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Posts Tagged ‘Home Sellers’

One Reason Some Properties Stay on the Market for Way Too Long

Posted in General Real Estate Market, Iredell County, Lake Norman, Real Estate, tagged , , , on November 14, 2012 | 1 Comment »

I have some buyer clients coming to the Lake Norman area this weekend.  They’ve already visited once and become somewhat familiar with our market, our communities, and some of our neighborhoods.  In planning the next trip, they asked about a property in one of the neighborhoods in which they have an interest.  According to the property’s statistics, it’s been on the market a LONG time.  They asked me to look into it to see if I can figure out why.  That I did, using our MLS history and tax records.  After scanning all of the info, it became somewhat clear why the house has not yet sold, at least as far as can be told without a conversation with the sellers.

MLS Average Price per Square Foot
Click to Enlarge

The house was bought brand new in 2006 for a bit under $310,000.  For some reason, the sellers put it on the market around a year later for almost $350,000.  Why would anyone try to sell so soon, and for such a substantial increase over what they paid?  That information we can’t know, but it would be a good guess to say that the sellers had a change in circumstances that forced them to put the property on the market.  At that time the market was about 6 months before hitting the pricing peak (see graph), so it was understandable that the sellers could be optimistic about getting more than they paid, but that was a big jump for one year.  As we know, in early 2008, the housing market, along with the general economy, started to decline.  Nobody knew how far things would drop, but the direction was definitely down.  The problem with moving markets, particularly down ones, is that to price things right, one has to guess where the price will be in the coming months and adjust accordingly.  The sellers stood pat for quite awhile, then eventually made a small reduction, and rode that for a long time.  The property didn’t sell.  They took it off the market for an extended time, and then re-entered the market with a $50,000 reduction.  Following this, they further reduced it to $260,000 where it is now.  That price is now somewhat competitive with the neighborhood comps. So, they started at $350,000, and now it’s at $260,000.  From what I can see of the property on the MLS, it looks to be a very nice house with some good upgrades, so there’s no apparent issue with the condition or location.  Quite often, this scenario ends up as a short sale and possibly eventually a foreclosure.  Whatever caused the sellers to price the way they did when they started out, obviously, it was a plan that was doomed to failure.The lesson here is that when you are pricing a house using a Realtor, demand that the Realtor be brutally honest about the pricing, with an eye toward the direction of the local market.  Don’t adopt the “I’m not going to give it away” attitude if you really want to sell.  If you price the property too high, you won’t be giving it away because you won’t be selling it.  Your Realtor will do just as an appraiser will do- check out recent sales of comparable properties, and take a look at the local competition.  You’ve got to look at your property the way a buyer will see it along with all the other available properties.  When a buyer is ready to negotiate, they’ll have their Realtor provide local recent sales for comparison because no one wants to pay more for a property than others have recently paid.  Recent sellers establish “market value.”  Also, if you’re getting a mortgage, the lender will have their appraiser do the same thing to establish local market value.  The buyer may agree to too high a price, but their lender won’t- no mortgage, no sale!  In this case, the high price will have just wasted more time on the market.

Always remember that one way or the other, time is money, whether it be in carrying two mortgages, or just paying interest and taxes on a property too long.   The sooner you sell, the better.  So, the more reasonably priced the property relative to the current and future market, the faster your property will sell.

We’re starting to finally see some price appreciation in our local market, so hopefully this situation won’t happen as often.  Nevertheless, sellers still must price their properties within a range that will appeal to buyers in the market.

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Helping People Move From Anywhere to Anywhere

Posted in Quality of Life, Real Estate, tagged , , on August 1, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

It looks like the economy is starting to pick up some steam.  As a result, we’re seeing more people moving from one part of the country to another.  Sometimes they have the assistance of a company relocation department to help them find good real estate professsionals to help them.  Often, though, they are on their own in finding Realtors to help them sell their current home and find a new home in their new location.  Yes, they can just “Google” the area to find local Realtors, but that’s somehow not as satisfying as having a real estate professional recommended to you based on their history and performance.  As in all types of business, a personal referral is the highest quaility referral because the results reflect on the referring individual.  They want to be sure they recommend a highly qualified person for the job.

