Buyer behavior is changing
... because of $4 gasoline. The high cost of gas is certainly influencing car buying right now and will influence home buying in the future as well.
My wife and I were shopping for a new car yesterday. Right now we have 2 Saturn VUE's. Mine is leased and hers is owned. My lease expires in mid July and since she doesn't drive very much (to the airport on Monday and back from the airport on Friday) her car has very few miles so I'm going to take it and she'll get a new car.
And we're thinking about really good gas mileage and so are most other car buyers today.
We looked at Toyota and Honda and the salesmen indicated that they had very few fuel efficient cars in stock and "deals" were unavailable. At MINI, we had to wait almost 30 minutes just to get a car to test drive and there is an 8 week wait when ordering. On the other hand, dealers selling big cars and trucks have incentives galore but nobody on their lots. Times are changing.
What will be the impact on Charleston real estate.
I've always asked people who are going to relocate to Charleston 3 questions to help determine where they should be looking for homes in Charleston.
Where will you be working.
What schools do you want your children to attend.
What interests do you have and what do you like to do.
Schools and interests will continue to be important to anyone considering where to buy a home but I think that drive time to work will become a much more important issue to Charleston home buyers in the future. Gone will be the days of 1 hour commutes burning gallons of gas just to get to work. I think we'll begin to see more multi use developments with work, shopping and living and I think we'll see more people considering urban homes with more "in fill" developments being planned and offered by builders and developers.