I realize that some may be surprised, but broker caravan is really valuable for me. Of all the listings coming on the market this week, guess how many were pitched at caravan today? Almost all of them. So today we had 51 listings, some were "re-caravans" with price reductions of at least 5%, but most were new.
So how do you decide which listings to see? My record is 16 listings in one caravan. First, if I have a client that has a need that matches the listings, second if it's a property I haven't seen before, third obviously is if they are serving lunch, offering a drawing (like the one home I went to had a $100.00 drawing. No agent present, lockbox key needed, guess what, there happend to be a neighbor that wanted to see the home, I show up....The listing agent lost out! How would you feel if your home was listed for sale and you found out that your agent's idea of an open house was "open on lock box"?
The neighbor that came by was puzzled. I simply said, "it's a free county, she's an independent contractor, so she can do what she wants. What would you expect?" Well, you can guess the answer...
So, in the area serviced today (La Canada, La Crescenta/Montrose/Glendale Annex) we had 51 listings, but our total listing inventory is 220-240, In April we sold 34-40 of them. So the "absorption rate" is computed by taking the total number of listings, let's say 230, divided by the sales (say 36) giving us a rate of 6.4, meaning it would require six and a half months to sell the current inventory. The rule of thumb is a "balanced market" is approximately six months inventory, so we have a "balanced market" where neither buyer nor seller have an advantage.
I'd be happy to send you all the details in my April Market Report, just email me keith@LaCrescentaValleyHomes.com.
Make it a great day!
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