ImageColdwell Banker makes it easy for me to arrange a great referral.  We have people all over the world who are relied upon by their local relocation departments to help people who are leaving or entering our area.  I’m one of those Realtors, and often get the opportunity to work with people who have a need to list or buy property.  When someone I know needs to move from any area to any other area, I can help them connect with one of these excellent agents through our Relocation Department.  They don’t have to add the worry of finding a good real estate professsional to all the other concerns of moving.  Our “Relo” staff will contact their counterparts in any part of the world and use their knowledge of qualified agents to recommend one to the folks needing their service- no more “choose and hope.”  The client can be assured that they will have a chance to interview a superb professional who can smooth all the bumps in the road.

So, if you know someone who’s thinking of moving and in need of a recommendation for a real estate professional in the area from which they’re moving or to which their moving, I can help.  Just have them contact me.  I’ll explain everything about the process.  My greatest pleasure from this business is having the ability to make what can be a scary process of moving into a really pleasant experience, and make great new friends as we go through the process.

Call me.  I can help.

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MarketWatch Explanation of Low Mortgage Rates

Posted in General Real Estate Market, Real Estate, tagged , , , , , on June 19, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

I was visiting my daugher in Chapel Hill last Sunday for Father’s Day and saw an article in her Raleigh News and Observer that caught my eye.  It’s a column by Amy Hoak of MarketWatch on why mortgage rates are so low. It offers a good fundamental explanation of why we’re seeing such low rates and gives some idea of what may change that in the future.  It also has some additional interesting info quoted from Clear Capital such as, “Clear Capital recently reported that national home prices were up only 0.1% in the second quarter, from the year-early period. That’s far from the 3% to 4% appreciation expected in a healthy market.”  They go on to say that this is a first in quite some time, but still a necessary first step.

If you’re interested in the state of the real estate market both in terms of interest rates and home prices, I’d recommend you take a few minutes to read this well-written article HERE.

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I’m Often Asked “How’s the Real Estate Market?”

Posted in General Real Estate Market, Huntersville, Iredell County, Lake Norman, Lincoln County, Mecklenburg County, Real Estate, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on January 14, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Having gone through the recent holiday season and the social gatherings the holidays bring, I once again got asked a particular question very frequently.  Fortunately for me, lots of folks know I’m a Realtor, so they ask me how’s the market.  Of course, most don’t plan to move anytime soon, but like lots of people, they view the health of the real estate market as a bellweather for the health of the overall market.  My standard response lately has been, “Houses are selling, buyers are buying.  My buyers are quite happy.  My sellers are not happy.”  The reasons are that in fact, our sales volume has been going up over the last six or seven months.  However, that has been accomplished at the expense of overall pricing.  Look at the chart below which shows average per square foot prices (including land) for our local multiple listing service area based on a 12 month moving average.  Prices have been going down in each price category.

Ave price per sq. ft. CMLS 12-11

Fortunately, our inventory is also going down from 12.5 months of inventory in December of 2010 (at then current sales rates) to 9.1 months of inventory in December of 2011.  As inventory goes down, we will eventually get to an equilibrium point where there is balance between buyers’ market and sellers’ market.  Historically that has been at 5-6 months of inventory. Only then will we likely see an overall increase in prices.  Another question for which there’s no easy answer is that of how many foreclosure homes will be added to the market over the next few years.  Lenders don’t want to dump all of their inventory on the market at once since that would dilute the prices of all homes on the market.  Foreclosures are currently down to 2007 levels according to a report on MSN Real Estate HERE, but the article explains that there are underlying issues that could change the rate of foreclosure in the future.

One reason for encouragement here in the Lake Norman NC area is that according to recent reports, North Carolina is one of the top five destinations for people moving from other, largely northern, areas.  See the article about this HERE.  Real estate agents in our area can attest that many of the buyers they are working with are from northern states, and many of them have come at the recommendation of friends who’ve already made the move.  As they move to our area, they will help to reduce the excess inventory and finally see some increase in home prices.

I keep an eye on expert opinion on the economy from many sources.  We don’t yet have full agreement that things are turning around, but I certainly see more positive than negative outlooks now, and that’s encouraging.  For homebuyers, that positive sentiment and confidence in the future is key to their willingness to sign on the dotted line.

