Here are the Market Stats for the week of June 25–July 2, 2007.  These numbers are for single family homes in the whole Mat-Su Borough.

The days on market column is beginning to show in stark contrast the difference between houses that sell and houses that don’t. 

The average days on market for all active listings has held almost rock solid steady for quite awhile at 100 days, give or take a day.  This is the average for all the homes for sale in the valley.  Notice at the same time that the average price for all the homes for sale has held almost steady at about $306,000–$309,000.

		Average Price	DOM
New	58	$272,776
Total Active	852	$307,023	99
Pending	37	$223,230	54
Closed	42	$247,459	63

Meanwhile, the houses that sell are only on the market about 60 days or so.  In fact this week the average days on the market for pending homes is only 54 days.  I think that is the lowest DOM for pendings so far this year.

This week also breaks the record for the year with closed sales. That would be encouraging if it wasn’t for the dramatic drop in pendings.  I really don’t think this is a major indication of anything. This week just happened to be an “end of month” week when a lot of the pendings tend to close. 

The total inventory continues to climb but at a slightly slower rate.  This will probably keep climbing until August or September when I expect it to drop as people take their homes off the market for the winter. 

It “feels” to me like the market is still fairly healthy in that our listings are continuing to receive interest and offers are coming in.  It does seem that most buyers are not willing to pay the asking price for homes, however.  They are sometimes making offers that are ridiculously low.

!!! Notice to buyers !!! If a house has been on the market less than 30 days an offer more than 10% below asking price is not going to cut it. Actually, the truth is that an offer more than 5% under asking price is probably not going to get a serious counter. 

I have written several articles about real estate commissions and how much licensees do for free. In those articles I didn?t even come close to exhausting all the services that real estate professionals provide free of charge.

Because of these free services the licensees have to charge fairly high commissions for people that do sell or buy. So what is really happening is that sellers and buyers who actually buy homes are making up for the time Realtors spend with sellers that do not sell and buyers who do not buy.

My brother Jay and I have discussed in length some ways to help people with their real estate needs while charging reasonable rates that make it worth our time and theirs.

Recently, I completed the Accredited Consultant and Real Estate training and intend to offer a different way for consumers to pay for their real estate services. The consulting model will give buyers and sellers options on how they pay for real estate services. In all cases, buyers and sellers will pay less for the real estate services that they need unless they opt for the normal commission.

The advantage of using a commission is that the seller doesn?t have to to pay anything unless their home sells. The Realtor carries all the risk. The disadvantage is that they have to pay a much higher price for that service. If the Realtor knew they were going to be paid for the service whether the house sold or not, they could do the work for less money.

We will also be offering these consulting services to people who are marketing their home on their own. Often when a For Sale By Owner seller finds a buyer he/she is at a loss of just how to evaluate an offer. This is the stage where an experienced Realtor is worth hiring. We have been through hundreds of these transactions and we are willing to consult with a For Sale By Owner for a reasonable fee.

Sometimes a buyer and seller are already in agreement verbally and want to complete a transaction but don?t know how to begin, a consultant can be of help there as well.

Coordinating a transaction from contract to closing is another place that an experienced Realtor is worth the money, as is troubleshooting a stalled transaction.

Anyone can put a sign in their yard, put an ad on Craigslist or the newspaper and wait for the phone to ring. It?s when they get an offer that they need experienced help. Often they will bring their deal to an attorney for help. While an attorney will definitely help get the contract completed correctly they do not do real estate transactions every day of the week. They are are not going to bird-dog the transaction through to a successful close within the time frame of the contract. That is where a real estate consultant can be worth their weight in?well not in gold?but maybe in copper.

This property has a pending sale