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Chester County Real Estate Statistics: January 2012 0

January was a very predictable month. Supply was inline with historical numbers, as was demand and the list to sale price ratio.  The average sale price was not inline with historical numbers, as it was at about $318k, when we usually see it up around $370k. This is as sign that it seems that many lower end homes settled last month and those homes went under contract in November and December when the activity was very slow.

We can say that the “word on the street” is that the market activity has begin early. We have seen it in our business – lots of calls and inquiries on listings. So it seems that the Spring market has started early. Hopefully this is sustained and the increased interest and activity carries through the rest of the year. If it does, it will be a big step toward recovery.  This activity seems to be driven by a general restlessness – people just need to do something and can’t wait any longer, or feel this is their best opportunity.

That’s our take on January’s numbers, take a look for your self!

DEMAND

SUPPLY

PENDING

AVERAGE SOLD PRICE

LIST TO SALE PRICE RATIO

What Does This Mean For ME?

IF YOU ARE SELLING OR THINKING OF SELLING:

Yes – it is still a difficult time to sell a home. However, our team continues to have great success getting homes sold. At the end of October  , we’ve sold 41 homes. In the end, you must have an exceptional agent by your side to help you get the information and perspective you need to make this critical decision. We’ve helped many clients do just that over the last year and a half. Call us today to let us know you need help.

IF YOU ARE BUYING A HOME OR THINKING ABOUT IT:

There continues to be amazing opportunities there for those who have all their “ducks in a row”. If you do not have a home to sell, that means knowing the process, having your financial options figured out and knowing, clearly, what you are looking for. If you have a home to sell, that adds that you have met with Caleb to know what the SELL side looks like and then meeting with Chris to clearly nail down the buy side. Interest rates are amazing, hovering around 4.25%.  So if you are thinking about buying, call us today to get that ball rolling.

NEXT STEPS:

BTW, We do have very specific data for every price range and area of town. Want specific data pertaining to your neighborhood or your own home? We have it! Please let me know if you would like a neighborhood-specific analysis by contacting me!

Posted on: 01-31-2012
Posted in: Chester County, Market Update, Monthly Update, News

Chester County Real Estate Statistics: December 2011 Comments Off

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2011 is done. Over with. In the past.  The year was sort of like “medicine” in my opinion. During the Christmas weekend, my younger son (Chris speaking here) came down with Strep throat. In order to help with the pain & healing, he had to take several different medicines. This wasn’t easy, as he is only 3 years old and very strong willed. If he doesn’t like something or want to do it, he won’t. So trying to “Sell” him on taking medicine wasn’t easy. It tasted awful, but was very good for him.

That’s sort of how I look at 2011. It didn’t go down very well, but it’s a big step towards recovery.  I’ve read a lot of articles from “experts” and many are saying there are many signs that the national housing market is very near the bottom and close to recovery. Here are some of those points:

- From CalculatedRiskBlog.com:

  • In 2011, construction employment added a few jobs, first since 2006
  • Some say new home sales and housing starts may see an increase on 2012
  • Wells fargo is predicting a 15% increase in sales of new construction, best year since 2008.
  • Goldman sachs believes that housing starts have bottomed out
  • Even with a 15% increase, it’s still the third worst year since the census Bureau started tracking new homes sales in 1963 (2009 and 2010 being the worst respectively )

- Bob Denk, senior economist at the National Association of Home Builders, to CNNMoney “Inventories of new homes are very low: There’s nothing on the shelf, so any increase in new home sales will translate directly into new housing starts. That means putting people back to work.”

- Tara-Nicholle Nelson of Inman News says “- Consumers will get “hopeless”, meaning they will realize that this is the new “normal” and start to take action on things they’ve put off. “(Read her full article)

- – Beginning of the end of the housing bust? Due to a rise in housing starts permits, this expert believes so.  (http://www.businessinsider.com)

All of this does give me some hope. I have believed and been predicting that 2012 will be somewhat similar to 2012. In fact, we still feel that, due to the “Distressed Property” inventory (Foreclosures and Short Sales) that home prices will continue to slide, possibly as much as 10%. However, I believe there will be an uptick in activity, in the number of homes sold. I believe that will be due to a combination of consumers getting to that point where they realize that things aren’t going to just magically turn around and start to get off the fence and just pent up needs.

