Well, I missed last week, so here are two weeks in one.

Below are the numbers for last week.  The week of August 11–18.  Notice the high number of new listings for the third week in a row.  I think that is the largest surge of the year so far.

Pendings, and Closings were healthy, in fact they were significantly higher than the average for the year..

This past week saw the numbers for everything except the total inventory drop.  The change for new listings, closings, and pendings was not significant.

But the total active listings is now at the highest level since I have been keeping these statistics and it appears to be still climbing.  The increasing inventory indicates a reduction in demand. 

Below are the statistics for the week of Aug 18–25, 2008.

In fact the inventory has increased by 12% since May of this year.  If the inventory continues to increase, it will push the Days On Market, (DOM), numbers out even further.  That will create pressure for people to lower their prices to get their homes sold.

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Wasilla Real Estate statistics.  These numbers are for the whole Matanuska Susitna Borough, including Palmer, Trapper Creek, Sutton, Eureka and all points between.

Fifty seven new houses hit the market this week.  Combine that with 72 coming on the market last week and you should have a hefty increase in inventory.  We did see a significant jump last week but the total inventory actually dropped by two houses this week.  Between the 31 pending sales and the other sellers who dropped out of the market for some other reason, it made up for the 57 new sellers.

Twenty eight closings is a little bit on the higher side of average for this summer but we certainly aren’t setting any records.  We should continue at about this pace for the next couple months before it begins to drop off for the winter. 

This week should see quite a few new construction pendings because of the parade of homes.  I am still surprised at how new construction homes continue to be competitive.  Many of the builders are moving up to five star plus houses.  Some are moving into the super-insulated homes that surpass five star plus ratings.  These homes save on energy costs every month for the home owner.

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Wasilla Real Estate News is honored to publish a letter from Kevin Crozier to his clients.  This gives a little insight to the current market…and also announces a job opening if you are interested.

From: Kevin Crozier
Sent: Saturday, August 09, 2008 2:20 PM
To: Kevin Crozier
Subject: Two weeks later 

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Whoops.  I missed this on Monday.  So this is the Monday Memo done on Friday.  The statistics are for the correct days, however.

We certainly had a surge of new listings.  The total inventory increased and pending and closed sales held about steady.

It looks like a lot of people have decided to sell before winter.  That’s a little surprising to me, they should have put their houses on the market earlier. 

There have been some good deals again this week.  A log house on Cottonwood Creek sold for $185,000, several brand new houses sold for less than $175,000, and a couple of good lots sold for the mid-$30s price ranges.  Let me know if you want to be set up for auto-alerts if a property that meets your criteria hits the market.

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This house came on the market just last week for $148,500.  This is a house that Hall Quality Homes built in 1998.  He still builds this model for about $230,000 or so.

This is a VA foreclosure that for some reason was listed at a lower than expected price.  The listing price is not determined by the listing licensee, who was Elizabeth Macmullen, but by the asset manager for VA.

If you were on my motivated seller list you would have been notified of this fantastic deal.  …by the way…just drop a line if you want to be on it….

There was a lot of interest in this house as you might imagine.  In fact, by yesterday there were thirteen offers on the property and of course the seller accepted the highest bid. 

I’m not sure what the final price was but it was likely at least $20,000 higher than the asking price.

So there are a couple lessons to be learned here.

• First…If you want to sell your house right away just underprice the market by about $50K
• Second…There are a lot of ready and willing buyers out there right now, they are just waiting for a good house at a good price.

If you are looking for a good deal…I have at least two houses in mind right now that will likely sell before a week is up.  Give me a call on my cell 907 232–7900

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Here are the statistics for the week of July 21–28, 2008 for Wasilla, Palmer, and the rest of the Matanuska-Susitna Valley.

This was a pretty good week for new pending sales hitting 49 in total.  The overall inventory dropped and I wouldn’t be surprised if this becomes a trend as we move into late summer.  The 24 closed sales is about average for the year so far.

Of the 49 pendings, 14 of them are new construction and 5 were foreclosures.  This is an interesting mix that shows that our real estate market is certainly not dead.   Builders are still providing a good product for the money.  Buyers have a chance to look at the existing homes including the foreclosures and a healthy percentage of them are choosing to build a new home.

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The Anchorage Daily News says that Alaska’s Housing Prices dropped the fastest in a year. They were quoting the  Arkansas Democrat Gazette, reporting on the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight.

A misunderstanding of how to use statistics led to the erroneous headline.   While it is true that the average sales price dropped significantly in Alaska this year, it is not true that the value of the average house dropped much…if any.

What is going on is that people are buying the less expensive homes.  The lower priced homes are selling at a higher rate than the higher price homes.  That is bound to put downward pressure on those higher priced homes, but we aren’t able to show that they have dropped significantly in value…yet.  If this situation continues we will have to see the values actually drop.

What is true is that many sellers have an inflated idea of the value of their home.  Many times they look at the borough assessed value and assume that thier value is 20% higher than that.  The truth is that the borough is often higher than the true value.  That fact can come as a shock.  We are currently seeing many houses sell for less than the borough assessed value. 

It is important to have an objective assessment of the value of the home so that you know where you stand when you go to sell.

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Wasilla Real Estate statistics for the week of July 14–21, 2008.  These are the numbers for the whole Matanuska-Susitna Borough. 

It looks like we closed some of the spurt of pendings from a few weeks ago because the closed sales are up a little.  Pending sales remain mediocre and total inventory climbed again for the week.

New construction was still a significant part of the sales.  Of the closed sales 5 were new construction.  Builders are still fairly competitive in this market.  But new construction is not driving the market like it was in 2005.  In 2005 30 percent of the closed sales were new construction. 

Other markets in the country are driven by foreclosures but ours isn’t.  There are foreclosures out there and they made up 3 of the 32 closings for the week. 

I have an automated list of new foreclosure listings.  If you would like to be on that list just send me an email.  You will be notified the day a foreclosure listing hits the market.

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This is one of the best deals on the market.  There are four bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths, breakfast nook, dining room, living room, parlor, and family room as well as two other rooms that can be an office, den or excersize room.

There is a beautiful view of the Chugach Mountains and the Talkeetna Mountains.  It is in Mid Town Estates Subdivision which is ideally located for schools, shopping, or commuting.  You can walk from the back of the subdivision to the Colony High School and Colony Middle School.

It is priced at only $92 per square foot. This house was built by Sumner Construction in 1995.  It has a three car garage, a large paved driveway, huge back deck complete with hot tub, a sauna off the bath in the basement among other extras.

Here is the property profile .  Please note that you can download documents here.

Here is an aerial photo showing the location, click to expand.  This house has a recent VA appraisal, current asbuilt and engineer report…it’s ready to close.  Give me a call or send an email 

My cell phone is 907 232–7900

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Wasilla Real Estate presents the weekly statistics for residential real estate sales for Wasilla, Palmer, and the rest of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.

It was a  pretty steady week this week, pendings at 30 and closings at 23 is about average.  It doesn’t appear that we are setting any records.  Usually August is a more active month than July, so we will have to wait and see.

The average price of closings this week is high.  Four homes over $400,000 closed this week which  probably is a record for the year, so I could be wrong in my in assessment of the week.  Many of the higher priced homes are now appearing to be a good value for people who shop in Anchorage. 

Speaking of a good value…here is one.  The sellers want this house sold so they have lowered it to $309,900 which is much lower than it’s real value.  I expect it to sell this week.  I am holding an open house there Tuesday, (7/15/2008), evening.  The public is welcome to come between 5–7:30 PM. 

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