Five Tips to Getting Homes Sold in a Buyer’s Market (2 of 5)

Tip #2: Exposure to the public.

A few years ago, an agent could list your property, stick a sign in the yard, put the property in the MLS, and chances were great it would sell in anywhere from a day, to a week, to a couple of months. Well, those days are gone!

Your property needs to be exposed to the public in the most effective ways. The traditional efforts of real-estate agents (and by people trying to sell the home themselves) do not work effectively in most cases in a declining real-estate market.

Your property needs exposure to the public through the methods people REALLY use to search for homes today.

Holley by the Sea Sales in August

There were 18 homes sold in Holley by the Sea in August, according to statistics from the Emerald Coast Association of Realtors, which includes data from the Navarre Area Board of Realtors.That tally is down one home from the number of homes that sold in Holley by the Sea in July.

The average sales price was $223,053, the average price per square foot was $116, and the average days on the market was 178 among the sold properties.

Here are the sales.

Five Tips to Getting Homes Sold in a Buyer’s Market (1 of 5)

Here’s the first of the five tips for getting homes sold in a buyer’s market, as promised.

1. Competitive Pricing.

“I absolutely have to sell my home, and I know I’m priced high, but, I’ll look at offers.”

This is one of those ideas that sounds harmless but is doing sellers in, left and right. Why? Because a home has almost no chance of selling using that approach.

Back in 2004 and 2005 (oh, no, now I’M doing it now!), if a customer were looking for a home up to $200,000, I’d sit down at the MLS and expand my search to $225,000 just to give the buyer enough options to look at. Today, when I have a buyer preapproved to $200,000 and I run a search, there are 104 homes in Navarre between $175,000 and $200,000.

What are the odds that I’d ever get to those priced at $205,000?

The buyers, and their agents, are overwhelmed with choices, and often will not expand their home searches to include those above range … and the home may rarely, if ever, get shown as a result. You need to be THE best option, or at least one of the best options, among similar homes in your subdivision and neighborhood for your home to sell in a reasonable amount of time.

If you have to sell, let the price help you, because in a declining market, the odds are your home will be worth less in the next 6 to 12 months or more. Protect your equity and price your home competitively from Day 1 (or at least today) forward.

“But I want to leave room to negotiate.”

You will need to leave SOME room to negotiate price and/or closing costs, but a smart buyer and agent will know a good buy. Leaving a 5- or 10-percent cushion on the price in hopes that someone might come along and pay it is likely to hurt any chances you have of getting the home sold.

But My Home Was Worth More in 2005!!!!!!!!!!

My real-estate trainer tells me all the time that there’s fantasyland, and then there’s reality. Then he asks me an important question … where are you going to spend your time each day in your business?

Some people are shocked when I say this, but homes are selling EVERY DAY in Navarre. Yes, even in this market.  Yes, in 2007! If you look at the numbers, more than two homes are selling every day in Navarre throughout the year so far.

The question is, is yours going to be one of them? Less than 10 percent of the single-family home inventory is selling each month. That means, 90 percent of homeowners who have their properties listed end up disappointed, discouraged, and downright ticked off. Given that there are usually more properties coming on the market than sell each month, I’ve met sellers who have been feeling that way for years! As my real-estate trainer says, some sellers have set up permanent shop in fantasyland.

There are five keys to a successful home sale in this market, and I’ll post one key per day for the next five days. Take any one of those out of the equation, and the chances of residing in the “90 percent” for a long time to come increase dramatically.

I’m shocked when I don’t hear one or both of the following statements when talking with a seller:

1. “I’m not going to give it away.”

2. But my home was worth $XXX,XXX in 2005!!!!!!

I always have to go back to the same question … do you absolutely have to sell your home? If the answer is yes, then the five steps that we’re going to discuss are vital. If the answer is no, then the seller has to realize that he or she might have to own or rent the property for years to come, and the property probably shouldn’t even be on the market in the first place. Yes, I said YEARS. That’s what the experts are predicting, and the statistics aren’t showing me anything otherwise.

I know … it hurts when money that you felt you had at one time, even if just on paper, is gone. I can appreciate that … I own property here, too! On the flip side, I’ve never once had a seller point out what her home was worth in 1998, and ask to price it accordingly. Seems that door only swings one way!