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Planning Real Estate Closings

Posted in General Real Estate Market, Iredell County, Mooresville, tagged , , on December 6, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

I was talking with my bride yesterday about the differences in our work schedules.  She’s a teacher in the Mooresville school system and has short-term and long-term lesson plans to follow, and specific things to accomplish.  She works very hard to make all those things happen on time and with great academic results.  Sometimes, it puts a heavy load on her to get it all done by the appointed time, but she gets it done.  I, on the other hand, have long-term plans, short-term plans, intermediate term plans and spur of the moment plans in relation to helping my clients finally either sell a property or buy a property.  When I wake up in the morning, I have some specific things I want to accomplish.  They may have to do with marketing my services, marketing my listings, searching for properties for my buyers, or working on the details of upcoming closings.  As it turns out, it’s a rare day when my morning plans match my end of the day accomplishments.  That’s because the business of real estate has a tendency to be somewhat reactive to unexpected results on inspections, appraisals, repairs, calls from brand new clients, calls from current clients, and a myriad of other things that will throw off the plans for the day, or week or month. 

Real estate agents have to be very flexible, creative and understanding of everyone’s priorities in order to keep from going nuts.  They’ve also got to have those characteristics to keep their clients from going nuts, too!  I’ve often told my clients that one of the unappreciated roles of an effective real estate agent is to act as a “shock absorber” for their clients.  We know that clients, both buyers and sellers, are excited and somewhat anxious about making their plans work.  Good real estate agents put considerable effort into managing all the variables and surprises than can crop up to make the path to a closing a bumpy one.  We do our best to anticipate those bumps, but “stuff” does happen in spite of our best efforts.  That’s when a good understanding of the process and good relationships with our service providers can help smooth out those bumps.

I’ve had 3 buyer closings on the books for several months, and I took special care to spread them out on the calendar.  But “stuff” showed up on two out of three, and now this week I’ll have all three closings within two or three days.  Don’t get me wrong.  I’m happy to have these three closings, but that’s not how I’d plan them.  We just have to take a deep breath, and do what needs to be done to make all clients involved happy.  If we do that and remain calm, the visit to the closing table will be a welcome finale to the long transaction process, and there’ll be no last-minute surprises.

Surprises are great for Christmas, but not for closings!

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A Pretty Good Day- Again!

Posted in Iredell County, Lake Norman, Mooresville, tagged , , , , , , , on August 11, 2011 | 1 Comment »

Yesterday was one of those days that stick in my mind as a Realtor.  That’s because I closed on a Lake Norman property and got a verbal agreement on another Mooresville property on the same day.  That’s the kind of day I really like. House Deed The funny thing is that the same thing happened last month.  I mean, what are the odds on that?  In any case, I’d like to think that this is a confirmation that there are ready, willing and able buyers out there even though we’ve got all kinds of difficult issues in our economy.  The fact is that in spite of the negative news, there are always people out there who want or need to buy real estate due to a job move, have a need to downsize or upsize, or are ready to fulfill a dream that they’ve been working on for many years.  The ups and downs of our economy can affect people whose choice to move is optional.  For example if they want to have more confidence in the future of their employment, they may choose to wait and see how that turns out.  But there are many others whose personal circumstances allow them to make the decision right now.  The goal for sellers is to ensure their home is very attractive and priced right, meaning competitive with the alternatives (their competitors) in the market.  The house that is going under contract for my buyers this week is one of 18 we saw over the weekend.  Those 18 were selected out of a list of 93 properties that met our search criteria.

Yes, there’s lots of competition out there, and getting an offer almost seems like winning the lottery.  Fortunately, sellers can improve their odds to better than lottery rates by following the advice of their listing agent on condition, presentation, and price.

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How Do You Want It- Good News or Bad News?

Posted in Finance, General Real Estate Market, Mooresville, tagged , on July 26, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Listening to the radio while driving to my Mooresville office this morning, I heard a news report on the just released S&P/ Case-Shiller Housing Price Report.  The reporter was upbeat and stated that in the latest report of 20 American metropolitan areas the average sale price went up 1% in May.  Mr. Case was quoted as being somewhat more positive in his outlook than he was some months ago.

I then saw another headline on a news website that stated from the same report they found that the average sale price went down 3.6%.  Here’s a link.

How can this be?  Well, as I’ve said before, you can make numbers and statistics do whatever you want to do depending on how they are used.  In this case, one reporter wanted to find something positive about our current housing market, and the other felt more inclined to report something negative.  Who knows? Maybe it was how they were brought up!  One had crabby, negative parents, and the other had happy, smiling, glass half full parents.

