1. Have a pre-sale home inspection. Be proactive by arranging for a pre-sale home inspection. An inspector will be able to give you a good indication of the trouble areas that will stand out to potential buyers, and you’ll be able to make repairs before open houses begin. Older homes may be un-insurable due to sub-standard electrical, plumbing, roof or HVAC (ask us about a 4-point inspection). This is especially important if the likelihood of your buyer utilizing an FHA loan is high.

2. Organize and clean. Reduce clutter and pack up your least-used items, such as large blenders and other kitchen tools, out-of-season clothes, toys, and exercise equipment. Store items off-site or in boxes neatly arranged in the garage or basement. Clutter translates to inadequate space. Clean the windows, carpets, walls, lighting fixtures, and baseboards to make the house shine.

3. Get replacement estimates. Do you have big-ticket items that are worn our or will need to be replaced soon, such your roof or carpeting? Get estimates on how much it would cost to replace them, even if you don’t plan to do it yourself. The figures will help buyers determine if they can afford the home, and will be handy when negotiations begin. Unknown repair and replacement costs can scare buyers off.

4. Find your warranties. Gather up the warranties, guarantees, and user manuals for the furnace, washer and dryer, dishwasher, and any other items that will remain with the house. Better yet, purchase a home warranty that covers you and your buyer after the sale.

5. Spruce up the curb appeal. Pretend you’re a buyer and stand outside of your home. As you approach the front door, what is your impression of the property? Do the lawn and bushes look neatly manicured? Is the address clearly visible? Are pretty flowers or plants framing the entrance? Is the walkway free from cracks and impediments? This is any prospective buyer’s first impression. Don’t underestimate its importance!

Market Snapshot

See what’s selling in your neighborhood.

add to:

Hide Sites

As the chart shows, the index had been on the rise through the summer months, but September started a new downward trend, so it seems.

Some notes  from the Case Shiller press release:

“The turn-around in home prices seen in the Spring and Summer has faded with only seven of the 20 cities seeing month-to-month gains, although all 20 continue to show improvements on a year-over-year basis. All in all, this report should be described as flat.”

“Coming after a series of solid gains, these data are likely to spark worries that home prices are about to take a second dip. Before jumping to conclusions, recognize that the one time that happened at the beginning of the 1980s, Fed policy saw dramatic reversals, which is very different from the stable and consistent Fed policy we have today. Further, sales of existing homes – those included in the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices – have been very strong in recent months, working off the inventories of houses for sale. At the same time, housing starts remain weak, fears that the market will be swamped by a wave of foreclosures are heard and government programs aimed at the housing market will expire in the first half of 2010.”

And here in Tampa, sales are up and inventories are down, so why the further decline in the index? I think it can be explained due to the fact that a larger percentage of what’s selling more recently is the distressed stuff, short sales and bank-owned properties. As I posted earlier this month, a much larger percentage of our pending listings is made up of short sales and bank-owned properties.

Looking forward, as first-time buyers return to the market to beat the looming tax credit deadline, I would expect that prices remain flat or even begin to bump upwards once again. But the lens in the crystal ball has been quite out of focus as of late. We’ll see.

Case-Shiller Press Release

add to:

Hide Sites

• The Realtors® Confidence Index Survey estimates distressed property sales (foreclosures and short sales) on a monthly basis at the national level.
• The Survey is based on responses from approximately 1,500 Realtors® to an ongoing monthly survey; estimating error is in the neighborhood of 1 percent.
• The November Survey reported that total distressed property sales declined from 49 percent of total sales in March to 33 percent of sales in November.

Graph Above: Foreclosures and Short Sales as a Percentage of Total Sales (Nationally)

Real estate is local however and the Tampa market has not necessarily been a reflection of the national market as of late. So what’s happening in our local market?

Well, most notably for me is the fact that over 76% of the current pending listings on our MLS are either bank-owned or short-sale listings. That number had been hovering around 60% for most of the year. But it is December,  typically a very slow month for residential real estate.

So many of the buyers in the market this time of year are investors who are devouring up the pre-foreclosures and the post-foreclosure listings, or at least are attempting to do so. And 56% of those pre and post foreclosure listings purchased in the last 30 days were all cash deals.

Furthermore, 41% of all current Tampa residential listings are short sale or bank owned listings. So not only is demand high for such listings right now, but the supply is still pretty good as well. Year-to-date, 46% of all brokered residential sales were either bank-owned or short sale listings.

2009  Short Sales in Tampa:

• Average days to sell was 237 (about 8 months)
• Average sold price was $154,600

2009 Bank Owned Sales:

• Average days to sell was 78
• Average sold price was $79,500

Data used is from the MFRMLS all brokers/agents included, for city = Tampa.

add to:

Hide Sites

From: Macpherson, David A., Sirmans, G. Stacy, Zietz, Emily N. The Composition of Hedonic Pricing Models. Journal of Real Estate Literature; 2005, Vol. 13 Issue 1, p3-43, 41p, 21 charts.

Here’s a look at what characteristics most affected home values whether positively or negatively. I’ve highlighted the ones that I see as most important in our local market:

• In the structural category, the most common are lot size, square feet, age, number of bathrooms and bedrooms. All these boost the value of a home.
• The most frequent internal features are full bathrooms, half bathrooms, fireplace, air-conditioning, hardwood floors and basement. These characterists almost always boost the value of home, but sometimes do decreases or do not have any effect.
• External features that are most often mentioned are garage and garage spaces, deck, pool, porch, carport. All these help the value except the carport which decreased the price in one case.
• Environmental features including “views” all help to boost the price.
• Environmental characteristics due to location of the property, such as location within the metropolitan area, crime, distance, golf course and trees are all important.
• Other environmental features resulting from public services include the school district, percentage of minority in school district and access to a public sewer. In general, perceived school quality has a significant impact on house prices. Marketing, occupancy and selling characteristics include the assessor’s judgment of quality, the assessed condition of the house, whether the house is vacant at the time of sale, whether the house is owner occupied, and DOM (days on the market). Measures of quality all help increase home prices, as does the owner-occupancy. Being vacant and lingering for a long time on the market have negative effect while other time trend variables do not show significance.
• The last category, financial issues, include financing, foreclosures situation and property taxes.

What’s Your Tampa Home Worth?

add to:

Hide Sites

So even after the rampant fraudulent claims came to light, there was not much doubt that the thing would be extended and possibly even expanded to include more than just the first-timers. New legislation, the Worker, Homeownership and Business Assistance Act of 2009, which was signed into law on Nov. 6, 2009, extends and expands the first-time home buyer credit.

The new law:

• First timers continue to get an (up to) $8000 subsidy for buying a home.
• Long time home owners can get a $6500 subsidy for replacing their primary residence.
• The income levels were raised so even more subsidies can be handed out.

But is the government giving $$ to home buyers who would have bought a home regardless of the subsidy? For sure it is, and it will continue to do so now that the thing is even bigger and will last longer. It hard to say how many of this year’s first-timers would have bought anyway. Prices were way down, inventory was up, making 2009 a strong buyer’s market.

An economist with the Brooking’s Institute estimates that over 85% of buyers that claimed the credit would have bought anyway. Wow! He also estimates that the true cost of each sale in which the buyer claimed a credit was $43,000 because of the buyers who would have purchased anyway! (read it).

So maybe it is a poorly targeted subsidy, rewarding many for what they were already planning on doing. But the fact is, the tax credit is there, at least until the end of April, 2010.

add to:

Hide Sites