October 22–29 Real Estate Statistics
Wasilla, Palmer, and the rest of the Mat-Su Valley

Below are the Statistics for this week. Our inventory is almost identical to last week.  Pendings are down.  The Average price is below $200,000. 

The accepted industry definition of a buyers market is one that has more than 6 months worth of inventory.  We currently have slightly more than 8 months worth of inventory on the market.  Compare that to some of the areas in the country that had the hottest markets during the last 5 years.

Las Vegas, Southern California, and Pheonix all have huge supplies of inventory.  Their real estate market was booming just 2 years ago and now it is bust.  Some areas of Florida have over 50 months of inventory. 

We are only into the buyers market category by a couple months.  That has some ramifications for buyers and sellers.

Sellers
It’s a buyers market.  That means that buyers have a lot of homes to look at.  If they can’t come to agreement on yours, they can try the next buyer down the street.  They are shopping price.  No amount of marketing, open houses, or staging will help if you aren’t price right.  Get the price right and it will sell.

Buyers
It’s a buyers market…but just barely.  That means that although a seller may come down to an attractive price, they aren’t going to drop by 40%.  It’s a waste of your time, and everyone elses time, to make a ridiculous offer. 

I do know of some great homes on the market right now.  I showed a brand new 3 bed, 2 bath, 2 car garage ranch this weekend priced at less than $160,000.  And I think the builder will come down from that. Give me a call, I’d love to help you get a great deal on a home.  (907) 373–0999

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Anchorage Daily New photographer Marc Lester has a fantastic slide show of Hatcher Pass on adn.com.  It’s too good not to post for all my readers as well. 

I wrote about Hatcher Pass last December when we watched a bunch of kids downhill skiing.  There were having blast.  Hatcher Pass is a special place for our family.

Hatcher Pass is one of the crown jewels of the Mat-Su Borough.  It’s a fantastic get-away both summer and winter.  The photo at left was from an overnight camping trip with my kids up by “Monkey Face Rock”.  There is a beautiful valley beyond the rock.  These photos were taken by my daughter Teressa.

Below is the valley above our camping spot.  Is that pretty or what?  That clear mountain stream came directly out of the rocks just to the left of the photo.

Here is just partial list of things to do in Hatcher Pass:

• Hike
• Camp
• Take Photos
• Pick Berries
• Cross Country Ski
• Down Hill Ski
• Go Sledding
• Snow Mobiling
• Hang Glide
• Explore Old Mines
• Identify Wild Flowers
• Watch Wildlife, Everything from Pikas, Ground Squirrels, Moose, Bear, Foxes, Raptors, Ptarmigan, Marmots and more.
• Hunt Moose, Bear, and Ptarmigan in season.
• Rock Climb
• Mountain Climb
• Explore WW 2 Bombers

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A Wasilla home owner recently called me with questions about a first right of refusal. It seems that his neighbor wanted to buy his property in case he should ever decide to sell. The neighbor acted like it was not a big deal. It was presented as if it were a friendly gesture between two neighbors.

A first right of refusal allows the holder of the right a chance to buy a property at the same terms another buyer has presented. The holder of the first right of refusal usually has a specified period of time to make the decision to buy or not to buy.

For a seller, that’s like entering a boxing match with handcuffs on your wrists. You have to notify buyers that if they like your property enough to write a bonifide offer with earnest money, pre-qualification letter, and everything else, you have to show their offer to someone else first. The buyer has to cool their heels while they wait to see if all their efforts are in vain. How many sane buyers are going to do this?

Don’t let anyone talk you into giving them a first right of refusal.

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Wasilla Real Estate News, Real Estate Statistics for Wasilla, Palmer and the rest of the Mat-Su Borough

The inventory dropped a little this week.  Not because we sold more houses but because fewer new listings came on the market.  People are reluctant to sell during the months of November and December.  We will probably not see the amount of new listings pick up significantly until January or February.