In any case, what they’re reporting is that from April to May of this year, the average price went up 1%.  However, this May’s figure compared to May a year ago was down 3.6%.  So, they’re both right.  What do we make of it?  My guess, guided by frequently reading many “experts” in the field, is that we may see a bit more downside overall, but we’re probably bumping on the bottom.  The real question is how long we’ll bump on the bottom?  No one really knows since there are many factors that will affect that.  But I think you can safely assume that if you’re holding out to sell a property when the price goes up, you’re going to have to wait several years.  And when it does go up, it’s likely to be a long climb that won’t reach anywhere near our high prices of the peak of our market.  Those prices were created by really dumb lending practices that we hope to never see again.  They were largely responsible for the burst bubble that created our present economic problems.

So if you’re waiting for prices to rise, settle back, take your shoes off and grab a good book.  Make that lots of good books.  You’ve got a long wait!

My clients often tell me that they don’t want to give their property away.  I understand that emotion.  The problem is that if they actually do want to sell, they will have to sell at a lower price than they’d like because the price they would like to get was set in the past and is not going to come back.  What they truly are giving away is something more precious than money, and that’s time.  Everyone’s only got so much of it, so we should use our’s wisely.  If you want to get on with your plans in the finite amount of time you have on this earth, you need to do what’s needed to move ahead.  Time will not stop, and you’ll have less of it tomorrow than you did today, but if you don’t price your property according to the current market and where it’s headed, you’ll be losing that valuable time forever.  You won’t be living in the place you’d most enjoy because you’re waiting for something to happen that very likely won’t happen- selling at that “not give it away” price.

The older I get, the more I understand that you shouldn’t make all of your decisions on a financial basis.  Happiness is made up of a lot of things, and financial ability and stability are obviously important.   But there are so many other things that contribute to happiness, you should keep your financial decisions in perspective as only one of those keys to happiness.

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Real Estate Technology vs Old School Skills

Posted in Charlotte, General Real Estate Market, tagged , , , on May 11, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Yesterday Coldwell Banker held a meeting in Charlotte to give their area agents additional information about the effective use of all the technology that they make available to agents and their clients in marketing and buying homes.  I attended and added some useful tools to my repertoire.  I’m a pretty “techie” guy for my age- my bride says I spend too much time on computers- but I continue to just be amazed at all the cool tools we have available to us.  When I started in the business ten years ago, our technology uses were pretty much summed up with basic cell phones, a simple agent web site and understanding how to use email.  I was quite familiar with all of those things then, but little did I know how much more would be added to the tool kit!  Ever since then, keeping up has been kind of like trying to drink from a fire hose.  Social networking, blogging (!), texting, virtual tours, QR codes, Google tools, computer tablets plus many more technologies all have come about as important or potentially important tech tools that agents must evaluate, learn and apply in order to make the most of their time and efforts in effectively working for their clients, both buyers and sellers.

If you’ve kept up with digital technology over the last 20 years, you’ll notice that there is always a constant stream of tech goodies coming on-line that the developers absolutely guarantee will be the answer to everyone’s prayers.  “They’ll transform your life for the better.  They’ll save you time.  They’ll enable you to leap tall buildings with a single bound! (dating myself)”  Of course, also if you have the perspective of looking back on those 20 years, you’ll understand that some of these goodies catch on, and other flame out of existence pretty quickly.  Case in point- when’s the last time you drove by a “Talking House?”  The folks selling this stuff to real estate agents are constantly coming up with new gadgets.  Back when real estate was booming, they could sell plenty of shiny things to new agents who’d hope that their investment would pay off with lots of new business.  Most often it wouldn’t, and many agents spent plenty, made little, and eventually dropped out of the business.  But back then, there were plenty of newbies coming along to replace them.  Now, not so much.

The point here is that it’s good for us agents to keep up with technology and use it when it benefits our clients.  Thankfully, Coldwell Banker United, Realtors, my company, makes a large investment in providing tools which are actually useful and the training on how to effectively use them.  It gives us a great advantage over many other companies and agents.  However, there’s no technology that can provide experience, good judgement, good negotiating skills and knowledge of all the pitfalls to avoid that defines a good real estate agent.  When you’re thinking about using the services of a Realtor®, please do find one who uses lots of technology to your advantage, but remember that it all comes down to a contract handled by agents with good people skills and knowledge of real estate law that helps all parties achieve their real estate goals.

Come to think of it, if you’re in the area and need some help on real estate, just call me!

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She Quoted Me!