With that long introduction, let’s look at the numbers for December 2011:

SUPPLY:
Supply is the lowest it’s been in a very long time.  In our opinion, this is a good sign. When supply is down and demand is up, it means good things. As we will mention, demand is not skyrocketing, but it isn’t dropping either. As we said the last few months, we feel this is due to many people getting “out of the game” because they are seeing reality and they can’t get the price they want for their home, so they are staying in the house for now.

DEMAND:
Demand, or the number of homes sold has been pretty steady, despite the seasonal trend that activity lightens up. We’ve personally seen quite a bit of interest in the last few weeks, so we feel that January is going to be an active one.

LIST TO SALE PRICE RATIO:
This is another positive sign. In December, homes that sold received about 91.5% of asking price. That’s more than seasonally expected and shows that prices are getting to where they should be. The next 6 months will be very telling. If this number can stay closer to 93% than 90%, this is a good sign.

DEMAND

SUPPLY

PENDING

AVERAGE SOLD PRICE

LIST TO SALE PRICE RATIO

What Does this mean for me?

IF YOU ARE SELLING OR THINKING OF SELLING:

Yes – it is still a difficult time to sell a home. However, our team continues to have great success getting homes sold. At the end of 2011   , we sold 48 homes. In the end, you must have an exceptional agent by your side to help you get the information and perspective you need to make this critical decision. We’ve helped many clients do just that over the last year and a half. Call us today to let us know you need help.

IF YOU ARE BUYING A HOME OR THINKING ABOUT IT:

There continues to be amazing opportunities there for those who have all their “ducks in a row”. If you do not have a home to sell, that means knowing the process, having your financial options figured out and knowing, clearly, what you are looking for. If you have a home to sell, that adds that you have met with Caleb to know what the SELL side looks like and then meeting with Chris to clearly nail down the buy side. Interest rates are amazing, hovering around 4.25%.  So if you are thinking about buying, call us today to get that ball rolling.

NEXT STEPS:

BTW, We do have very specific data for every price range and area of town. Want specific data pe

Posted on: 01-5-2012
Posted in: Chester County, Market Update, Monthly Update, News

Chester County Real Estate Statistics: November 2011 Comments Off

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“The ugly, straight up truth is that your home is worth more now, than it will be in for another 18-24 months”. That’s what many of our current and potential seller clients are hearing right now. The market has been good to the Chris & Caleb team, but in general, has continued to decline for the last 4 years, with only some decrease in speed to console those of us who care. At the moment, there are no signs, nothing on the horizon, that lead us to believe that a solid turn around will be happening in 2012. The best we can realistically hope for is for prices to stablize, however we don’t feel that will necessarily happen.

With that said, all is not doom and gloom and bad news. The interest rates are low – lower than they’ve been in 40 years – home prices are back below 2003- 2004 price levels (before the peak), which means homes are affordable again, and lenders are beginning to be a bit more reasonable in their lending.

Other good news is that Fannie’s REO inventory dropped another 11%, which is the 4th straight quarter that number fell. In addition, percentage of prime loans (72% of all loans) 30 days delinquent has decreased from 3.46% to 3.19% in Q2 2011, the lowest since early 2007. 60 Day delinquent loans decreased slightly to 1.30% from 1.37% last quarter. 90+ decreased to 3.5% from 3.61%. With that said, if we just looked at REO inventory, we might think that the situation is getting better pretty quickly. However there are a large number of properties in the “90 days delinquent” and “in foreclosure” buckets. So we aren’t out of the woods yet.

SUPPLY:
Supply continues below the 5 year trend line and down 9% from last year, the same month. As we speak to many current and want to be seller’s, we contribute this decrease strictly “market fatigue”. Many seller’s have given up selling their home as they chase the market down, never getting ahead of the falling sale prices. Now, if only demand would spike, there would be good hope for having hit the bottom of the market.

DEMAND:
Demand is holding steady, staying right above last year, but slightly below the 5 year trend. Based on our experience and speaking with many buyers and sellers, we feel the market will continue to stick slightly below the 5 year trend line. There just isn’t anything that shows that it will start to completely turn around yet.

