When we take a listing, we all want to know what the likelihood it has of selling. Today I am going to talk about something that we have noticed here in our market. The listings that have the most interest and sell the fastest are the less expensive homes close to town.
In our market high priced homes are rotting. We are in a rural area with lower average incomes than the rest of Florida. And, most of the people that can afford an expensive home are building, not buying. We pended 5 deals in the last month and have 2 that are in negotiations and look like they will go pending. Of those 2 are multi-family properties, and 3 are homes priced under $150,000.
I went thru the MLS statistics and found that multi-family properties sell fairly consistently. The residential properties that sell well are homes prices under $150,000. This is despite the “bad market” the media says we are in. Buyers of these properties are usually first time buyers. And they often buy as soon as they have the down payment required. The excitement of buying their first “home” offsets the fear of a declining market. Now, this isn’t always the case, but is often so.
First time buyers and affordable houses are still a solid market. For example, in our MLS 36 homes sold in the last 31 days. Of those 10 were priced more than $200,000, and most of those sold at a 5-15% discount from previous comparable sales. 21 of the sales were under $150,000. And 3 out of the 5 residential sales were sold to first time buyers.
In finding out which listing opportunities to pursue go thru your MLS. Look at the statistics. Find out which price ranges and types of property are selling the fastest. You can find out how many homes are on the market, and how many have sold in the last 6 months. Using those numbers you can factor out the absorption rate.
For example, in our market there are 119 three bedroom homes for sale priced under $150,000. In the last 6 months 62 have sold. That means if you take a listing of a 3 bedroom house priced under $150,000 you have a 52% chance of it selling before the listing expires. The percentage goes to 40% if your listing is priced between $150,000 and $200,000.
Got questions about short sales? Just ask. Sign up for daily tips at:
http://www.shortsaleagentadvocate.com.
Ben & Chris Curry The Short Sale Agent's Advocate
Comments(2)