The reality is, your home is worth what a buyer is willing to pay. We can look at the statistics and tell what that amount is. The professional agents know that “sweet spot.”

I know … I gave away the first key to a successful sale. More on pricing in the next post.

Fight Against Navarre Beach Taxes Continues

First, Santa Rosa County taxed the improvements on the leasehold property on Navarre Beach. In 2006, the county also levied taxes against those who own vacant land. Now, we’re getting reports from land owners that assessed valuations are jumping dramatically while the market continues to decline.

The Navarre Beach Against Illegal Taxation Committee, a committee of the Navarre Beach Residents and Leaseholders Association, has filed suit against the county property appraiser and tax collector regarding the issue. Here is the website for the full details. The window of opportunity is closed for 2006, but there is still time to join in the lawsuit for 2007.

Here is a list of the frequently asked questions regarding the issue.

What are your thoughts? Is the fight worth fighting, after the leaseholders lost the extensive court battle regarding taxing the improvements on leasehold property the first time around?

One Sale on Navarre Beach in August

Only one property sale closed on Navarre Beach in August, according to Emerald Coast Association of Realtors statistics, which includes sales through the Navarre Area Board of Realtors.

This includes single-family homes, condos, and land.

A two-bedroom condo at The Navarre Beach Regency closed for $475,000 after 152 days on the market.

Resales in Navarre Down in August

There were 61 resales of homes in Navarre in August, according to Emerald Coast Association of Realtors statistics. ECAR shares MLS data with Navarre Area Bord of Realtors.

Assuming that agents weren’t unusally slow to update data (which is possible … we’ll double check this later in the week because of the Labor Day holiday), August would be the slowest month for resales in Navarre since February. There have been between 65 and 74 resales each month between March and July.

The lower end of the market continues to see the most activity, with 47 homes selling for under $250,000, and all but three selling for under $300,000.

The average sales price was $225,100, and the average market time was 144 days of the homes that sold.

Eighteen homes sold for less than $200,000, 29 homes sold in the $200,000 to $250,000 range, 11 homes sold in the $250,000 to $300,000 range, 2 homes sold between $300,000 and $310,000, and one home sold for $450,000.

One home sold over $311,000. There are 213 listings active in Navarre that are asking more than that amount!

The average price per square foot in August was $119. There are 633 active detached single-family homes on the market today in Navarre. Four hundred twenty-one of those (67 percent) are STILL priced at over $119 a square foot.

What Questions Can I Answer for You?

I hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

I’ve been getting some great questions since starting this blog, and I’ll do my best to answer as many of them as I can. Please send all questions about real estate in the Navarre and Navarre Beach areas, or about real estate in general, to me at scott@sunnybeaches.com  

Upside Down on Your Mortgage?

I heard a frightening prediction from one of the executives of a major lender this week …

In the next 12 months, HALF of all homeowners might be “upside down” on their mortgages … meaning that their mortgage balances are larger than the value of the home. Combine the 100-percent loan products that became easy to get in recent years, refinances, adjustable-rate mortgages that are jumping up in rate, home equity loans and home equity lines of credit … with declining home prices … and many people have found themselves in just this situation.

Real estate, like the stock market, runs in cycles. This isn’t a problem if you can ride it out. The problem is, what if you can’t? And, what if you can’t refinance, and you HAVE TO sell?

There’s little dispute that we’re headed for record foreclosures in the next year. DON’T be one of them if you can avoid it.

If you ever find yourself in this situation … or if you know someone who is … please call me. I might be able to help.

I’ll be talking a lot about different options, including short sales, on this blog. That is a huge and complex subject, and it’s better for me to answer questions as they come than to try to tackle the entire option in one article.

A lot of people are finding themselves in a tough situation. Rest assured, you’re not alone, and there may be better options out there. I have a great deal of training in this area, and I am in constant contact with agents across the country who are using this technique successfully. Call or email me, and I’ll do all I can to help.

Navarre Beach, Pensacola Beach From the Air

Here’s a wonderful video of the Navarre Beach and Pensacola Beach areas, as well as Navarre and Gulf Breeze, as shot from the sky.