LIST TO SALE RATIO:
It seems that the market may be trending to be a bit early than it has in the past. It is clearly seen with these numbers. It’s like the market is a month early. That means that seller’s should seriously consider putting their homes on the market a month early, in February, as we believe the “Spring market” will come a bit early this year. As for Buyer’s, get your ducks in a row, cause things might get hot quick.

DEMAND

SUPPLY

PENDING

AVERAGE SOLD PRICE

LIST TO SALE PRICE RATIO

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Posted on: 12-6-2011
Posted in: Chester County, Market Update, Monthly Update

Chester County Real Estate Statistics: October 2011 Comments Off

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Last month we entitled our monthly numbers review as “The New Normal”. We certainly believe that this is truly the case. So many tell us that they are going to wait until “the market gets better.” Depending on what exactly you mean by that, you could be waiting a very, very long time. Many experts are predicting that when the market does exhibit growth, it will be slow growth. At this point, at least locally, we are back to about 2003 numbers, give or take. 2006 was the peak and for the current market to traverse that same 3 years, in terms of value may take 10 years or more. So, if you are just “Waiting” for no good reason, we suggest you analyze those needs and see if it wouldn’t make sense to make a move now. Let’s take a look at what positive news there is out there right now…

SUPPLY:
Supply continues to fall, now putting the number of homes available for sale slightly below the 5 year average and about 8% off last years number, the same month. This is good news. As we will discuss, demand appears to be up and with supply trending down, this could be the remedy that we are looking for. The national news is also good as LPS Applied Analytics sites in this article on CalculatedRiskBlog.com, the delinquency rates for mortgages declined in September, in addition to the GDP rising 2.5%. These are all good signs for the real estate market. The two big factors holding the market back at this point is the overall economy/unemployment and Foreclosures. Experts predict it will be at least another few years before we see a significant reduction the overall inventory for the foreclosure supply, as stated in these two articles: “REO Sales may not peak until 2013″ and “Several more years with nearly 1m foreclosures per year”.

DEMAND:

While demand locally is still below the 5 year average, it is only down off that number by a measly 5% and it is up over last year by 10%. Additionally, NAR reports that pending sales are up, nationally, 6.45% over the same time last year, -  these are all positive signs.

LIST TO SALE RATIO:
Last month we noted that the average List To Sale Price ratio seemed to have leveled out. However, the amount of money that home-seller’s were getting compared to what they were asking took a decent dive, down to 89.6%, from 91.5% last month. This is fairly typical for the season. The market did the same thing last year, just a month later in the season. While this number is not concerning in and of itself, it will be if it stays depressed.

PENDING:
Pending Sales are tracking very similar to last years numbers, which is expected. Since the pending numbers run a month behind schedule and predicts about 2 months in advance, we believe November closed sales will be very similar to last year.

DEMAND

SUPPLY

PENDING

AVERAGE SOLD PRICE

LIST TO SALE PRICE RATIO

What Does this mean for me?

IF YOU ARE SELLING OR THINKING OF SELLING:

Yes – it is still a difficult time to sell a home. However, our team continues to have great success getting homes sold. At the end of October  , we’ve sold 41 homes. In the end, you must have an exceptional agent by your side to help you get the information and perspective you need to make this critical decision. We’ve helped many clients do just that over the last year and a half. Call us today to let us know you need help.

IF YOU ARE BUYING A HOME OR THINKING ABOUT IT:

There continues to be amazing opportunities there for those who have all their “ducks in a row”. If you do not have a home to sell, that means knowing the process, having your financial options figured out and knowing, clearly, what you are looking for. If you have a home to sell, that adds that you have met with Caleb to know what the SELL side looks like and then meeting with Chris to clearly nail down the buy side. Interest rates are amazing, hovering around 4.25%.  So if you are thinking about buying, call us today to get that ball rolling.

NEXT STEPS:

BTW, We do have very specific data for every price range and area of town. Want specific data pertaining to your neighborhood or your own home? We have it! Please let me know if you would like a neighborhood-specific analysis by contacting me!

