This house came on the market just last week for $148,500.  This is a house that Hall Quality Homes built in 1998.  He still builds this model for about $230,000 or so.

This is a VA foreclosure that for some reason was listed at a lower than expected price.  The listing price is not determined by the listing licensee, who was Elizabeth Macmullen, but by the asset manager for VA.

If you were on my motivated seller list you would have been notified of this fantastic deal.  …by the way…just drop a line if you want to be on it….

There was a lot of interest in this house as you might imagine.  In fact, by yesterday there were thirteen offers on the property and of course the seller accepted the highest bid. 

I’m not sure what the final price was but it was likely at least $20,000 higher than the asking price.

So there are a couple lessons to be learned here.

• First…If you want to sell your house right away just underprice the market by about $50K
• Second…There are a lot of ready and willing buyers out there right now, they are just waiting for a good house at a good price.

If you are looking for a good deal…I have at least two houses in mind right now that will likely sell before a week is up.  Give me a call on my cell 907 232–7900

Here are the statistics for the week of July 21–28, 2008 for Wasilla, Palmer, and the rest of the Matanuska-Susitna Valley.

This was a pretty good week for new pending sales hitting 49 in total.  The overall inventory dropped and I wouldn’t be surprised if this becomes a trend as we move into late summer.  The 24 closed sales is about average for the year so far.

		Average Price	DOM
New	43	$253,391	.
Total Active	908	282,953	131
Pending	49	$208,500	105
Closed	24	$211.349	71

Of the 49 pendings, 14 of them are new construction and 5 were foreclosures.  This is an interesting mix that shows that our real estate market is certainly not dead.   Builders are still providing a good product for the money.  Buyers have a chance to look at the existing homes including the foreclosures and a healthy percentage of them are choosing to build a new home.

The Anchorage Daily News says that Alaska’s Housing Prices dropped the fastest in a year. They were quoting the  Arkansas Democrat Gazette, reporting on the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight.

A misunderstanding of how to use statistics led to the erroneous headline.   While it is true that the average sales price dropped significantly in Alaska this year, it is not true that the value of the average house dropped much…if any.

What is going on is that people are buying the less expensive homes.  The lower priced homes are selling at a higher rate than the higher price homes.  That is bound to put downward pressure on those higher priced homes, but we aren’t able to show that they have dropped significantly in value…yet.  If this situation continues we will have to see the values actually drop.

What is true is that many sellers have an inflated idea of the value of their home.  Many times they look at the borough assessed value and assume that thier value is 20% higher than that.  The truth is that the borough is often higher than the true value.  That fact can come as a shock.  We are currently seeing many houses sell for less than the borough assessed value. 

It is important to have an objective assessment of the value of the home so that you know where you stand when you go to sell.

 

 

 

 

Wasilla Real Estate statistics for the week of July 14–21, 2008.  These are the numbers for the whole Matanuska-Susitna Borough. 

It looks like we closed some of the spurt of pendings from a few weeks ago because the closed sales are up a little.  Pending sales remain mediocre and total inventory climbed again for the week.

		Average Price	DOM
New	50	$269,926	.
Total Active	926	282,080	132
Pending	24	$225,429	60
Closed	32	$212,454	63

New construction was still a significant part of the sales.  Of the closed sales 5 were new construction.  Builders are still fairly competitive in this market.  But new construction is not driving the market like it was in 2005.  In 2005 30 percent of the closed sales were new construction. 

Other markets in the country are driven by foreclosures but ours isn’t.  There are foreclosures out there and they made up 3 of the 32 closings for the week. 

I have an automated list of new foreclosure listings.  If you would like to be on that list just send me an email.  You will be notified the day a foreclosure listing hits the market.

 

Wasilla Real Estate presents the weekly statistics for residential real estate sales for Wasilla, Palmer, and the rest of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.

It was a  pretty steady week this week, pendings at 30 and closings at 23 is about average.  It doesn’t appear that we are setting any records.  Usually August is a more active month than July, so we will have to wait and see.

		Average Price	DOM
New	42	$245,344	.
Total Active	913	283,359	131
Pending	30	$225,828	89
Closed	23	$262,325	91

The average price of closings this week is high.  Four homes over $400,000 closed this week which  probably is a record for the year, so I could be wrong in my in assessment of the week.  Many of the higher priced homes are now appearing to be a good value for people who shop in Anchorage. 

Speaking of a good value…here is one.  The sellers want this house sold so they have lowered it to $309,900 which is much lower than it’s real value.  I expect it to sell this week.  I am holding an open house there Tuesday, (7/15/2008), evening.  The public is welcome to come between 5–7:30 PM. 

