In contrast, Jim and Dori Rutherford think they may have over-priced their house when they put it on the market, because in order to sell, they reduced the asking price three times. It still took seven weeks.
The Rutherfords started out listing their three-bedroom, one-bath house on the fringes of Alexandria's Del Ray neighborhood this summer for $525,000. They received no offers, so they lowered the price to $515,000. Still no offers, so they went down to $505,000. No offers again, so another price reduction to $499,000; they ended up getting a bid for $485,000.
"In retrospect, our pricing was too aggressive," Jim Rutherford said. "We heard comments at our open house about how it was a lot of money for one bathroom. But it was priced completely right for the spring market."
Agents and buyers say buyers are looking for value -- and when they find it, they will still jump.
"It is slowing down, but you still need to be prepared," said Ramee Gentry, who recently bought a townhouse in Alexandria. "If you see a place you like, you still need to be aggressive. People are still putting down strong offers."
Gentry estimated that about a third of the single-family houses she looked at before finding her townhouse were over-priced. "Some sellers were just completely unrealistic," she said. "We saw some really crummy houses that had had nothing done to them listed at top dollar for their neighborhood."
Boyd Campbell, managing broker at Century 21 Home Center's office in Lanham, said the agents in his office have seen no slowdown in most of Prince George's County, which has the lowest median sales price of any close-in county in the area.
"There's been a modest slowdown in a couple of Zip codes in the county that are priced in the $600,000 range and above," Campbell said. "Between the $200,000 and $400,000 price range, it's as vibrant as it's always been, evidenced by multiple offers, escalation clauses and well-qualified buyers."
Campbell said: "It has everything to do with price."
One of the biggest factors contributing to the slowdown is an increase in the number of properties for sale, called the inventory.
Analysis from the Greater Capital Area Association of Realtors show that the number of properties for sale increased in all the large local jurisdictions this fall. The number of homes available for sale in the area at the beginning of October was at the highest level of the year for all those areas, the figures showed.
"There's a lot more inventory than there has been," said agent Jay Moody of the McEnearney Associates office in Arlington.
"There's more on the market now than we've had all year," echoed Candy Clanton of Re/Max Allegiance in Fairfax.
Condos and new construction, especially in close-in locations, are the exception. Condos are still moving quickly because more buyers have been pushed out of the single-family and townhouse market and into condos by ever-spiraling prices. Empty-nesters have also embraced the urban condo lifestyle.