Posted in General Real Estate Market, Iredell County, tagged , , , , on May 5, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Several weeks ago I was driving to Raleigh to attend a meeting of the Board of Directors of the NC Association of Realtors.  About an hour into my drive, I got a call from a reporter from The Statesville Record & Landmark, Donna Swicegood (I know, but I was using my “Bluetooth” earpiece).  I knew Donna from my days managing a Century 21 real estate office in Troutman.  We met while both serving on the board of the Statesville version of Crimestoppers, so it was good to hear from her. 

Donna had been assigned to work on a special supplement called Investing in Our Community, and one of the articles she was writing focused on the local real estate market.  She proceeded to ask me some questions about the local real estate market and the advisability of purchasing real estate right now.  Of course, no self-respecting real estate agent would ever generally advise against buying.  But also no self-respecting real estate agent would advise someone to buy when it was not in their best interests, given their particular circumstances.  The fact is that in every market, up or down, there are people who need to sell and people who need to buy in order to reach some specific goal in their plans.  It may be because their family is growing, they’re moving for a job change, or the kids have flown the nest and they want to down-size.  All kinds of people have all kinds of stories and reasons to do what they need to do.  It’s the role of a good Realtor® to understand what people need to accomplish and help them get it done.

So with that in mind, I answered Donna’s questions and looked forward to seeing the results in print.  The overall thrust of my comments were that if you have a desire or need to buy real estate, I don’t think prices are likely to drop substantially from where we are now, so waiting for lower prices is risky.  The risk is that even if prices go a bit lower, interest rates, which are still historically low, may very well start back up, wiping out any savings on mortgage payments.  The economists just can’t predict with any accuracy what will happen in the next 6 to 12 months, but one thing we do know right now- housing is relatively affordable compared to years past, so trying to time the market may not be wise, particularly if it makes sense in terms of your housing goals.  Our area continues to be a popular destination for people who want to move from other parts of the country, and we’re starting to see some positive indicators on the economic front.  As demand picks up, so eventually will prices. 

You can read the entire article here: R&L Special Edition 5-1-11 Suther Quotes

Thanks to Donna Swicegood for the phone call and interview.

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New Real Estate Construction Putting Pressure on Resales

Posted in General Real Estate Market, Iredell County, Lake Norman, Mooresville, tagged , , , , , , on February 15, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

A recent post from this blog discussed the need for sellers to be realistic and aware of the market in which they’re selling and the nature of their competition.  Today, I visited a couple of new home sellers at their models and came away with some competitive information that real estate property re-sellers should keep in mind.

In the Mooresville subdivision of Wellesley, Lennar is one of several builders who’ve recently come into the subdivision that was struggling after previous builders pulled out.  They are building homes in the 2,200-2,900 square foot range with double garages, quarter acre lots and they’re designed and built for energy efficiency.  They are also very well-appointed with few options since they’ve chosen to include most of the options buyers prefer.  Right now while they’re aggressively marketing their inventory homes, the homes are priced at $75-$79/sq. ft..  They say that their prices will be higher for future homes, but their published future prices are still only about $10/sq. ft. higher.  And those prices include Lennar’s paying 2% of the sales price toward closing costs.

To put this in perspective, I did an MLS search for Mooresville resale homes in the 2,200 to 2,900 sq. ft. range that are similar in terms of construction, size of lot, type of neighborhood, etc. that have sold in Mooresville since last July.  The average price per square foot for those resale homes was $84.22.  Of course, there are many variables that make this $/sq. ft. calculation quite approximate, but sellers should still see this as a wake-up call.  Most buyers are looking for the best value for their dollar, and new construction is always appealing to many because of the promise of no maintenance issues for a considerable time into the future.  When pricing properties, sellers should get information such as the above from their listing agents to help them understand the market into which they’re hoping to sell their properties, then price their properties appropriately.  By the way, for those resale properties mentioned the Sale Price to List Price ratio was 96% based on the last list price.  For many, if we looked back at the original list prices vs. the eventual sale price, that percentage would be much lower.

Later in the day, I talked with some reps from Eastwood homes about their prices and selling tools.  One interesting thing they’re doing is offering to help renters buy out their leases.  Since there are plenty of people who are renting now due to various circumstances who would like to get back into home ownership, and unexpired lease terms can get in the way of a sale, I thought that this solution was quite good.  As a seller, would you be willing to do that?  Might be just the ticket to make the sale happen.

New home builders have bought land at very good prices, and that’s allowing them to sell their products at very aggressive prices.  That’s all part of the market that sellers (and buyers) should recognize.

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