7 homes sold in Coralville in January 2012 compared to 15 homes sold in January 2011. If that seems like a bit of a drastic drop, only 3 sold in January 2010, which kind of puts things more in perspective. In fact I went back a few years and the low single digits is more typical for the last few years, making 7 seem more "normal" for the time of year than the high 15 homes sold last year.

The absorption rate is at 7.2 months, that's an average of 217 days on market. (6 months absorption rate is a balanced market). Coralville is not doing as well as Iowa City where home sales are up for the 7th straight month and the absorption rate down to a low 4.8 months. If you check out the annual report for home sales in Coralville for 2011 you'll see that in general the trend is positive with a glitch every now and then. It's likely that this month is one of those glitches.

As we head towards spring and the peak buying time of the year, I wouldn't be surprised to see the numbers of homes sold in Coralville up again in the coming months. Especially when you consider Coralville benefits from its close proximity to Iowa City and is popular with buyers relocating to the Iowa City area for the UIOWA and UI Hospitals. With incoming Residents and Students thinking about accommodation for the Fall semester right around the corner, these are buyers that will have a big impact on home sales in Coralville in the coming months.

For information on the average and median price of homes in Coralville in January please visit the original post at Iowa City Homes For Sale

So what's the takeaway this month? Too few homes sold in January in Coralville to really make anything of the data. The single family homes that sold were lower priced homes, while the condos that sold were priced on the higher end. That right there is a strange phenomena for Coralville. We're just going to have to wait and see what the spring market brings.

One thing's for sure. If you've got a house to sell, now is the time to get it on the market. You want to have your house on the market at a time when there are the most buyers out there to see it. If not as many homes are selling in Coralville at the moment, you want to  have the advantage of having yours on the market when there are the most eyes on it. And that just happens to be spring and early summer.

If you have a house to sell in Coralville I'd love the opportunity to talk with you and discuss your options. You can either call at 319-400-0268 or drop me an email with some basic information about your home and I'll provide you with a complimentary market analysis.

Home Sales in Coralville IA January - December 2011

Home Sales in Coralville by School District January - December 2011

Home Sales in Iowa City January - December 2011

Home Sales in Iowa City by School District January - December 2011

Data for the market report for January collected from the Iowa City MLS February 9, 2012

Lately my market reports are full of positive news for housing trends in Iowa City. Home sales for January are no exception. Once again home sales are up in Iowa City. In fact home sales in Iowa City are up by a whopping 138% compared to January 2011. 31 homes sold in Iowa City January 2012 compared to 13 in 2011. And if that wasn't impressive enough. This is the highest number of homes sold in Iowa City in January of any year since 2007 when 35 homes sold!

The absorption rate has dropped to 4.8 months, that's an average of 148 days on market. (6 months absorption rate is a balanced market). 4.8 months absorption rate is technically a sellers market. Home prices don't totally reflect that yet. Since I'm on a roll with good news, there is positive data to share with you on that too. Although about half of the homes sold in Iowa City last month sold at less than 95% of list price, (indicating that buyers are still putting pressure on prices), a few homes sold in Iowa City ABOVE list price in January. That is definitely a good sign for sellers and gives us every reason to be optimistic about the spring market.

To view a table with information about the average price and median price of homes sold in Iowa City please visit the original post at Iowa City Homes For Sale

What's the takeaway this month? If you've got a house to sell, now would be a good time to talk to a Realtor. This market report is further indication that the housing market in Iowa City is definitely on the right track. What you need to know now is how that relates you and you're house. As you can tell from all the information in my market reports, one of my specialties is figuring out the market. I'd love the opportunity to talk with you and discuss your options. You can either call at 319-400-0268 or drop me an email with some basic information about your home and I'll provide you with a complimentary market analysis.

Home Sales in Iowa City January - December 2011

Home Sales in Iowa City by School District January - December 2011

Data for the market report for January collected from the Iowa City MLS February 6, 2012

The most efficient way to search for homes in the Iowa City area is by school district. That way you can narrow down neighborhoods without making the area so small that the search becomes ineffective. That's the principal I use when helping buyers to find homes and figured it's just as effective a tool for researching homes sold by neighborhood. Last week I looked at Iowa City. Today I'm looking at homes sold in Coralville.