It is interesting to note that there are several new construction houses in this recent list of closed sales.  People are still buying new homes and builders are still building.  The days of building any old house and they will come, however, is gone.  A builder needs to do his homework before beginning a project on speculation.

I note that of the twenty three closed sales this week, eleven sold in less than 40 days and for full price.  Most of the others took some major price reductions to sell.  A couple of them were new construction houses that were on the market for a long time.

Typically, a spec house, (this is a house built by a builder on speculation), will be marketed from the time he clears the lot, sometimes before that.  But it usually actually sells about the time it is all finished, or close to finished, so they are on the market a long time.  Those tend to drive up the average days on the market.

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Every Tuesday I meet with a group of Realtors in a secret valley location.  OK…we meet at Meads Coffee House in Wasilla.  We meet to discuss current issues in the Mat-Su Valley real estate market.

Lately we have often discussed what it takes to get a house sold in this slower market.  Different things are always discussed.  Location, condition, and marketing are three items always on our mind. 

If a house is in the right location, it will always attract attention, but it won’t necessarily sell.  People will note it on the Alaska MLS, they may even go take a look.  But if the price isn’t right, it won’t sell.  Granted, you can get a higher price for a house in good location than you would for a similar house in a poorer locaton. But you can’t expect a buyer to pay very much for that.

Once in a while, the micro-location makes a difference.  Perhaps a family with young children is just moving to Alaska and finds a house next door to Grandma and Grandpa.  For them, it might be worth paying an extra $5,000.  I’m not sure how Grandma and Grandpa would feel about it however.

But if you are having problems selling your home in this market, it most likely isn’t because of location, condition or marketing.  If you have a problem selling your home……..

Price is the answer, PRICE is the answer, PRICE IS THE ANSWER!

This was the unanimous opinion of last Tuesdays discussion.  Almost any house can sell if it’s priced right.  There are a few homes in the Mat-Su Valley that you literally can’t give away because of environmental issues, but I suppose if you paid the buyer enough, they would take it.  So price is still the answer.

That is not to say that your home shouldn’t be in it’s best possible condition, or that it shouldn’t be marketed well.  But if you have been on the market for 90 days or more without a buyer, it’s time for a price reduction.  Face it, if it’s been on the MLS with photos for that amount of time almost all the buyers in your price range have rejected it.  You are just waiting for a new buyer to come into the market that sees the value in your house that others can’t see. Unless Grandma talks her kids into moving next door, it isn’t selling at the current price.

It is very important to price your home at it’s current market price right out of the gate.  If you are too high you will realize that after 60–90 days.  By then, you may not be able to get what you would have received when you first listed it.  Not only is it shelf-worn, the market may have dropped out from under it.  Price it right, and it will sell right away. 

People talk about how long it takes to sell a home.  Some say it takes 90 days or 120 days.  The truth is that a home that is priced right will sell in 30 days or less with no reductions in price.  It is only very occasionally that a home sits on the market for 90 days or more and sells for it’s full listed price in our current market.

People are still buying homes in Wasilla and Palmer.  There are about 80 buyers this year for every 100 that we had last year.  These buyers are looking at a LOT of homes before they buy.  I show people enough homes that they become experts in their price range.  It isn’t hard to tell when a home is priced right after you look at 25–30 homes in a particular price range over a period of a couple weeks.

Give me a call or send me an email about pricing your home.  I can work on a consulting basis or a commission basis, your choice.  My cell phone number is 907 232–7900.

If you would like to keep abreast of the Wasilla, Palmer and Mat-Su Real Estate market, click on the subscribe button to the right.

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We have seen quite an increase in prices over the last seven years.  Below, are the figures from the MLS system that show many more homes sold this year compared to 2000 and at a much higher price. 

Notice that the average days on the market for sales in 2000 was 140 days.  This year so far it has been only 77 days.  Of course the average days on the market for the entire inventory in general is much longer than that.  Many of those homes will never sell.

