Posted by Leonard Steinberg on January 8th, 2012

I have just returned from Manhattan Sunday open houses…..the first official weekend of the New Year is always an indicator to me as to how strong or weak the first half of the year will be……and things looked good. The volume of buyers was not huge, although sharply improved from December, but the quality of buyers was especially strong. This is what I saw:

1)  Very, very well researched buyers….clearly these people have done their homework and know whats out there and are somewhat stunned at how few options are out there fro them to choose.

2)  Very focused, serious buyers: the buyers I saw were not tourists. They were serious about buying. And several came along with their primary reason for a move…..kids.

3)  I may be mistaken, but I felt I saw for the first time in many months (if not years) that look in buyers eyes that started to read……. I S   T H E   B U Y E R S   M A R K E T   O V E R?

My advice to buyers:  Focus on looking now at all your options….only if you hated everything you saw, rent and wait. If not, buy the ‘best of’. Very soon I see the best of the existing inventory shrinking even further.

My advice to sellers:  Now could be the best window of opportunity to sell…..once all those swell, new buildings come on line buyers will be tempted to wait for what they REALLY want, even though it will be more expensive.