Sold, Sold and Sold again

One of the best ways to find accurate data as to home prices and appreciation levels is to find homes that have sold a few times recently, that have had no upgrades since the time they were built.

Sold New on 3/30/93 for $210,000

Sold again on 2/27/03 for $349,300

Sold again on 7/8/05 for $466,000

Sold again on 6/25/08 for $540,000

Appreciated by 66% in the first 10 years.

Appreciated an additional 33% from 2/03 to 7/05

Appreciated an additional 15.8% from 7/05 to 6/08

No granite countertops or stainless steel appliances.  No upgrades except maybe some updated paint colors.  A run of the mill 2,300 sf four bedroom 2 1/2 bath home in a good school district.

It was on the market for 75 days or so and had a $50,000 price reduction before it sold for $10,000 to $15,000 less than that.  Would it have been worth closer to the original $600,000 list price if the market hadn’t slowed down?  Probably.

Sunday Night Stats – Where's the market heading?

Tonight I want to get an idea of where the market is heading as we go into July, as to prices.  I’m going to bulk together some Zip Codes that I personally follow, to have a large enough area to be meaningful, and yet zero in on local at the same time.

I’m getting the data as I am typing, so I have no idea how the numbers will fall.  We’ll find out together.

First Group: 98033, 98052, 98004, 98005, 98007 and 98008 on a combined basis.

Residential:

In January of 2008: median Asking Price of homes sold was $652,450 and the median Sold Price of those same homes was $625,000.  Median days on market of those sold homes was 68 days and 27.66% sold in 30 days or less.  Median Price Per Square Foot = $267.66

Lets jump to May 2008 and see where the market went by that time from the beginning of the year.  Median Asking Price $643,500.  Median Sold Price $630,000.  Median Days on Market 41 and 38.28% sold in 30 days or less.  Median Price Per Square Foot = $272.72

June 2008: median Asking Price $710,000.  median sold price $690,000. Median days on market 61 and 33.58% sold in 30 days or less.  Median Price Per Square Foot = $277.10

July month to date: Median Asking Price $650,000.  median sold price $639,000.  Median days on market 50 and 30.92% sold in 30 days or less.  Median Price Per Square Foot = $253.57.  Median type of house was a 4 bedroom 2 1/2 bath 2,520 sf home.

Some pretty large homes are in escrow with the median square footage of all homes in escrow at 2,660 and a medain price per square foot of $262.20.  Of course that $262.20 is asking price and not sold price, so prices are trending down from July 1 to present.

Let’s compare that to June of 2007: Median Asking Price $699,000.  Median Sold Price $685,000.  Median days on market 21 and 61.09% of homes sold in 30 days or less.  Median Price Per Square Foot = $292.73.  Median type of house was a 4 bedroom 2 1/2 bath 2,340 sf home.

Interesting July stats so far.  The size of home is larger, the price is lower.  More home for less money as I said last week.  Very Interesting.  But the numbers are so different from May and June. Fewer houses sold quickly.  This data is worth tracking week to week, especially as we head into fall.

Second Group Seattle 98115 and 98103 on a combined basis excluding townhomes (townhomes on Eastside automatically not included for the most part, as on The Eastside townhomes are condos and not residential). Trying to keep this apples to apples.

In January of 2008: median Asking Price of homes sold was $540,000 and the median Sold Price of those same homes was $522,500  Median days on market of those sold homes was 51 days and 29.57% sold in 30 days or less.  Median Price Per Square Foot = $253.64

Lets jump to May 2008 and see where the market went by that time from the beginning of the year.  Median Asking Price $595,000.  Median Sold Price $580,000.  Median Days on Market 20 and 61.97% sold in 30 days or less.  Median Price Per Square Foot = $277.51

June 2008: median Asking Price $550,000.  median sold price $546,000. Median days on market 29 and 54,02% sold in 30 days or less.  Median Price Per Square Foot = $265.04

July month to date: Median Asking Price $567,450.  median sold price $553,450.  Median days on market 23 and 56.90% sold in 30 days or less.  Median Price Per Square Foot = $261.67.  Median type of house was a 3 bedroom 1 3/4 bath 2,115 sf home.

Let’s compare that to June of 2007: Median Asking Price $567,000.  Median Sold Price $569,500.  Median days on market 13 and 75.93% of homes sold in 30 days or less.  Median Price Per Square Foot = $273.79.  Median type of house was a 3 bedroom 1 3/4 bath 2,080 sf home.

The median asking price of all pending sales is $535,000 and the median square footage is 2,085.  Looks like better “deals” are in escrow as we speak at $256.59 MPPSF as to ASKING prices with that number to be pared down further as to sold prices.