Coralville has a population of about 20,000 and there are 3 elementary schools in Coralville itself. Some children living in the north of Coralville visit one of the other three elementary schools shown on the chart below in neighboring towns Tiffin, North Liberty and Iowa City. (If you check out this post where I created a map of elementary schools in the area you can see just how close Coralville is to its neighbors).

***Clicking on the chart will take you to the full size version for easier reading

Kirkwood & Central Neighborhoods - Largest Number of homes sold in Coralville at the Most Affordable Prices

Kirkwood and Central Elementary Schools are in the heart of Coralville and this is where the most affordable homes can be found. This is the more established part of Coralville. This is where you'll find smaller single family homes, apartment style condos and A LOT of zero lots.  For newer homes, buyers need to look  further north. I relocated to Coralville in 2000 myself and a lot has changed since then. "New" Coralville, pretty much anything north of Holiday Rd, looks a lot different than it did when I arrived 12 years ago. The 12th Avenue extension takes commuters to North Liberty these days and Van Allen Elementary is just past the boundary between Coralville and North Liberty.

Opportunities for Buyers in the High End, Luxury Market in Coralville

Homes sold in the Wickham, Van Allan and Lincoln school districts as you can see are generally priced higher. The explanation for that is that the area to the north of Coralville has primarily larger single family homes and luxury condos. (Homes sold in the Clear Creek school district are apartment style condos in apartment buildings at Coral Ct).

If you checked out my market reports at the beginning of the year for Coralville you'll know that home sales were down a bit for the year compared to 2010. (275 homes sold in coralville in 2011 compared to 295 in 2010). What's clear from this chart is that home sales for the higher end and luxury market are down. This is obviously not great if you're a seller, but we all know every market is good for someone and this means opportunities for buyers.  With interest rates below 4% it can only be a matter of time before buyers recognize they can get a whole lot of house with an interest rate that low!

I'm all about providing as much information as possible for buyers and sellers in Coralville and Iowa City. If you have any questions for me, please be sure to drop me an email or give me a call. I'm here to help!

Data for this market report was pulled from the Iowa City MLS January 31, 2011

Originally posted at Iowa City Homes for Sale

When it comes to helping buyers relocating to iowa city I'm always trying to think of new ways to get useful information to them. Often times I think the Internet offers us lots of choices, but they're not always that useful. (Or the websites  are so cluttered with ads they're not exactly a joy to visit).

Just last week I stumbled upon a tool that I absolutely had to have on my website that will not only be a great resource for buyers relocating to iowa city, but also sellers interested in researching home sales in Iowa City neighborhoods. It offers all kinds of area information that I'm sure will be really useful, (yes there's that word again), for buyers and sellers alike.

This very classy Lifestyle Search Tool is from SpatialMatch.  You can see it in action on Corinne's site, Barrington Real Estate Market Solutions. She has an upgraded version of this tool that includes a home search. This isn't an option the company is offering in Iowa City at the moment. You can be sure as soon as they do it will be available on my site too.

In the meantime I'm very happy with the Lifestyle Tool. Through the widget in the side panel on site, Iowa City Homes For Sale you can search for all kinds of things, ranging from schools, golf courses, coffee shops and more. The maps pop out to a full page version, making it much easier to use.

To give buyers relocating to iowa city an idea of how it works I created a search for elementary schools in the Iowa City area. (That's always high on the list of priorities of anyone relocating to Iowa City).  The light blue shaded area indicates a half mile radius from the school. I've also added a border around the respective towns, (I started with Iowa City, Coralville and North Liberty). If you click on the individual schools you'll get a wealth of information about the schools. If you select the border of one of the towns you'll get loads of information about the town. 

Check it out. I'm sure you'll be as impressed as I was. (Okay, maybe not quite as impressed, I am  a bit of a map fiend AND a data fiend, so of course this was the ultimate find for me!)