Posted on: 11-2-2011
Posted in: Chester County, Market Update, Monthly Update, News

Chester County Real Estate Statistics: September 2011 Comments Off

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The “New Normal”

We’ve had numerous conversations answering the questions “How’s real estate”, “How’s business?” “How’s the market?”. We find our selves using the term “New Normal” quite a bit. What does “New Normal” mean? Pretty simple – What is going on right now is going to continue for a seemingly indefinite amount of time. In other words, what we are experiencing is “Normal”, hence the “new Normal”.  That’s not to say that things won’t get “better”, but it doesn’t look like things are going to make a dramatic turn around and it’s best to accept that fact and deal with reality and what the “New Normal” means.  With that said, there is some positive signs and figures that we are seeing…

Supply is coming down. This is not because of increased sales. Given our experience, it’s probably people getting sick of trying to sell ad they just can’t get the price they are looking for so they are putting off selling for a couple years.  No doubt, some may be going into foreclosure. On calculated risk they reported that foreclosure starts increased in August, however seriously delinquent mortgages (90+ days behind) have fallen down to 2008 levels.  In our minds, we see this as a positive signs that we are headed out of woods, however we aren’t there yet.

Demand is still down from the 5 year trend, however July and August saw an increase of the same period last year, and were near the 5 year trend levels. September is slightly below that line, but the gap between current sale levels and the 5 year average is closing. So for an intents and purposes it seems that demand is increasing, though slowly and supply is coming down. Those are positive signs.

Another positive sign is that the list to sale ratio seems to have stabilized in the last 4 months now. What we want to see is this number remain at least constant, if not increase slowly. This number should never ever be more than 97%. When we see that number we know that the market is getting a bit wonky.

Several news/market stories to note is that the U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced that construction spending during August 2011 increased around 2.1%. When investment money is being put out for construction, this is a positive sign that conditions are good. I already mentioned that seriously delinquent mortgages have dropped to 2008 levels, also another good sign.

DEMAND

SUPPLY

PENDING

AVERAGE SOLD PRICE

LIST TO SALE PRICE RATIO

What Does This Mean To Me?

Not to sound like a broken record, but it really is an amazing time to buy, which frankly, could offset a terrible time to sell if it all made sense.

IF YOU ARE SELLING OR THINKING OF SELLING:

Yes – it is still a difficult time to sell a home. However, our team continues to have great success getting homes sold. At the end of SEPTEMBER , we’ve sold 33 homes. In the end, you must have an exceptional agent by your side to help you get the information and perspective you need to make this critical decision. We’ve helped many clients do just that over the last year and a half. Call us today to let us know you need help.

IF YOU ARE BUYING A HOME OR THINKING ABOUT IT:

There continues to be amazing opportunities there for those who have all their “ducks in a row”. If you do not have a home to sell, that means knowing the process, having your financial options figured out and knowing, clearly, what you are looking for. If you have a home to sell, that adds that you have met with Caleb to know what the SELL side looks like and then meeting with Chris to clearly nail down the buy side. Interest rates are amazing, hovering around 4.25%.  So if you are thinking about buying, call us today to get that ball rolling.

NEXT STEPS:

BTW, We do have very specific data for every price range and area of town. Want specific data pertaining to your neighborhood or your own home? We have it! Please let me know if you would like a neighborhood-specific analysis by contacting me!

Posted on: 10-4-2011
Posted in: Chester County, Market Update, Monthly Update

Chester County Real Estate Statistics: August 2011 Comments Off

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August Was Good…

Both for our team and the county, August was a good month in real estate. We really want to give you some amazing news about great numbers coming through….   however, we also must report the truth and following that goal, we can’t. That’s not to say there aren’t bright spots, but. . .  well, read on and you will see….

Demand is up from last month, and up from this time last year by about 22% While that number looks good, we did have a dramatic rise in sold homes due to the tax credit and a dramatic drop as well for the same reason. This year the numbers have been much less dramatic, and it follows a seasonal trend.  Overall, it’s a healthy sign that the demand is up closer to the 5 year trend.

When looking at the pending sale numbers or upcoming demand, it is indicating waining demand for the rest of the year, which is typical. However, due to overall economic conditions, we see nothing to indicate that the demand will be better than last year. In fact, the numbers are indicating that demand will probably be about 5 – 10% less than last year.

