Tim and I ate out Thursday evening. We rarely go out on weekdays as our work schedules are hectic and I have a lot of meetings with potential home sellers on weekday evenings after the "work day" is over. Tim usually prepares our evening meal and I roll in about the same time as our daughter Hannah who is on the high school soccer team.
But Hannah was on a school field trip to Orlando this week and I had a rare evening off, so we dropped in to Bambinellis, our neighborhood Italian restaurant. We have known Bonnie Bambinelli for many years and her red sauce is exactly what we crave from our travels in southern Italy.
So, I am ready for some time off and a nice adult meal at Bambinellis, but as usual I found myself chatting it up with former customers, neighbors and friends. They all had one thing in mind: How's the real estate market?
Everyone is hopeful the real estate market might be turning a corner. There are many, many people sitting on the sidelines waiting for the market to improve before they make their move. All are interested in any small indicator that the market has started in a positive direction.
I am honored my friends, neighbors and past customers look to me for answers. I am also disappointed I don;t have better news to report. The market has not started back in a positive direction, in my opinion. But I can say I do not believe we are losing ground as we have in each of the past 24 months. We are on the real estate balance beam right now in my markets. We have not fallen off the balance beam. We have good footing and it does not look like we are going to fall off. But we are having a really hard time turning around and going in the positive direction.
I took a look at new contracts in March (through March 25th) to get an idea of new market activity. Specifically I looked at binding agreement dates. This is the date when both buyer and seller have signed a real estate purchase contract and negotiations are complete. Te property is "under contract" so to speak.
Here you go:
Number of homes under contract in March by zip code and price range
FOR 30084
0 to $250,000 15 Homes
$250,001 to $400,000 2 Homes
$400,001 and up 1 Home
FOR 30345
0 to $250,000 3 Homes
$250,001 to $400,000 5 Homes
$400,001 and up 2 Homes
FOR 30033
0 to $250,000 13 Homes
$250,001 to $400,000 5 Homes
$400,001 and up 3 Homes
Short sales and foreclosures make up a disproportionate percentage of the mix. More on that in a later post.
My conclusions
1. Lower end of the market is showing some movement. Buyers here do not have a home to sell.
2. Mid market activity is poor. Homes from 250 k to 400 k are showing less activity than I would have expected for a spring market.
3. High end of the market s not moving right now.
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