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MAY
2009
The spring days of
May treat Northwest Montana to clear
blue skies and warming breezes hinting
of summer days to come. Happy to enjoy
the changing weather, neighbors busy
themselves clearing lawns of winter
remains as children and dogs frolic on
newly greening grass. Pure and simple
spring joy! |
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View from the Chair
May 2009
 QUICK
FACT:
87% of consumers go online before they EVER contact a
REALTOR. (Amy Chorew, Real Estate
Technology Strategist)
We saw the writing on the wall back in 2007 and focused
our attention then to our online strategy to interface
with the limitless numbers of people looking at real
estate on the web. Gone is the old-style website filled
with tons of written content in an attempt to talk 'to'
the reader. You want valuable information quickly and
efficiently. Utilizing current technology is at the
center of our strategy, allowing us to reach out to
interested parties around the globe. DATA. VIDEO. MAPS.
HOME.
What's a Seller to do?
(1) Dwell on the
Positive
Where Home Prices Crashed
Early, Signs of a Rebound
Among the first in the nation to see its housing market
collapse, Sacramento, Calif. now seems to be in the
earliest stages of a recovery. Investors and first-time
buyers, the traditional harbingers of a housing rebound,
are out in force here, competing for bargain-priced
foreclosures. With sales up 45% from last year, the vast
backlog of inventory has diminished. Even prices, which
have plummeted to levels not seen since the beginning of
the decade, show signs of stabilizing. Indications of
progress are visible in other hard-hit areas, including
Las Vegas, parts of Florida and the Inland Empire in
southeastern California. Sales in Las Vegas in March,
for example, rose 35% from last year. Foreclosures are
driving the market in Sacramento. Two-thirds of the
2,092 existing single-family houses and condominiums
sold there in March were bank repossessions, up from
8.5% two years ago, according to MDA DataQuick, a real
estate research firm. These cut-rate properties are
engendering the same frenzy and frustration that
symbolized the boom, as Rebecca and Chris Whitman
discovered when they started looking for a house in
December. In two months, the couple looked at 100
houses, nearly all foreclosures priced under $200,000.
They made verbal offers on 20, but rarely got a
response. They ended up buying a spruced-up
three-bedroom foreclosure for $224,500 that was
purchased by a syndicate last fall for $172,000. At the
current rate of sales, there is less than three months
of inventory in the Sacramento market. In normal times,
that would indicate a seller's market, but the
unemployment rate in the county is 11.3% and that in
itself will tend to increase foreclosures.
(www.nytimes.com)
New York Times (5/5/09); David
Streitfeld
More Homes Get Multiple Offers;
Downturn May Be Nearing End
Multiple bids on homes for sale have picked up in recent
months in California and other states hit hard by
foreclosures and steep price drops, real estate
executives say. "If a house is in a good neighborhood,
is maintained and is a good value, it'll get multiple
offers," says Julie Holt, owner of Anclote Title
Services in Tarpon Springs, Fla. One in 10 homes now
draws multiple offers, up from one in 30 last fall, she
says. Multiple bids usually signify a market in which
prices are rising and buyers outnumber sellers. That's
not true now, given rampant foreclosures, still-falling
prices in many regions and low demand for higher-priced
homes. Multiple offers on distressed properties are also
not new, but their recent frequency offers hope for the
real estate market, says Beth Peerce, treasurer of the
California Association of Realtors®. "When you begin to
see people willing to fight for a property, that's a
good sign," she says. "We are beginning to see the
beginning of the end of a disaster time." The
competition is driven by prices - California's are down
39% from a year ago, the state's Realtors® say - low
mortgage rates and a new $8,000 federal tax credit for
first-time buyers. (www.usatoday.com)
USA Today (5/6/09); Julie Schmit
(2) Understand the
Time Value of Money
The 'time value of money' is something every seller
needs to consider. This is the financial benefit for
selling fast. For example, in June a seller wants to
list a home for $1 million, and by July the agent
suggests lowering the asking price to $975, but the
seller refuses. Let's assume the monthly payment on the
property is $10-12K per month (including mortgage,
property taxes, and insurance), and it hasn't sold in
six months, by December the seller has spent
$60,000-72,000. This, say, $60,000 expense lowers the
property from $1 million to $940,000. Which means the
seller could have lowered the asking price in July to
$975 to sell it faster and save the loss of money. You
put more money in your wallet by selling faster, and by
avoiding paying the monthly expenses that occur with
waiting longer. You can do more with cash in your hand,
such as taking advantage of the historically low real
estate prices or some other investment.
(3) Follow the advice
of a Professional Realtor
A full-time professional Realtor has the valuable
information you need to effectively price your property,
to present your property in the best condition possible
and to expertly negotiate offers. We rise with the sun
and fill our days with tireless networking, practiced
negotiations, and deals that make both our buyers and
our sellers excited to sign the bottom line. Our
education and experience translate into comfort and
success for our clients.
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Northwest Montana Real Estate
love montana. live montana.TM
