Wasilla Real Estate News, Valley Market Real Estate

How To Get Thirteen Offers In Five Days July 29th, 2008

Categories: Deals of the Week, Market Trends

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

Written by Marty Van Diest 1 Comment »

Monday Market Memo for July 21-28, 2008 July 28th, 2008

Categories: Monday Market Memo

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.

Written by Marty Van Diest Please leave a comment.

Anchorage Daily News Misreports Housing Price Drops July 23rd, 2008

Categories: Market Trends

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.

Written by Marty Van Diest 1 Comment »

Wasilla Real Estate Monday Market Memo for July 14-21, 2008 July 21st, 2008

Categories: Monday Market Memo

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.

Written by Marty Van Diest Please leave a comment.

Monday Market Memo for July 7-14, 2008 July 14th, 2008

Categories: Monday Market Memo

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. 

Written by Marty Van Diest 1 Comment »