The Alliance Francais South Florida invites you to celebrate Bastille Day this evening starting at 9.
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Author: jenniferwollmann
Okay, sellers. It is time to get real and face today’s Buyer’s real estate market. If you want to LIST your house, hoping you find an all cash buyer willing to over pay for your home, you don’t need to read any further. However if you want to SELL your home, please read on.
Today I took a cash buyer to see a very nice home in north Coral Gables. It is a 3 bedroom 2.5 bath, 1985 square foot home on a 7,000 square foot lot. It has an above ground pool (can’t believe that got permitted in Coral Gables, but that is the subject for another blog) and has been very nicely updated. The garage was converted into a playroom. As we were walking through the house, the agent kept pointing out all of the items that would not be staying: curtains, washer, dryer, some lighting fixtures. After we were done seeing the house, the agent told us what we already knew, “The house is overpriced”. When we asked her if what the sellers were thinking, she responded “They think their house is so nice and updated that it is worth more than anything in the neighborhood”. I told her it would never appraise. She said she knew, but to make an offer anyway, the sellers were motivated, they were buying another house and already had a contract on one. Here is the problem: the unrealistic sellers have the house priced at $690,000, down from $712,000. The absolute highest comp, based on tax rolls and the MLS put this house at $498,000. Even stretching, the highest price for a 3/2.5 in that area, but with larger square footage sold for $540,000. How does a buyer even begin to make an offer? They don’t. They go on to a more realistic seller.
The moral of the story is: If you don’t need to sell your house at today’s prices, then don’t. Wait for the time to come when the properties will appreciate. If you need or want to sell your house now, price it realistically.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMdFQogX7JM[/youtube]
This years Fairchild’s International Mango Festival features the mangos of Hawaii.
New single family homes listed since July 1.
- 8 in Coral Gables. Priced from $349,900 to $13,475,000
- 7 in Pinecrest. Priced from $585,000 to $2,099,999
- 5 in Coconut Grove. Priced from $450,000 to $1,300,000
- 3 in Miami Beach. Priced from $399,900 – $8,650,000
The National Association of Realtors released their 2011 National Housing Pulse Survey, which concluded that 72% of renters still want to own a home in the future.
How does the housing market look in Pinecrest half way through 2011? Below are the numbers for single family homes. Note that all of these are going to change a little due to status changes that happen at the end of the month, but are not updated in the MLS until the following month. As of 6/30/2011:
- Closed sales: 90. Low of $270,000, high of $4,000,000. 7 were bankowned (REO), 10 are short sales or approximately 19% distressed sales. 57 closed in the second quarter.
- Pending sales: 48. Low of $265,000, high of $2,150,000. 3 are REO, 17 are short sales. Almost 42% are distressed sales.
- Active sales: 160. Low of $269,900, high of $5,000,000 ($4,999,999 to be exact!). 3 are REOs. 14 are short sales. Only 11% distressed listings. 64 were listed in the second quarter.
What does this mean if you are a seller? If you want to sell your home during the end of the summer buying season, drop your price now. Homes are selling and people are still looking to buy in Pinecrest because of the quality of the public and private schools, parks, and good size lots. If your home needs a lot of work, you are going to have to drop the price even further. Buyers are looking for homes that need minimal updates. If you don’t drop your price now, you are going to have to drop it even further come the beginning of the school year.
If you are a buyer, the numbers mean there aren’t as many “deals” in terms of short sales and foreclosures. Those that are on the market, are priced well, and in reasonably good shape are going to have multiple offers, because there are fewer of them. If you are financing your purchase, you are better off using the numbers to make an offer on a well priced, non-distressed listing.
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Happy 4th of July!
The Dolphin Mall Free Summer Kids Movies
We are half way through the year and the market has been moving. Sales are up, mostly due to lower prices. As of June 30, the single family home market in Miami Beach for the year so far is as follows:
Closed sales: 94. Low of $190,000 to a high of $25,500,000. 9 of the closed sales were foreclosures, 6 were short sales. Only 16% were distressed sales. 49 closed in the second quarter.
- Pending sales: 57. Low $200,000 to a high of $14,900,00. 2 of the pending sales are foreclosures, 23 are short sales. Almost 44% distressed. 21 went pending in the second quarter.
- Active sales: 282. Low of $205,900,high of $49,995,000. 16 are short sales, 1 is a foreclosure. Only 6% distressed. 76 of the active sales were listed in the second quarter.
What does this mean if you are a seller? The good news is that the majority of the closed sales are not distressed sales. If you are priced right for a buyer’s market, you have a closing window of opportunity to sell at a higher price than you will get later this year. I think prices of active listings are going to come down as we come closer to the end of the summer buying season.
What does this mean if you are a buyer? Many buyers are still looking for a “deal” without realizing that they are already looking at one. Just because a property is not a foreclosure or a short sale, does not mean it is not a good deal. A lot of sellers have come down significantly in their pricing, in large part due to the pressure of distressed properties on the market. As the distressed properties listed for sale decrease, they become less of a factor on the overall market. If you are financing your property and only looking at distressed sales, you are going to have even more frustration as you are competing with cash buyers.
Note: These numbers are going to change a bit due to fluctuations at the end of the month when a lot of properties status changes, but those changes don’t get recorded in the MLS until the following month.