Supply is down over last year by about 2.5%-3%. We call this seller fatigue – many homes are coming off the market because they figure they have passed the prime time of selling and are tired of being on the market. In July there were 257 withdrawn or Expired homes. In august there were 351. Combine that with 498 that sold and that’s a good chunk of homes that have come off the market.
The list to sale price ratio is hovering around 91%, which is where it has been the last 3 months or so. This could be a positive sign, but we aren’t quite convinced yet. We want to give a rosy outlook so badly, but the overall economic indicators just aren’t great.  One of the no “BS” outlets of information we follow is http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/.  Many of the articles there don’t give many positive indicators. In fact, in a recent update on the overall economy, while the author said that we aren’t quite in another recession they also said that there is no bright news when looking at the GDP and GDI among manufacturing and other important indicators. Combine that with the overall unemployment rate being around 9.1% , the trouble in Europe and no great hope coming from the government, it doesn’t lead us to believe there is a dramatic turn around in our near future.

DEMAND

SUPPLY

PENDING

AVERAGE SOLD PRICE

LIST TO SALE PRICE RATIO

What Does This Mean?

Not to sound like a broken record, but it really is an amazing time to buy, which frankly, could offset a terrible time to sell if it all made sense.

IF YOU ARE SELLING OR THINKING OF SELLING:

Yes – it is still a difficult time to sell a home. However, our team continues to have great success getting homes sold. At the end of AUGUST, we’ve sold 31 homes. In the end, you must have an exceptional agent by your side to help you get the information and perspective you need to make this critical decision. We’ve helped many clients do just that over the last year and a half. Call us today to let us know you need help.

IF YOU ARE BUYING A HOME OR THINKING ABOUT IT:

There continues to be amazing opportunities there for those who have all their “ducks in a row”. If you do not have a home to sell, that means knowing the process, having your financial options figured out and knowing, clearly, what you are looking for. If you have a home to sell, that adds that you have met with Caleb to know what the SELL side looks like and then meeting with Chris to clearly nail down the buy side. Interest rates have been sneaking up lately, going from 4.25% to 4.5%, even as high as 4.625% last week. So if you are thinking about buying, call us today to get that ball rolling.

NEXT STEPS:

BTW, We do have very specific data for every price range and area of town. Want specific data pertaining to your neighborhood or your own home? We have it! Please let me know if you would like a neighborhood-specific analysis by contacting me!

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Posted on: 09-6-2011
Posted in: Chester County, Market Update, Monthly Update, News

Chester County Real Estate Statistics: July 2011 Comments Off

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Don’t buy the fear!

We talk to many people on a weekly basis about the real estate market. The cold hard truth about the market is that it is following the overall economy which is not great. There is still much fear and anxiety out there, especially when you mix in the credit rating drop and other factors… It’s just not fun. We want to encourage you to not buy into the fear but rather, look at the facts and be educated. Education will push out the fear and that is a much more healthy place to be.  There is a lot of opportunity right now, for those who can see it.  Let’s look at the numbers more closely. . .

CLOSED SALES (DEMAND):

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Closed sales are off 28% from the 5 year average and 7% from last year. That is significant, as last years closed sales in July were dramatically down, and this month is another 7% off. However, it is a seasonally expected decrease and we hope that next month follows the season and increases slightly.

PENDING SALES :

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As with closed sales, pending sales are off the 5 year trend by 25%, which was expected, and fairly close to last years July numbers. You will know that things are improving when the pendings and closed sales rise above last years, closer the the 5 year trend.

ACTIVE LISTINGS (SUPPLY):

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Some good news is that the number of active listings is seeing a slight decline. We have been expecting the supply to be firmly increasing until about October. Less supply will help relieve some downward pressure on prices. The question we are asking is – why is there less inventory? Is it because everyone is so down on the market and don’t want to even try? It certainly isn’t because many homes were bought up, we can see that in the sold activity.

AVERAGE SOLD PRICE:

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The average sold price continues to follow the 5 year trend.

