David Hungate
South Roanoke homes have shown a significant drop in value since the 2007 peak.
South Roanoke homes have shown a significant drop in value since the 2007 peak.
As Roanoke Valley home prices struggle toward their 2007 peak numbers, it remains a buyers’ market, and those buyers are more discerning and knowledgeable than ever.
“Since the recession, I have seen real estate change drastically as to what buyers are looking for in the way of a purchase,” says Anne Lee Stevens of MKB Realtors. “HGTV has, and continues to have, a strong influence on purchasers, especially the younger ones. They want everything perfect, do not want to do any ‘fixing up.’ Young buyers aren’t as ‘emotional’ as they once were. They don’t envision where to place the Christmas tree; they are somewhat more practical.”
This changing attitude has changed the market mantra from “location, location, location” to “location, condition, condition,” Stevens says. She sees another factor also driving the market – the movement back toward town from suburbia. “People want to walk to villages, church, a post office, greenways. To see your neighbors, strolling the sidewalks.”
And yes the real estate market that went south after the bad-loans debacle in 2007 has begun trickling back, but to a new world. Buyers are more particular, and the escalating values that got the market in trouble prior to 2007 no longer exist.