November 2013 Housing Survey Statistics

Over 2000 high performing real estate agents participate in a monthly survey called the HousingPulse survey.  I am a member of that group and wanted to share some statistics for the latest data published.  These are just a couple of the interesting statistics.  For a more detailed look at the North Port, Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda, or Englewood Real Estate markets...just contact me, and we can talk.

The Average Sales to Listing Price Ratio

Florida = REO - 96%, Short Sale - 97%, Non-Distressed - 95%

National = REO - 97%, Short Sale - 97%, Non-Distressed - 97%

Time on the Market

Nationally = 9 weeks  (This is down from 12.2 weeks in November of 2012)

I wanted to thank all of the clients that entrusted me to help them buy or sell their home this year!

If you are considering listing your home for sale, contact me!  I would be happy to email you a market analysis on your home.  (The one I email will have a general price range.  After I personally view your home, I can assess where in that range your home would fit). 

If you are thinking about buying a home in the area, let me know!  I would be happy to help!  

The market overall is healthy.  It is not a buyers market, or a sellers market.  Prices have gone up about 14% over last year, and inventory is at about a 4 month supply.

Have a wonderful New Year!

There are some great deals to be had in North Port.  Because so many Foreclosures and Short Sales have occurred in this area, it makes it possible to get a nice, newer home, for a very affordable purchase price.

There is a flip side to this though.  For all of foreclosed homes in the area, there is a homeowner who is now wondering "How long do I have to wait before I can get another mortgage?"

The answer may surprise you.  Here are the waiting periods for Post Foreclosure & Short Sale:

Foreclosure:

• Conventional - 7 years
• FHA - 3 Years
• VA - 2 Years

Short Sale:

• Conventional - 2 Years (with 20% down), 4 Years (with 10% down), 7 Years (all other)
• FHA - 3 Years
• VA - 2 Years

Minimum FICO scores of around 620 (which is fairly easy to get to, even with just a few months efforts to clean things up)!

Not all banks are the same, if you find these timelines are different that what you have found...contact me!  I can get you in touch with some mortgage brokers who carry loans with these timelines.  They are good lenders, with competitive rates!

Quiz time!  

When you think of an old house, what year is it built?  

If you are an insurance agent, your answer may be vastly different than the year most of us just thought of.

Did you know...that a home built before 1988 is now considered old by the insurance companies!  I agree that maybe it will need some updating...but to say a home that is 25 years old is "old" is kind of crazy.  And here in North Port, FL where most homes are built of concrete block, it really is kind of surprising.  

What does this mean to me?

If you are buying a home that is over 25 years old you will have to have an additional roof inspection...if the home is over 30 years old you will need a 4 point inspection.  

If you are selling your home and the buyer is worried about added insurance costs you need to understand that you were most likely "grandfathered in" with your current insurance.  Also, if the home you are selling has less than 3 years of life left, the buyer may not be able to get insurance at all!

Is there any good news?

Yes.  Although you will have to pay for an additional inspection, many times you can "bundle" a 4 point and a Wind Mitigation inspection in the same inspection....this will not only make your insurance company happy...but it may possibly lower your insurance rates by hundreds of dollars a year!

Building permits are looked at as an indicator to a cities development.  When more building permits are issued, it means more homes are being constucted...which leads to more construction jobs.  That also means more business that trickles down to other industries as well.

Building permits are up in North Port.  In fact, they have just reached 31 in August, which is a 5 year high!

The market is growing.  If you are buying, now is the time to snatch up that home before everyone knows that the market is back!

If you are thinking about selling your home in the North Port - Port Charlotte - Punta Gorda - or Englewood area, you may ask yourself these questions:  

Who will be buying our home?  

How will they pay?  

Will my home have to pass an appraisal?  

I wanted to blog today about the national averages...and then about what I have personally seen in the last couple months.

Nationally:  A recent analysis was done by a Real Estate Data company called RealtyTrac, it ranked the areas that had the most cash buyers.  Florida was ranked #1!  That means we have more people paying cash for homes, than any other state in the country.  

The specific numbers are this:  

% of cash sales: 65.8%  

Median List Price: $159,900

Let me put this in perspective:  2 out of every 3 buyers in Florida, is paying cash for the home!  That is a huge number.  The article went on to say that about 15% is an institutional buyer (investor, bank, etc).  So that tells me about half of the sales are real people, paying cash.

What have I seen?  I have personally closed a little over a dozen transactions in the last couple months, of those: 50% were cash deals.  Who are the people that are paying with cash?  For me, in the last couple months it has been a wide variety of people: everyone from people taking a loan from family memebers, to working families that are using their savings, investors, and another who took a 401k loan.

What does this mean to you?

It depends if you are buying, or selling.  

If you are buying, you just need to be aware of the market...and the strength of offers that you are competing against.  If you find out there are multiple offers on the property of your dreams, and you are doing a financed transaction...you may want to come in at your best offer.

If you are selling, there may be less hoops to jump through.  There will not be a finance contingency and typically a cash deal will not have appraisal contigency as well.  If you have a "unique" property, without a lot of comparable properties on the market needed to justufy the price to a bank....this is good news.  
Another thing to think about is if the home you need to sell is in poor condition, and will not pass an inspection (which many loans require like FHA/VA/USDA).  In this case you need a cash buyer or you will not be able to sell.  There are many reasons for poor condition, the biggest reason is because the property is in a short sale situation.  The next biggest is usually liquidating an estate.  So if you have been worried about selling your short sale home because of its condition, you may want to rethink if that may be an option for you to avoid a foreclosure on your credit.

I had to laugh at this video....yes it is a commercial for RE/MAX, but it is good.  Many of you may have had an agent like this...I want to let you know that with me, you will get communication!  I strive to always keep you updated, even if there is not anything going on.

Check out the video:

New Feature on NorthPortHouses.com!  

We now have the "days on market" for all of the properties!  It is listed as ADOM in the propery details under "Additional Information."  

What does ADOM stand for?  Active Days on Market.  

I know many of the registered users of this website get automated listings emailed to them with new homes that come on the market...but it is nice to see exactly how long the home has been on the market.

If you ever have any questions, or what to see a property, just let me know!

Thanks,

Jason Ester, Realtor

Wait a minute....you are a Florida Realtor, why talk about the Georgia Mountains?!

It is an interesting phenomenon: When people decide to retire, they mainly chose to move to the beach or the Mountains!

So I thought, why not highlight a Realtor from the Georgia Mountains as a service to all those looking for the perfect retirement location!    

I personally know and trust these Realtors.  Their names are Bill and Teresa Cronk.  They have been in Real Estate for many years, and know how to provide exceptional service.  They have a website, which makes it easy to search for your next mountain retreat!

Personally I like Florida the best...but in case you desire the mountains, the Georgia Mountains are the place to be!

What was on the front page of the paper yesterday?  The big headline "Home sales up from last year!"

The writer quoted data from our local Realtor Association which showed a year over year 14.5% increase in the average price of homes.

Another interesting statistic is that the amount of inventory we have is now at a healthy level.  The inventory level is measured in the "months supply."  A 5.5 month supply is a normal amount of inventory....meaning, that it would take 5.5 months to sell all of the available homes on the market.  The inventory level now is at 5.0.  

What does this mean if you are a buyer or a seller?  It means that it is no longer a buyers market.  It is also means it is not a sellers market either.  It is a balanced market.

It is nice to have a balanced market for a change!