LIST TO SALE PRICE RATIO:

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Another area of good news is that the list to sale price ratio is is trending upwards. This is good news because it means that, overall, seller’s are getting more money for their homes. In addition, the ratio did not drop like it did last year in July. This could mean that prices may be stabilizing, however, due to the decrease in overall activity, this is a small step in the overall market towards stabilization. But, we will take it!

What does this mean?

It’s an amazing time to buy a home, a possibly a bad  time to sell one if you bought it in the last 5 years. It’s also an amazing time to invest in real estate. The deals we are seeing out there are just amazing.

IF YOU ARE SELLING OR THINKING OF SELLING:

Yes – it is still a difficult time to sell a home. However, our team continues to have great success getting homes sold. At the end of July, we’ve sold around 25 homes. In the end, you must have an exceptional agent by your side to help you get the information and perspective you need to make this critical decision. We’ve helped many clients do just that over the last year and a half. Call us today to let us know you need help.

IF YOU ARE BUYING A HOME OR THINKING ABOUT IT:

There continues to be amazing opportunities there for those who have all their “ducks in a row”. If you do not have a home to sell, that means knowing the process, having your financial options figured out and knowing, clearly, what you are looking for. If you have a home to sell, that adds that you have met with Caleb to know what the SELL side looks like and then meeting with Chris to clearly nail down the buy side. Interest rates have been sneaking up lately, going from 4.25% to 4.5%, even as high as 4.625% last week. So if you are thinking about buying, call us today to get that ball rolling.

NEXT STEPS:

BTW, We do have very specific data for every price range and area of town. Want specific data pertaining to your neighborhood or your own home? We have it! Please let me know if you would like a neighborhood-specific analysis by contacting me!

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Posted on: 08-8-2011
Posted in: Chester County, Market Update, Monthly Update

Chester County Real Estate Statistics: June 2011 Comments Off

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Unfortunately predictable…

On the positive side, it is an amazing time to be buying real estate right now. In fact, we bought an investment property this past month it is so good. (Let us know if you want to do the same, we can help). On the unfortunate side, much of what we have been predicting is coming to fruition – less activity, downward pressure on prices, etc. While this is not great news for sellers, the gold lining is that it is an amazing time to buy, especially while rates stay low (big question is how long will that last?) Let’s take a closer look…

CLOSED SALES (DEMAND):

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The number of closed sales is up from last month, as expected. However, it is still off 18% from the 5 year trend and a whopping 29% off of last year. Granted last year’s market was falsely propped up by the Governments tax credit, so you have to take that with a grain of salt. The next three months should follow the seasonal drop but may not be as sharp as past years as we are seeing a good amount of activity. Only time will tell.

PENDING SALES:

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Pending sales are mirroring the 5 year trend, but about 24% off in the amount of activity. We feel this is the “new normal”. . . in other words, the days of 700 or 800 homes selling in a month are over. Pending sales will continue to be a good bit off of the 5 year trend, until the overall economy can improve, namely the Jobless rate and “distressed property” inventory.

ACTIVE LISTINGS (SUPPLY):

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Active homes for sale in Chester County remains high – there are about 3% more homes for sale right now, than in the last 5 years. We expect this gap to continue indefinitely, growing to possibly 6% above the 5 year trend.

AVERAGE SOLD PRICE:

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This number has caught up with the seasonal trend. The next several months are great months for higher end homes to come on the market and get sold.

LIST TO SALE PRICE RATIO:

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This is a great indicator on where properties are headed. As you can see the market is trying to “Find” itself as the ratio has been all over the place this year so far. This started around August or September of last year. This will be a good indicator that the market is stabilizing when this smooths out. Right now, it’s very unpredictable.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

Chris spoke with a friend who works for a local, large financial company who told him about what one of his companies top analysts said about the overall market at a recent conference. They said that the two main factors to be concerned about were the overall jobless rate as well as the “Shadow inventory”. The jobless rate has a great effect on overall buying as well as what confidence that consumers have. “Shadow Inventory” are all the distressed properties that have either been foreclosed on and the banks are holding or homes that have not been paying their mortgage and are going to be foreclosed on. We’ve seen that inventory be counted as high as 4 million homes. That’s a lot of homes. It’s going to take a long time to work through that inventory and as long as that inventory exists, its going to keep that pressure on prices to stay low. So keep an eye on the shadow inventory and the jobless rates.

