Archive for January, 2008
Connecticut Real Estate News You Can Use - Jan. 17, 2008
January 17th, 2008 categories: Real Estate Market
CHFA Rate is down again to 5.125%
The CTMLS (the multiple listing service for 7 of the 8 CT counties) is launching a public website with free access to the MLS. No, Realtor.com still isn’t the MLS. This will be the MLS, unless you live in Fairfield County where their Realtor® board voted AGAINST sharing their data (i.e. listings) with the rest of the state. Sorry, no link for this. Will let you know when it’s live.
And, from Ken Gronbach (now demographer, once ad exec) at a seminar I attended today hosted by Horizon Home Mortgage, some trends that will effect the real estate market and life in Connecticut:
An aggravating factor in the real estate market will be that the homes Baby Boomers (born 1945-1964 and about 79 million in size) built, won’t have anyone to buy them. Gen X (born 1965-1984) is a smaller generation by about 10 million. The only remedy would be an influx of immigration. When do you think we’ll start to see McMansions converted into condos???
Gen Y (born 1985-2005), the largest generation of about 100 million, is about 4 years away (at the peak of the generation) from buying their first house and having a significant impact on the real estate market.
With the increase in population will come an increase in crime in inner cities, driving everyone who moved into upscale downtown apartments back out to the burbs.
As people work more out of their homes, he predicts office space will be become harder to lease.
Know how hard it is to find a contractor? Help is on the way - technical schools are full and have waiting lists of Gen Y’ers waiting to get in.
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How Neighbors Can Kill the Sale of Your House
January 15th, 2008 categories: Home Sellers
Do you know what your neighbors say about you/your house/neighborhood when your house is for sale? Let me tell you, it may not be pretty.
Your neighbors may be killing your chances for a quick sale at the highest price. And with increased competition, buyers are paying more attention to negative attributes, including the neighbors.
The Buzzkiller
The buzzkiller is a well-meaning neighbor who isn’t really looking forward to sharing information with the buyer that will kill their enthusiasm to buy. Usually approached by the buyer agent or buyers directly, the neighbor will inadvertently or only if asked, reveal information about the house, neighborhood or complex that could scare the buyers away - rightly or wrongly.
From neighbors, I’ve found out about pending condo complex assessments, plans to build new construction across the street, flooding problems in the area, etc. I hate having a neighbor reveal it to me because I can’t verify the info, explain it or not waste my clients’ time by showing them the house if I know the issue would be a deal breaker- it’s best for the listing agent to let the info out FIRST and not let the neighbors reveal it.
The Nosy Retiree
I have personal experience with this one. As a buyer agent, I look for the nosy neighbor (the one staring out the window as I drive up, or selecting the showing time to pull weeds from the sidewalk) and have been known to chat them up. Nosy retirees have lots of time and a lot of opinions about you and the other neighbors and they have been waiting, yes waiting, to tell someone. Who better than your prospective buyers!?!
When I went to sell my house, I knew my nosy retiree neighbor would not be able to resist adding her two cents or at least scaring off buyers my stalking them.
During my open house, my neighbor walked by the front of my house no less than 4 times. And she wasn’t subtle - she walked in front of the house and then stood there watching the open house visitors. Then, she got in her car and drove by it one more time for fun. You know it was bad when I was asked, “What’s with your neighbor?” Should I reduce the price by $10,000 or $15,000 so you’ll just buy it?
I received feedback from other agents that they “met my neighbor.” I didn’t need to ask who.
The Slob
This one is obvious. I recently sold a house where the entire neighborhood was very well maintained, except for one house. The messy house stood out among the rest, with chipping paint, lots of stuff in the yard and lots of cars in the driveway. All of this screams, “Troublesome Neighbors.” Troublesome neighbors have loud parties, they race cars or ATVs up and down the street, they scream at their children and hit them in the middle of the street. Buyers don’t need to see the neighbors to infer their lifestyle - the trash is usually enough.
Sometimes though, the messy neighbors are actually outside, being chased by the local law. This happened during a showing I did earlier this year. Read How’s the Neighborhood and Why Swear Words Don’t Sell Houses.
The Mee-too Neighbor
No one has sold a house on your street in four years and a week after you put your house on the market, your neighbor lists theirs. What does this matter? Two signs on the same street starts to make buyers wonder, “What’s going on here? Why is everyone selling at the same time?” And, you better hope their listing price isn’t lower than yours because as Ricky Ricardo famously said, “You’ll have some ’splaining to do.”
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Snow in Connecticut - Pictures
January 14th, 2008 categories: Central Connecticut News & Information
It snowed some today so I took my new camera out for a stroll.
A tree in my backyard.
A fallen tree across the street.
More trees across the street.
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South Windsor and Rocky Hill Connecticut Real Estate Market
January 13th, 2008 categories: Real Estate Market
I’m continuing to dig into just What the Heck is Going On in the Central CT Real Estate Market? Today, I’m going to look at the town of South Windsor. Having sold my own home in South Windsor in 12 days with multiple offers, I thought it would be interesting.
Like the other three towns I looked at, Newington, Manchester & Glastonbury, South Windsor seems to be in a normal, balanced market. I broke the figures down into an analysis by # of bedrooms.
South Windsor
3 Bedroom Homes
18 Sold in Last Three Months and there are 29 Active Listings - 4.8 Months of Inventory.
Median Sales Price was $258,900 and homes spent an average of 50 Days on the Market.
4 or More Bedroom Homes
20 Sold in Last Three Months and there are 30 Active Listings - 4.5 Months of Inventory.
Median Sales Price was $372,450 and homes spent an average of 54 Days on the Market.
