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West Michigan realtors get creative as housing market slows

In response to the slowing market, Greg Smith II says realtors are having to get creative and work harder on the listing side to get homes sold.
Credit: Eric Howard
A West Michigan realtor is getting creative by adding a 'Not Haunted' sign to the top of a for sale sign at a Grand Rapids home.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich — A West Michigan realtor says the market is starting to slow down a bit meaning now is a good time to buy and sell houses.

Greg Smith II, with Five Star Real Estate, says there are three reasons for this.

The first is because we do not know what's going to happen with the economy due to inflation. Smith says this is causing people to remain in waiting mode to see how this is going to impact their everyday lives.

Smith says is he thinks a lot of buyers are frustrated with the current state of the market and are tired of competing for every property and having to overpay $60,000 for a house.

"So it's all those factors play in and then with the interest rates going up, that's the main reason," Smith said. "But I think all that plays into why the market is starting to kind of change now, where it's a little bit easier for buyers to get a house, in my opinion, because there's not as much competition," he said.

Smith says right now homes are selling in two weeks instead of one week so they are still selling strong and expects that trend to continue.

RELATED: Inflation is also driving up your property taxes

In response to the slowing market, Smith says realtors are having to get creative and work harder on the listing side to get homes sold.

He has added some Halloween spirit to some of his homes on the market, by putting a sign that says 'not haunted' on top of the for sale sign.

Smith tells us this is part of his sense of humor and being integrated in his relator career.

"I have several different ones. I have 'not haunted',  one that says 'free pizza with purchase of home', and one for winter, that is kind of a play on Christmas vacation that says 'it's a beaut Clark', so it's just something that I do to promote my listings," Smith said.

RELATED: Despite rising interest rates, don't expect West Michigan housing prices to go down

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