SELLERS:
Yes – it is still a difficult time to sell a home. However, our team continues to have great success getting homes sold. At the end of June, we had 20 homes under contract. In the end, you must have an exceptional agent by your side to help you get the information and perspective you need to make this critical decision. We’ve helped many clients do just that over the last year and a half. Call us today to let us know you need help.

BUYERS:
There continues to be amazing opportunities there for those who have all their “ducks in a row”. If you do not have a home to sell, that means knowing the process, having your financial options figured out and knowing, clearly, what you are looking for. If you have a home to sell, that adds that you have met with Caleb to know what the SELL side looks like and then meeting with Chris to clearly nail down the buy side. Interest rates have been sneaking up lately, going from 4.25% to 4.5%, even as high as 4.625% last week. So if you are thinking about buying, call us today to get that ball rolling.

NEXT STEPS:

BTW, We do have very specific data for every price range and area of town. Want specific data pertaining to your neighborhood or your own home? We have it! Please let me know if you would like a neighborhood-specific analysis by contacting me!

Posted on: 07-5-2011
Posted in: Chester County, Market Update, Monthly Update, News

Chester County Real Estate Statistics: May 2011 Comments Off

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Double Dipping?

May was a busy, busy month for the Chris & Caleb Team. When speaking with other real estate agents, there was the same general sentiment, which was good news to hear after the strangely slow April we had. However, the burst of activity does not indicate improving numbers necessarily, especially when there is a lot of downward pressure on prices and rising interest rates on the horizon. Let’s look at the details.

PENDINGS:

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Pending home sales in Chester County did increase over April, though not as much as we usually see. In fact, by this time of the year, there have been 2074 homes that have gone pending. This year, only 1378 homes have. That’s a 34% difference. It would suffice to say that home sale activity is slow.

CLOSED SALES (DEMAND):

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April was an anomaly for closed sales. Caleb and I have talked about what caused this and we can’t pinpoint it. With that said, closed sales were up in May. Our team sold about 15 homes last month, our best month ever. However, 2011 is still off for Cheser County closed sales by 13% or about 200 less homes sold than average.

ACTIVE LISTINGS (SUPPLY):

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The number of homes for sale in Chester County continue to climb. To date, there are 5% more homes for sale than last year, and we expect to see that gap continue. One reason for the increase in inventory is Foreclosures and Short Sales, aka “distressed properties”. Last year, they only comprised about 10% of the local market. This year its closer to 20%, maybe even 25%. Couple that with lower demand and it makes for a difficult market.

AVERAGE SOLD PRICE:

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The average sold price just tells us in what price range homes are selling. We’ve noticed that the $350k – $600k is a hot range these days. If you have a home in that price range and are thinking of selling, call us. We can help you know if it is the right time to sell.

LIST TO SALE PRICE RATIO:

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The List-to-sale-price-ratio let’s us know how much of asking price, homes are selling for. In May, on average, Homes sold for an average of 90.2% of asking. That means that if you were asking $200k for your home, you could expect to get about $180,000.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

The market is tough, we aren’t gonna lie. This applies to both sellers and buyers. There are many factors to take into account when entering the market and you need the best, most experienced agent next to you to help. On the other side, there are some amazing opportunities for those who want to take them and are looking actively for them. Let’s break the pro’s and con’s down for both the buyer and seller.

SELLERS:
PRO’S – It may be difficult to find a lot of pros in this market. However, what we are seeing is that if you are priced right and show really well, you will sell quickly. There is a lot of inventory on the market that is less than stellar and doing some of the small things to present your house well, goes a long way. Another pro is that if you are trying to “Move up”, meaning buy a bigger/more expensive house, you can really get a great deal on the buy side and more than make up for any difficulty on the sell side. Of course, you have to have a good real estate agent to help you understand the market.
CON’S – The market is difficult as a seller. Buyers want great deals and many seller clients that we speak with don’t have much equity to play with, which is stressful. There is lots of competition and many factors to be aware of. Again, this is why you need to speak with us regarding the sale of your Chester County home. We have the knowledge and experience to help you navigate this market as successfully as possible.

