The realtors are attempting to hold prices for single family dwellings high by keeping the prices on properties at premium levels based on the last Estevan area boom.
Some personal acquaintances are upset because they have tried to drop the prices of their own houses that are presently listed and overpriced in today’s Estevan market and were told they have to wait until their real estate listing agreement came to the contractual end of the property listing date. At that time, the homeowner could then list with someone else.
Prices of single family dwellings have dropped $100,000 or more across the board since the boom and maybe dropping even more since the boom died over 18 months ago.
Bank appraisals for properties are a lot lower (generally $80,000 to $120,000) lower than realtor appraised values and new home buyers are not able to acquire property unless the purchaser wishes to place more money down on the property to offset the bank’s appraisal versus the real estate agents’ listed price.
Property price correction will eventually take place and realtors will have to come to the realization that the present economy does not support the prices they place on their MLS listings. For any potential newcomers to Estevan, hopefully, this will happen sooner rather than later.
Todd Thompson
Estevan