If you average the total increase in median value over the last five years it comes to about 7 1/2 % per year.  That is tame compared to some of the areas of the country with huge increases.  Some of the large West Coast cities saw single year increases of more than 40%.  Some of these same cities are currently experiencing decreasing home prices of about the same magnitude.

Here are the prices from 2000 and from 2007.

Jan 1, 2000–Oct16, 2000  560 sales, Median price $130,058   140 dom

Jan 1, 2007–Oct 16, 2007  977 sales, Median price $217,500    77 dom

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For the second week in a row the pending sales price has averaged less than $200,000.  This is where the most market activity is taking place.

There are quite a few builders targeting the below $200,000 market so a good amount of the pending sales are new construction.  We have represented a lot buyers with new construction in this price bracket this year.  We can help you find a builder from this price on up to this house we recently pended on Hart Lake. 

The total inventory rose a little this week.  It should begin to decline as we enter the snowy season.  The buyers that are still in the market during the winter will be starved for new listings so you may want to think about entering the market when most people are not.

Give me a call on my cell to discuss your personal selling and buying strategies.  907 232–7900.

I will actually sit down to discuss your real estate needs, we try to help you, not sell you.

Real Estate Consulting…or Real Estate Selling?

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Buyers often focus on a particular schools boundaries in their home search.  Sometimes their children are already in a particular school or perhaps they have heard good things about a particular school. For the past ten years or so the Colony District has been the most popular. 

I happen to live in the Colony District but chose Palmer High School for our one daughter who attends public school because it has an International Baccalaureate Program.  We teach our other children at home.

I am usually a little uncomfortable to tell someone that a home is in their desired school district because these boundaries can change.  Couple that with the fact that new district boundaries were historically hard to determine.  You had to get a hard copy of the new map after the boundaries were changed. 

Thankfully, the Mat-Su School District has put these boundaries on web.  All the boundary maps are listed here.  Please remember that these boundaries can change with shifts of population or when a new school is built. 

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This little cafe has intrigued me for quite some time. I’m not sure who had the idea to remodel this old barn into a restaurant, but it was a stroke of genius.

Located just off the Parks Highway, near the intersection with the Glenn Highway, it is in a good central location.  It’s tucked in behind Gator Glass, click here for a map.

It has a unique Alaskan atmosphere combining an old valley barn with an Alaskan bush pilot theme.  Photos of bush pilots and planes line the walls, an old bent prop that obviously has a great story leans in a corner.

A beautiful view of Pioneer Peak is right out the window.  It just a fantastic place to sit down with some friends to enjoy some great food. 

Speaking of food, sisters Natalie Forbis and Anna Sippey are the cooks.  The menu varies from day to day but one thing stays the same, down-home  good cooking. 

Here is the menu when I stopped by, click to enlarge.

There is enough room for a good sized group of people, and in the summer you can even eat in the hayloft. 

P.S. Ignore the spider webs…it is decorated for Halloween.

If you would like to get the latest from Wasilla Real Estate News, just click on the subscribe button.  It will automatically go to your email when posted.

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Here is a very cute chalet on five acres at the end of Kates Drive. This chalet is in like new condition, it was built in 2004 and meticulously maintained since then.

There is a second building pad on the property situated in a location that provides a gorgeous view of the Talkeetnas and the Chugach Mountains. The chalet itself has a beautiful view of the Talkeetna Mountains.

It is currently owned by a local artist who keeps the home tidy and neat. It has a good sized kitchen complete with a built-in microwave, dishwasher, range/oven and refrigerator.

The living room is comfortably sized with a nice view overlooking the bluff. If you like a view more than trees, you can open the view up even more. Upstairs are two good sized bedrooms, one is currently used as a studio.

The original builder planned to build another house on the property so the well already has a line to the building pad. Also, the power supply to the lot is setup to supply power to the other building site as well. There are two driveways on this property, one to the chalet and another to the other building site.

Click here to see a google maps.

Restrictions on the site a very minimal, click here to read the covenants. See below for more photos: Click on photos to expand.

Click here to see video.

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