25 homes sold in Iowa City in January so far. That puts home sales way ahead of January 2011 when only 9 homes sold in the entire month. The real estate market in Iowa City is getting off to a great start in 2012.

46 homes are listed as pending or contingent and 310 homes are currently showing as Active Listings on the Iowa City MLS. I'm going to say something now that I wasn't saying last year at this time. We need more inventory! I know for a fact buyers are looking for fresh listings. If you're on the fence about selling your home, now would be a REALLY good time to list it.

310 Active Listings
46 Homes Pending or Contingent
25 homes sold in Iowa City in January to date -  21 Single Family Homes, 3 Condos and one Zero lot

The Absorption Rate is at 4.5 months. That's an average of 137 days on market, (and technically a sellers market). If you follow the link you'll find out more about how the absorption rate is calculated. The number of active listings is part of that calculation and since that number is still pretty low it could be that the absorption rate is skewed lower than it really is.

That said, the low inventory is a good sign. (At least from a sellers's perspective,  and for the economy in general come to that). Houses are selling in greater numbers again. If this trend continues in the coming months  we could see a more stable and balanced market in Iowa City very soon.

Consider this your go to destination for information about the Iowa City real estate market and check back often for updates. Since there is so much misinformation around about how the housing market is doing  I consider it my mission to prove with data that housing trends in Iowa City are looking good and things are humming along just nicely in this neck of the woods.

Home Sales in Iowa City by School District 2011

Home Sales in Iowa City January through December 2011

A Closer Look at Home Sales in Iowa City 2011

Source for data for this market report: Iowa City MLS January 27, 2011

Originally posted at Iowa City Homes For Sale

Lately I've been thinking about how I can step up my market reports for Iowa City to make them more useful. It seems for them to be really useful to buyers and sellers they need to show Home sales more specific to Iowa City neighborhoods. Access to the Iowa City MLS means I have lots of data to pull from and through experience I've found the most efficient way to search is by elementary school district. Iowa City has a population of almost 70,000 and has 12* elementary schools. As you can imagine, that means we are talking about relatively small areas for each school. Some elementary schools are bigger than others so logically they also service a bigger area. The Iowa City School District includes schools in Coralville and North Liberty. For the purpose of establishing Home sales in Iowa City, I've only included schools in Iowa City. (North Liberty and Coralville will follow).

***Clicking on the chart will take you to the full size version for easier reading

Shimek & Lincoln Neighborhoods - Lowest Number of Homes Sold - Highest Prices

There are a couple of takeaways from this chart. The first thing is that the areas where the lowest number of Homes sold also achieved the Highest prices. When you think about it, that's in line with economics 101 and the principles of supply and demand. Less Homes sold in the Shimek and Lincoln neighborhoods. Since less Homes sold it's also probable there weren't as many available for sale. Generally speaking, if there is less inventory available for sale the price is likely to be higher. That's simplifying it a bit of course. Buyers are very discerning in this market. If you're thinking of selling your home in the Shimek or Lincoln neighborhoods you will still need to prepare your home properly for sale, you just won't have quite as much competition. By the same token, buyers looking for a home in these neighborhoods should keep in mind there may not be as many choices as in other neighborhoods. In other words, if something you like comes on the market, don't hang around waiting for something better. You might be in for a long wait!

Where Are the Lowest Priced Homes in Iowa City?

So now let's look at the other end of the spectrum. Where are the Lowest  priced homes in Iowa City?  The Lowest priced homes can be found in the Twain and Grant Wood neighborhoods. The data for the Roosevelt neighborhood jumps out at you of course. Here's the reason for that. Roosevelt is in a neighborhood close to the UI Hospitals. It's also an area where there are A LOT of condos - a hot commodity for Residents relocating to Iowa City. In the case of the number of homes sold in the Roosevelt neighborhood, the number of condos sold totally skews Home prices to the low side as typically condos are less expensive than single family homes.  This skewing of the numbers also holds true for the Horn and Mann neighborhoods where there are also a large number of condos. I guess the takeaway for me next time is to split out condos and single family homes into separate posts....