2 Bedroom Condominiums
33 Sold in Last Three Months and there are 37 Active Listings - 3.3 Months of Inventory.
Median Sales Price was $185,000 and homes spent an average of 32 Days on the Market.
3 Bedroom Condominiums
6 Sold in Last Three Months and there are 10 Active Listings - 5 Months of Inventory.
Median Sales Price was $228,400 and homes spent an average of 62 Days on the Market.
And just for fun, I took a look at one more town, Rocky Hill. This town is more of a mixed bag. If you’re selling a 2 bedroom condominium, the market for your home is in a seller’s market with units selling within about one month and there is less than three months of inventory.
But, single family homes with 4 or more bedrooms are not in high demand in Rocky Hill and there is 18 months of inventory on the market. Here are the details.
Rocky Hill
3 Bedroom Homes
14 Sold in Last Three Months and there are 18 Active Listings - 4 Months of Inventory.
Median Sales Price was $264,900 and homes spent an average of 76 Days on the Market.
4 or More Bedroom Homes
2 Sold in Last Three Months and there are 12 Active Listings - 18 Months of Inventory.
Median Sales Price was $326,950 and homes spent an average of 57 Days on the Market.
2 Bedroom Condominiums
25 Sold in Last Three Months and there are 22 Active Listings - 2.6 Months of Inventory.
Median Sales Price was $209,900 and homes spent an average of 33 Days on the Market.
3 Bedroom Condominiums
3 Sold in Last Three Months and there are 7 Active Listings - 7 Months of Inventory.
Median Sales Price was $259,00 and homes spent an average of 55 Days on the Market.
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What the Heck is Going On in the Central Connecticut Real Estate Market?!
January 10th, 2008 categories: Real Estate Market
Do you really want to know how bad the real estate market is? Are you sure?
OK. You asked for it.
The Towns & Median Sales Prices
I chose to feature three towns in my area of expertise: Manchester, Newington & Glastonbury. In 2007, the median sales price for a single family home in Manchester was $219,900; $249,900 in Newington & $399,900 in Glastonbury. Two are east of the river, one is west and they represent the middle of the market.
As you can see, the prices have either stayed stable or risen from 2006 - 2007. But, the prices only tell you part of the picture.
Supply & Demand
Sales price is just one method used to analyze the market. A look at supply & demand is another tool and is used to predict market activity in the future based on past number of sales and how many homes are currently for sale, or the Absorption Rate. To illustrate the absorption rate, let’s look at Glastonbury.
In all of 2007, 371 homes sold, or about 31 homes per month sold. Currently, there are 132 homes on the market and assuming that about 31 homes will sell per month, it would take 4 months to sell the current inventory (Or 371/12=31, then 132/31=4, the estimated number of months it will take for a home to sell).
Generally, it is considered to be a seller’s market when there is less than 3 months inventory on the market. 3-6 months of inventory is considered normal or balanced, while anything above 6 months is considered to be a buyer’s market.
Based on this, Glastonbury is generally experiencing a Normal & Balanced Market.
How about Newington?
In 2007, 241 Homes Sold. There are 71 on the market. There is a 4-month supply of homes on the market.
And Manchester?
In 2007, 513 Homes Sold. There are 173 on the market. There is a 4-month supply of homes on the market.
Slicing & Dicing
Let’s dig a little deeper into the numbers. This time, I’ll look at the absorption rate over shorter periods of time and I’ll look at condominum sales, too. Instead of using the total # of homes sold in 2007, I’ll only go back 6 months and then three months, so the sales data is the most current.
Glastonbury: 6-month & 3-month for single family homes
6 Months: Three months worth of inventory or normal market.
3 Months: Six months of inventory or normal market.
Glastonbury: 6-month & 3-month for condominums
6 Months: Two months worth of inventory or Seller’s Market.
3 Months: Four months of inventory or normal market.
Newington: 6-month & 3-month for single family homes
6 Months: Three months worth of inventory or normal market.
3 Months: Four months of inventory or normal market.
Newington: 6-month & 3-month for condominiums
6 Months: Two months worth of inventory or Seller’s Market.
3 Months: Two months of inventory or Seller’s Market.
Manchester: 6-month & 3-month for single family homes
6 Months: Three months worth of inventory or normal market.
3 Months: Five months of inventory or normal market.
Manchester: 6-month & 3-month for condominiums
6 Months: Three months worth of inventory or normal market.
3 Months: Four months worth of inventory or normal market.
But you thought the market was Teribble? And that I was going to confirm how bad it was?
It’s not great but it’s not bad - it’s normal. We just haven’t seen normal in a while and we don’t remember what it looks like.
I caution you on trying to use this info, which is general in nature, to apply it to your situation. The most accurate way to utilize absorption rate is to compare similar properties (number of bedrooms & price range) and determine what type of home is selling and what isn’t, because it can differ. With that said, these three towns are experiencing a balanced market over all- not a selling frenzy!
Let’s look into my crystal ball…
It looks like Glastonbury is moving into more of a buyer’s market, at least for single family homes. This makes sense since Glastonbury’s price range is above the median price range for the area and this price range is having more difficulty in most parts of the state.
But Newington is in a seller’s market for condominums. This also makes sense since condominiums in a “just around the median” town like Newington attract first time buyers who are almost always buying, regardless of the market.
If you are selling or buying…
Make sure your agent gives you an analysis of the absorption rate in the town and price range you are buying/selling in. Without this information, you cannot accurately price your home for sale or present an offer.
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