Stats not compiled or published by NWMLS. (Required disclosure)


Unless someone asks for the regular weekly King County Stats, I’ll post them over on my blog tomorrow.  It’s been a long, back-breaking day for me.  I was more interested in finding out where the market was heading, than posting overall King County since last Sunday.  But I will post them on my blog tomorrow for the benefit of those who have been charting them on Excel Spreadsheets.

Goodnight!

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You can find the regular weekly stats here.

Sunday Night Stats on Monday Morning

Did you ever work so hard in a week, that you just needed to lay down for 20 minutes after dinner and didn’t wake up until the next morning!?  Sure you did.  It happens to all of us.  Well, that’s what happened to me last night after my Open House in Bryant and after inputting a new listing in Redmond.  Just took a nap and never woke up until 6:00 a.m this morning.

In this business the days sometimes just keep running together one after the other and you forget when you last had a day off, or a haircut, or your nails done.  You just keep working day after day until the job is done, and the time frame just keeps switching from this “right now” to the next “right now”.

There is no “have a nice weekend” in real estate.  There is no “what’s your schedule like” in real estate.  On any given day the phone rings and sets a chain of events into motion that has no end until the work is done.  And when your clients have small children, you really roll up your sleeves and pitch in until the house is ready for market.  I have 4 sets of clients with children, all getting their houses ready for market, and 2 of the 4 moving to new houses nearby.  The work is back-breaking, but very satisfying when the job is done and the home is photo ready and Open House ready and Broker’s Open ready, and then you do the photos and the Open Houses and the Broker’s Opens, and it just keeps going until the house is sold.

Everyone wants a list of what an agent does.  Truth is we do whatever it takes to achieve the objective.  Everyone working all at the same time, owners of the homes and agents alike, all working toward the common goal of getting everything just so and on market.

Whether it’s a home built in 1910 in Bryant:

Seattle Home in Bryant

Bryant Home

Or a newer townhome in Redmond:

Rivertrail in Redmond TownhomeRivertrail Townhome

Perfection is the expectation of buyers.  So you just keep working till you get it as perfect as you can.  And the poor Moms who live there with their small children, have the undaunting task of trying to keep it that way day after day.  Getting the kids ready for school and leaving the house in perfect order for showings, is no easy feat.

So this Mother’s Day I ask that you all give honor to the Mom’s with homes on market…and the Mom’s like me who turn into everyone’s Mom when helping them get the job done.

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And now for Sunday Night Stats on Monday Morning.  I won’t be doing the April month end stats until next week, as there will be many month end closings posted during this week.  So let’s just do the normal weekly stuff. 

I expect if I’m this busy getting properties on market, two on and at least three to go over the next few weeks, that every agent is busy prepping homes to get them on market.  So inventory should be rising even more in the next 30 days.

King County Residential:

For Sale:  9,372 at a million or less – DOM 53 – MPPSF $225.58 and 1,591 over $1M – DOM 68 – MPPSF $371 Total Residential King County homes on market this morning 10,963.  That is 135 more than last week, after netting out those that went into escrow from those that came on market this week.

In Escrow: 2,750 – DOM 45 – MPPSF $212, that’s 81 less than last week due to month end closings with MPPSF dropping from $214 to $212.  That reflects a drop in asking prices, not sold prices.  Expectation is the sold prices of those 2,750 will be less than the $212 MPPSF asking prices.  Though some did sell for over asking price with multiple offers, the median will likely be more like $210 or so.

Closed YTD: 5,109.  That’s 463 more than last week with DOM of 51 days and MPPSF of $220 for the year to date which is up a buck for closed sales.

Given the median days on market for In Escrow is going down, the price issue of down to $212 MPPSF for those in escrow, is likely due to increased competition and homes coming on market being more realistically priced to sell.  At least for the ones that are actually selling and going into escrow.

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King County Condos:

For Sale:  3,784 – that’s 10 more on a net basis than last week.  DOM 57 – MPPSF $323 (about the same)

In Escrow: 900 – that’s 46 less than last week due to month end closings – DOM up from 43 to 48 – MPPSF up from $303 to $305.  Remember those are asking prices, not sold prices.

Sold YTD: 1,675 up 158 over last week – DOM 48 – MPPSF $288 – that is DOWN from $290 last week and EQUAL to the MPPSF of 2007 all months combined.  Given most of last year was strong, condos just now reaching MPPSF of all of last year is a pretty strong statistic for condos.  You would think all of this year would be equal to the last 5 months of 2007.  But they are still running high relative to 2007 compared to the single family home market, but starting to dip on a YOY basis, which is to be expected. 

Amazing how strong the condo market is.  I suspect new construction and condo conversions are giving resale condos a run for their money and strong competition.  That is keeping the MPPSF up, though for resale…not necessarily so.

That’s it for Stats this week.  When I do month end stats for end of April YOY next week, we’ll break down some of the areas like “within 2 miles of Microsoft” and certain Zip Codes from weak ones to strong ones.  So if you are hoping to see a break down of a given area, it’s time to get your requests in for next week.      