Getting back to my original comments in that last paragraph. The Lowest priced homes were in the Grant Wood and Twain neighborhoods in 2011. In both neighborhoods home sales were up. If you saw my market reports for Iowa City earlier this month you'll know that home sales were up for the year in 2011 compared to 2010. As you can see in this chart, despite good data for many neighborhoods, the fact that condo sales were down had a big impact on a few neighborhoods.

That about wraps up my look at housing trends in Iowa City by school district. I'm all about providing as much information as possible to buyers and sellers in Iowa City. If you have any questions for me, please be sure to drop me an email or leave a comment.

*Roosevelt Elementary will close this year and the new Borlaug Elementary will open after completion. You can find more information about that and other school information on the new Iowa City Community School District Website.

Data for this market report pulled from the Iowa City MLS January 24, 2011

Originally posted @ Iowa City Homes For Sale

Winter arrived just in time for the Winterfest in Coralville this year. Until last week it didn't look like we were going to get a winter in Iowa this year. Fortunately for all of us the weather gods  smiled down on us and it is suitably cold with a fair amount of snow for this Sunday's annual celebration of winter at the Iowa River Landing. 

Coralville Winterfest celebrates it's fifth year this year with lots of fun activities scheduled both indoors and outside. This is a  Free Family Friendly event and at a time of the year when the kids are starting to get a bit restless it's a great way to spend a Sunday Afternoon. You can view a map of the area with full  schedule for this year's Winterfest in Coralville through this link.

Schedule for Coralville Winterfest 2011:

Sunday January 22, 2012 - 1.00pm - 4.00pm

Outdoor Activities - Iowa River Landing

Roasting Chestnuts
KGAN - Weather Road Warrior w/Justin Roberts
Ice Sculpting w/ Ron Hall and Dave Dettman - 1:30 pm
Horse Drawn Carriage Rides

Indoor Activities - Marriott Hotel Exhibition Hall

ICM - Arts, Crafts & Games
Coralville Public Library - Activities
Summer of the Arts - Children’s Crafts
Concession Stand
Coralville Fire & Police Department
UI Baseball Team Autographs
Funny Face Designs by Lori
Papa Balloon
Coralville Ecumenical Food Drive
Healthy Kids Initiative
UI Museum of Natural History
West Music Activities
Silent Auction (cash and check only)
1:00-3:15pm
Iowa City Bird Club

Indoor Activities - Johnson County Historical Society

Animal Tracking/ Iowa Wildlife
Children’s Crafts
Old Fashioned Candy Making
Corps of Engineers: Devonian Fossil Gorge
Display and Flood Video
Hawkeye Model Railroad Club Tours
19th Century Printing Press Demo
Archeology of the Iowa River Landing

Other Activities at the 2012 Winterfest in Coralville

***KCJJ tours and live interviews

***Free Wassail tasting at Vesta

strong>***Obstacle course and Activities at Diamond Dreams

Originally posted at Living in Iowa

Looks like I picked a good day to do a market update for Iowa City. 16 homes sold in Iowa City in the first 16 days of 2012. Gotta love those numbers - A great kick off to the year, especially considering only 13 homes sold in all of January in 2011.

42 homes are listed as pending or contingent and 282 homes are currently showing as Active Listings on the Iowa City MLS. That's not a lot of inventory. It's possible sellers took their homes off the market for the Holidays. Now would be a REALLY good time to list again - I know buyers are looking for fresh listings!

282 Active Listings
42 Homes Pending or Contingent 
16 Homes Sold in Iowa City in January to date -  14 Single Family Homes, 2 Condos

The Absorption Rate is at 4.2 months. That's an average of 126 days on market, (and technically a sellers market). If you follow the link you'll find out more about how the absorption rate is calculated. The number of active listings is part of that calculation and since that number is low we can't really pay too much attention to the absorption rate.

That said, the low inventory is a good sign. (At least from a sellers's perspective). It looks like the pendulum may be swinging back towards sellers again. For the longest time we've had more houses than buyers to buy them. With less houses on the market in Iowa City that dynamic may change soon. What happens in the next few months is key to that so check back for updates - If you're a regular reader anyway you know this is the go-to destination for information on what's happening in the Iowa City real estate market.  I'm a bit of a data freak and like to keep tabs on housing trends in Iowa City!

