Good stuff on insurance, market, for Spanish Fort, Daphne, Fairhope

Twitter version: Housing market’s good. Sp Ft homeowner’s insurance break. F’hope inventory balloons.

For those who have a longer attention span:

Eastern shore housing prices are up 8.8% over this time last year. The number of homes sold in Spanish Fort, Daphne and Fairhope is down from 286 sales in the first quarter of 2013 to 267 homes. That’s easily attributable to the unseasonably cold weather. Foreclosures made up only 14% of sales, compared to 19% this time last year. And new construction continues to make up almost a quarter of sales.

Repeating by special request: Spanish Fort homeowners should check with their insurance carriers to see if they can get a price break now that the Spanish Fort Fire Rescue Department has improved its rating to a Class 3 ISO (no, I don’t know what ISO means). But after sending out emails to folks I know I in the Fort, they’re reporting back that this tidbit saved them several hundred dollars. (And one even took me to lunch … thank you again, Cecilia). Some insurance companies are aware of the change; others haven’t a clue. So Spanish Fort folks feel free to forward this to your neighbors.

Inventory on the Eastern Shore is has jumped from 746 homes this time last year to 833 on the market. But a closer look reveals that it’s the Fairhope market where the vast majority of these homes are going on the market (425 now compared to 376 this time last year).

Be sure to scroll down to check out my homes for sale. If you know someone who may be interested, just forward this email.

Eastern Shore: 267 homes sold in the first quarter, which is down from the 286 sales this time last year. (Again, blame bad weather). However, sales prices were up 8.8% compared to the first quarter of 2013, going from $229,369 to $249,720 in the first quarter of 2014. The time it took to sell remained steady at just over 5 months. And sellers generally trimmed 3.6% off the list price in order to sell.

Fairhope: 115 homes sold with an average sale price of $265,247. That compares to 126 sales with an average price of $255,837 this time last year. On average it took 174 days to sell and home sellers took 4.5% off the list price to close. There are 425 homes for sale in Fairhope.

Daphne: 115 homes sold with an average sale price of $226,992. This time last year 111 homes sold with an average sale price of $181,647. It took on average 133 days to sell. Sellers here only had to take 2.7% less than list price. There are 290 homes for sale in Daphne.