BUYERS:
PRO’s – There are so many amazing Buy opportunities on the market right now. Couple that with very low interest rates and you have an opportunity as a buyer to make a killing. Last year, the tax credit artificially inflated prices and now we are seeing prices come down to much more reasonable levels. Many people can actually afford homes now, where, previously, it was out of reach for them. Now is the time to get off the fence, as the pro’s for Buyers, far out weigh the cons.
CON’S – There are many seller’s who are in tough positions and knowing how to deal with them effectively is key. In addition, many properties are in bad shape and you are going to have to have a great agent who knows the inventory to help you avoid ones that are not in your comfort zone as far as condition goes.

NEXT STEPS:

BTW, We do have very specific data for every price range and area of town. Want specific data pertaining to your neighborhood or your own home? We have it! Please let me know if you would like a neighborhood-specific analysis by contacting me!

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Posted on: 06-2-2011
Posted in: Chester County, Market Update, Monthly Update

Chester County Real Estate Statistics: April 2011 Comments Off

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Never a dull moment…

Last month it seemed as if someone had switched on the spring markets. Sticking with that analogy, April seems like someone hit the dimmer at about 50%. This is great news for those looking to buy, but not so much for sellers. Let’s look at what happened…

PENDINGS:

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Pendings were flat in April.  Traditionally, this month should see the biggest increase, however, due to uncertainty and lack of positive news, activity remains low. This number was a bit of a surprise to us. This is an indicator of a slower rate of sales than anticipated.

CLOSED SALES (DEMAND):

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The number of closed sales actually DECLINED in April. This is highly unusual and another indicator of a slowing market  Another negative sign for values, but a great opportunity for buyers.

ACTIVE LISTINGS (SUPPLY):

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The number of homes, actively for sale in Chester County, continues to climb. In April, that number was up more than 3% from the same month, the year before. We predict that we may see record  inventory in the fall. Possibly around 4300 homes for sale.

AVERAGE SOLD PRICE:

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The average sold price in April declined roughly 2% from March. When looking at the chart, it looks behind by about a month, mirroring last year. As always, this number is NOT an indication of what the average home is worth, but rather more where the most action is.

LIST TO SALE PRICE RATIO:

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This is a bright spot in the numbers, for last month. This number rose 2% points to 91.3% in April 2011. This means, on average, sellers received 2% more for their homes last month than in March. This is a number that needs to be in the mid 90′s before we can that prices are stabilizing.

What Does This Mean?

We continue to see amazing deals on homes – deals that we wouldn’t have seen even 6 months ago. With the interest rates recently declining, this makes a great time to either buy your first home, sell your current home and buy something bigger or invest in real estate.

SELLERS: If you are thinking of selling your home, you MUST make sure you are serious and that you pick the best agent you can find. “Best” means the they know this current market inside out and that they have as much experience as possible. Simply ask – how many homes have you sold in the last year? You’ve cannot take a chance with just any agent off the street because it will cost you too much! The big question is – can you afford to sell in the first place. This is a question we are helping a lot of clients understand clearly.  We are the experts – no one knows the market better than us. We sell 7x’s more homes than the average agent, in les than half the time and for almost 4% more. If you want the best, please call us at 484-696-4833

BUYERS: GET OFF THE FENCE!! If you are qualified and want to purchase a home, now is the best time in a very long time to do so. As this is written, interest rates have even dipped a bit and there is only one direction they are heading – up!  There are amazing deals out there and you have to have the BEST agent by your side to see them and then to negotiate them. As with Sellers, they better be the most experience agent you can find in the market of the moment, not the market of 20 years ago, or even a year ago. Set an appointment with Chris to get your plan clarified for buying and take massive action. We fully believe these market conditions won’t be seen for a very long time, if ever for buyers. Again, you can reach us at 484-696-4833.

NEXT STEPS

BTW, We do have very specific data for every price range and area of town. Want specific data pertaining to your neighborhood or your own home? We have it! Please let me know if you would like a neighborhood-specific analysis by contacting me!



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Posted on: 05-4-2011
Posted in: Chester County, Market Update, Monthly Update, News
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