Home Sales in Iowa City January through December 2011

A Closer Look at Home Sales in Iowa City 2011  

Originally posted @ Iowa City Homes For Sale

Where are the best neighborhoods in Iowa City? I get asked this a lot and yet there's no point in me answering that question since it would be totally subjective. What I can do to help is introduce you to neighborhoods in Iowa City. Today I'm looking at homes and neighborhoods in the  Shimek Elementary School District. Looking at neighborhoods by school district is the most efficient way to look at neighborhoods. Schools affect the desireability of an area and ultimately that will impact the price of real estate. This is universal, not just in Iowa City. Houses close or within walking distance of the University of Iowa are a prime example of how that works. Location is still king and you will pay to be close to the UIOWA!

For more photos visit the original post @ Iowa City Homes For Sale

Housing Trends in the Shimek Neighborhood

28 homes sold in the Shimek School District in 2011 (and that was up compared to 2010 when only 23 sold). This is the lowest number of homes sold in all the Iowa City school districts, although of course a contributing factor to that is that Shimek is also a smaller school district. Nonetheless, it's still one of the areas in Iowa City with a lower turn over rate of homes. In other words there are generally less homes for sale in the Shimek neighborhoods than in some other neighborhoods in Iowa City. The lower east side for instance or the west side in the Weber school district have a much higher turn over rate of homes with folks moving much more frequently. The takeaway from that is if you see a house in the Shimek neighborhood you like you should jump on it. No waiting for something better to come on the market - You might be in for a long wait! This link takes you to listings of homes for sale in the Shimek School District where the Broker participates in IDX. (Not all Brokers do. Beats me why that is. I can't think of a single reason why Brokers wouldn't want more exposure for their sellers!) The lowest priced home on the list is $156,500, (there are only two listed under 200k). Median price for single family homes currently listed is $339,000.  The highest priced home listed is $650,000.

Amenities in the Shimek Neighborhood

A big plus of living in the north of Iowa City is that I-80 Exits 244 and 246 are close by. (Access to the Interstate is missing on the east side and something you should factor in if it's important to you). Downtown Iowa City is less than 10 minutes away via N Dodge St. As is the case with all neighborhoods in Iowa City, there's a park close by. (Iowa City has 41 parks at the last count so regardless of where you live there will always be a park close by). In this case it's Hickory Hill Park. Iowa City is very "Green." And I'm not just talking about parks, the City also has a strong focus on taking care of the environment.  ECO Iowa City for instance is an initiative to improve environmental sustainability in Iowa City. The University of Iowa participates in a big way too. If you're relocating to Iowa City and need a Buyer's Agent to help you find the right home in the right neighborhood to fit your lifestyle give me a call. As you can see, we have some very fine neighborhoods to choose from!

While I'm here, let me share with you a couple of links to other neighborhoods I visited with clients recently. Watch out for more. I often stay behind after clients leave to take photos.  I'll cover as many neighborhoods as time permits in future posts.

Stunning Pond Views in the Wellington Neighborhood

A Sunny Day in the Goosetown Neighborhood

Tiffin is the last of the communities I cover to get a break down in home sales for 2011. Not too many homes sell in Tiffin in a year so it's not as telling as in the bigger communities - Iowa City, Coralville and North Liberty. New construction is as popular as ever with buyers making Tiffin an area worth watching with lots of land for sale and plenty of new construction going up. It will be interesting to see how the real estate market shapes up in Tiffin in the next few years. I'm sure we'll see some major changes in the housing market in Tiffin once the economy gets back on its feet again.

Single family home sales were up 33% in Tiffin in 2011. 28 homes sold in 2011 compared to 21 in 2010. Zero lot sales were down and condo sales about the same as last year. The following link takes you to a post with info on the months homes sold in Tiffin in 2011. (Knowing when homes sold is a good way to get insight on the much searched for question "when is the best time to put my home on the market?")

Data for this market report came from the Iowa City MLS January 10, 2011

Originally posted at Iowa City Homes for Sale