One of our agents listed a property at $350,000 in Tacoma three weeks ago and has had NOT ONE showing since it was listed.  My listing in Bryant listed at $529,950 had 6 showings in the first two days + more than 20 people at the first Open House yesterday.  So there is a lot of difference in activity from one area to the next.

Getting the property ready for market, and good photos, have become critically important.  No more stick the sign up “as-is” and wait for offer…    

Sunday Night Stats – King County

King County – Residential

For sale – 8,680 – UP 172

In Escrow – 2,064 – UP 158

Closed month to date – 608 – UP 169

 

King County – Condo Market

For sale – 3,009 – UP 80

In escrow – 823 – UP 25 – 2.6% of those are contingent contracts

Closed month to date –  204 – UP 60

Next week I’ll have to post both end of month and Sunday night stats plus YOY closings for the month of January.

Single family home market keeping pretty good pace with those closing and going into escrow vs. coming on market.  Condos not so good.  Hard to believe that with over 3,000 on market, only 18 went into escrow two weeks ago and 25 this past week.  If the condos don’t move, the single family market will see the consequences of that come Spring and Summer.

“Statistics not compiled or published by NWMLS.

Sunday Night Stats

So far it looks like sellers have a 50% chance of selling vs. last year.  I’ll keep tabs on that as we go.  You were twice as likely to sell your house last year as this year, if you put it on market.  For those of you who think it’s a new year and if it didn’t sell last year it’s time to raise the price…I’d rethink that.  Hopefully low interest rates will improve the stats moving forward.  But I wouldn’t count on the improvement being more than a 66.6% chance of selling.  We’re not talking about selling at the price you want.  We’re talking about selling at all.  Not a good time to be stubborn or overly optimistic.  You have until 4/1/08 to get real with your pricing, or possibly be back on market in 2009.  Stop pricing off what other people are asking.  Stick close to the comps this year.  No more than 5% over the comps is a good rule of thumb.  And don’t skimp on condition.  Condition will be the MOST important factor in 2008, second to not pricing more than 5% over the comps.

King County – Residential

For sale – 8,508 – UP 132

In Escrow – 1,906 – UP 97 – 6.5% of those are contingent contracts

Closed month to date – 439 – UP 203

 

King County – Condo Market

For sale – 2,929 – UP 59

In escrow – 798 – UP 18 – 2.6% of those are contingent contracts

Closed month to date –  144 – UP 75

UP means over last Sunday’s data.  Sales of single family homes kept pretty good pace against homes coming on market this week.  But still running at about half the pace of this time last year.  Let’s assume 1/3 of the buyer pool is gone and that this year’s sales will be 2/3rds of last year in total number of properties sold.  That’s my prediction based on what we’re seeing so far.

“Statistics not compiled or published by NWMLS.

Sunday Night Stats – King County

An update to the Property Stats for King County from last week:

Residential – Single Family

For sale – 8376 – UP 279

In escrow – 1809 – UP 27

Closed in Janaury so far – 236 -NEW CATEGORY

Condo 

For Sale – 2,870 – UP 125

In escrow – 780 – UP 47

Closed in Jan so far – 69 – NEW CATEGORY

 

Apologies Sandy, no Bellevue Stats today.  I’ve decided to do them in map grid first, and visit some of the new on markets for commentary on how the new is comparing to old listings, and to track if the new listings are selling at a higher rate than current inventory.

Broker’s Opens are on Thursday.  I’ll report afterward.

“Statistics not compiled or published by NWMLS.

Sunday Night Stats

I know how much I enjoy being able to check RCG for mortgage rates every Friday, thanks to Rhonda.  I’m going to try to do the same for King County Stats on Sunday nights.  Each week I will also highlight a different City or Seattle Zip Code over on my blog.  Tonight I did Kirkland Stats.

I don’t have any commentary for King County Stats tonight.  But there’s plenty of commentary on the Kirkland Stats.  There’s less than a three month supply of inventory for property priced at or below the median price sold in 2007.  There’s a very strong buyer’s market in the high end of $1M or more for condos and $1.5M or more for single family homes.

I’ll try to post the stats here every Friday night for King County, but until we get a couple of months of sales, or the full first quarter of 2008, commentary would simply be conjecture.  I don’t expect the number of homes sold in 2008 to be dramatically different in the first half of 2008, as they were in the last half of 2007. 

I expect that brown slice of December 2007 closings to change a bit each week as agents post late.  There were even a few late postings for November and October since last week.  I’ll try to update and keep the data as accurate as possible.  As always, and by mls rule, I must disclose that I, ARDELL compiled these stats using MLS as a source only.  The data is not compiled by NWMLS.

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“Statistics not compiled or published by NWMLS.