 

Motivated sellers and motivated buyers are the key to a good transaction.  They both keep their eye on the larger goal of a successful transaction.  They don’t let small disagreements blow up their deal.

How do you identify motivated sellers?  Read This

I have automated a motivated seller search.  This auto search will send you new foreclosure listings, relocation listings, and recent price reductions within 24 hours of the new listing or price reduction.  If you would like to be put on this list just let me know.

Please indicated if you would like all the motivated sellers or indicate:

• Foreclosures
• Relocations
• People that say they are motivated…indicated in the comments
• Price reductions

If you would like a specific search just for you.  Just drop me a line with your specific needs and I will set it up.

It’s important to realize that the realtor access to the mls system is much more detailed than the public access.  I can search on hundreds of different fields to ensure that you are not scrolling through pages of listings to find the needle in the haystack.

The image above left is just one page of the realtor MLS.  There are 7–8 pages with literally hundreds of choices on each page.  Just drop a line itemizing your price range, location and any other detail that is important to you and I will set it up for you.

$165,000
2001 E Grizzly Bear Drive

All the work has been done for you. This home has new paint, new carpet, new vinyl, new lighting, and a new pressure tank. In the last 5 years it received a new metal roof, all new windows, extra insulation in the attic, and a new furnace.It is now so energy efficient that last year the utility bills for electricity and gas were about $600 each. Part of the reason for the low gas bills is that on some cold days the owner supplements the gas heat with the installed wood stove. The wood is just gathered from the larger than one acre plot of land.This home has 1248 square feet, three bedrooms and two full baths. The master bedroom has it?s own bath and a walk-in closet. There is a vaulted ceiling in the living room and dining room area. The garage is 624 square feet.

If you like gardening you have a good start. There are several beds of beautiful perrenials as well as a vegetable garden plot in he back of the house.

If you are looking for a nice home in this price range with a detached shop?this is it!
Here is a google map to the property. There are two parcels here so the borough tax info is on two pages, Mat-Su Tax 1 and Mat-Su Tax 2. Here is the tax map.
Asbuilt Survey , Well and Septic Info

You can tell by the photos below that the house is clean, neat and ready for move in. Give me a call at 907 232–7900 for an appointment to view this home.

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I have an Uncle Bill who sold his home and real estate investments in southern California about 25 years ago. He moved to to northwestern Arkansas and reinvested.

Of course, with the difference in prices he was able to buy a LOT of houses.  I always joke that he bought up half the town.  Maintaining and managing those homes has been a full time job ever since, but they provided him a good living.

He is about the most productive person I have ever known.  I rode with him for a day on a maintenance run of some of his properties.  He could get more done in less time than anyone I ever met.  I had a hard time keeping up with him even though I was only holding the ends of the boards.

So now he has decided it’s time to sell most of his houses.  And he is selling them one by one and doing it easily.  He knows it’s a slow market so here is how he does it.

• He makes sure the home is vacant.  These are rental properties and it is always harder to sell a property with a tenant in it than if it is vacant.  This is not necessarily true of owner occupied homes. 
• He catches up on all the maintenance.  Nothing is left half-way done.  If it needs to be fixed, he fixes it.  If it needs to be replaced, he replaces it.  He does a good job on everything and then repaints.
• He makes sure the lawns are mowed.  He and his grandson make the rounds regularly to make sure the houses look good from the outside.
• He prices them to sell.  He doesn’t have an inflated opinion of value.  He looks at all the competition and then prices his house about $10,000 below the lowest competitor. 

So his homes are in better shape, are easier to view, and are priced better than the competition. 

And guess what?  They sell…quickly.  It is rare for him to have a home on the market more than a couple weeks  Buyers look at the competition and the choice is obvious.

We could all learn a thing or two from Uncle Bill.

 

Here are the Mat-Su real estate statistics for the week. 

The total inventory dropped for the second week in a row.  With 37 pending and 32 closed for the week we are seeing relatively healthy numbers.  Mid-summer sales are usually a little slower than spring and fall sales but this years seems to be a little different.

		Average Price	DOM
New	49	$267,340	.
Total Active	898	285,467	129
Pending	37	$234,000	63
Closed	32	$223,071	95

Most people that are interested in getting into a house before school starts should go into contract within the next two weeks.  People will be trying to do that so the pending sales will probably remain at a higher point for the next two weeks.

Take a look at tomorrows post on how one investor is successfully selling his inventory very easily and quickly even in a slower market.