Archive for April, 2009
Monday Market Memo for April 7-13, 2009 April 13th, 2009
Wasilla Real Estate News statistics for the week of April 7-13, 2009. These statistics include the entire Matanuska-Susitna Borough including Wasilla, Palmer, Houston, Big Lake, Talkeetna, Willow, Sutton and regions beyond.
It appears that real estate activity has picked up a notch from the February and even the March slump. It also looks like it will continue through out the spring.
|
|
Average Price | Median Price | DOM | |
| New | 21 | $252,923 | $216,450 | . |
| Total Active | 774 | $277,660 | $237,700 | 146 |
| Pending | 25 | $256,274 | $225,950 | 92 |
| Closed | 13 | $239,611 | $235,000 | 80 |
We are not doing nearly the amount of business that we were doing a couple years ago but there is still a pretty healthy real estate market in Alaska. Prices are not rising currently and anyone that purchased their home between 2005-2007 needs to be prepared for no profit or even a possibility of negative equity if they need to sell now.
I did a comparison today of 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage ranch style homes that sold from 4/13/2004-4/13/2005 compared to the past year to date. These were newer homes all built since 2003. The median sales price of these homes in 2004/2005 was $229,000 and the median price for this past year was $219,000. This is an important statistic and worth keeping in mind for anyone selling their home today.
If you are interested in a realistic evaluation of your home’s value, give me a call at 232-7900.
What the future holds is anyone’s guess. So far, Alaska is faring better than most states. Take a look at the March Economic Report from the State of Alaska. While foreclosures are up for Alaska, they are nowhere near the catastrophe of the late 1980’s. In fact we are doing better than all but 2 states in the country. The only other 2 states with better foreclosure statistics are Wyoming and North Dakota.
This representation is based in whole or in part on data supplied by, and to, the subscribers of Alaska Multiple Listing Service, Inc. (AK MLS, Inc.). AK MLS, Inc. does not guarantee nor is it in any way responsible for its accuracy. Data maintained by AK MLS, Inc. is for its own use and may not reflect all real estate activity in the market.
Technology and Real Estate April 11th, 2009
I got an Iphone today. It made me aware of how much technology has changed the way we do business.
I remember my first experience on the Internet when I was the tech worker at the University of Alaska library in Fairbanks back in 1981. I kept the copy machines running, microfilmed old books, operated the only fax machine on campus, and sent an occasional message on a computer over the Internet for some VIP on campus.
Then we got cell phones, digital cameras, and more.
Now I can update my blog from my Iphone.
If you would like me to use technology to send you the deals of the week that just went out yesterday, drop me an email.
Btw..this Iphone is nice but I think I’ll type my next update from a regular keyboard.
Why Buy Real Estate In The Valley Instead of Anchorage? April 11th, 2009
You get more house for your money…that’s why!
Anyone who shops homes in Anchorage and then comes out to the Valley can see that there is a significant difference in prices. I thought I would quantify it so that you know how much more of a home you get in the Valley compared to Anchorage.
I narrowed the Valley down to the Wasilla and Palmer core area. This excludes most of the land mass of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough but includes at least 80% of the population. If I would have included the whole borough the contrast would have been even more striking.
Real estate professionals often refer to the “3,2 and 2″. That is a description of the most common house sold. It has three bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a 2 car garage. I decided to compare these homes in Anchorage to the Valley.
Below is the chart that shows all the sales on the Alaska MLS system of these homes in the past year.
| 3 bed, 2 bath 2 car garage |
Total Sales 4/11/2008-4/11/2009 |
Median Price |
|---|---|---|
| Wasilla-Palmer | 249 | $209,900 |
| Anchorage | 349 | $265,000 |
You will notice that only 100 more of these homes sold in Anchorage even though Anchorage has a population at least 4 times larger than the Palmer/Wasilla core area.
Significantly, the median price of a typical three bedroom home in the Wasilla and Palmer areas is $56,000 less than it’s counterpart in Anchorage. Not only is this true, but the homes in the Valley tend to have more land, are newer, and are more energy efficient.
They have more land because the Wasilla/Palmer area is more rural so most of the lots are at least 1/2 acre in size. They are newer because the Valley has grown more in population than has Anchorage in the recent past. They are more energy efficient primarily because they are newer. That is not to say that you cannot find newer, energy efficient houses with some land in Anchorage. You can, but if you do you will spend even more for those houses.
I took a look at what would happen if you compared the two locations with a 3,2, and 2 and at least 1/2 acre of land.
Wow!…what a difference that made. Only 25 homes sold in Anchorage while the Valley sales only went down by 13. In addition, the median price in the Valley rose by only $100 but the price in Anchorage went up by $68,000. Now there is a difference of about $123,000. That is huge.
| 3 bed, 2 bath 2 car garage |
Total Sales 4/11/2008-4/11/2009 |
Median Price |
|---|---|---|
| Wasilla-Palmer | 236 | $210,000 |
| Anchorage | 25 | $333,000 |
So if you want at least 1/2 acre of land with your house you will pay dearly for it in Anchorage.
Since 1992 Alaska Housing Finance Corporation<(AHFC), has required new homes that hope to receive financing through them to meet certain energy standards. If you buy a home that does not meet those standards you can work with AHFC to bring improve the energy efficiency. Up to a point AHFC will even pay you to do that.
Most of the homes built since 2000 used good energy efficient building methods. Of the 349 sold in Anchorage only 25% were built since 2000 while 48% of the houses in Alaska were built since that date. Almost 1/2 of the 3,2,2 homes sold in the valley were built since 2000.
So, to sum it up…
You get a newer, more energy efficient home with more land, for less money, if you buy in the valley as opposed to Anchorage.
Want a list of homes that meet your needs? …just drop me a line on the form below.
This representation is based in whole or in part on data supplied by, and to, the subscribers of Alaska Multiple Listing Service, Inc. (AK MLS, Inc.). AK MLS, Inc. does not guarantee nor is it in any way responsible for its accuracy. Data maintained by AK MLS, Inc. is for its own use and may not reflect all real estate activity in the market.
Absorption Rate In Wasilla and Palmer April 7th, 2009
Absorption rate is the speed at which the homes that are for sale are being absorbed by the market. If it take an average house 7 months to sell that is called an absorption rate of 7 months.
Most real estate industry analysts look at the absorption rate to get a feel for the market. When people are talking about a “sellers” or “buyers” market they usually use an absorption rate of 6 months as the dividing line.
Here are the absorption rates for Wasilla and Palmer.
| Price Range | Residential Properties On The Market | Pending Sales Last Month | Absorption Rate # Of Months It Will Take To Sell |
|---|---|---|---|
| $200,000 and below | 123 | 30 | 4.1 Months |
| $200,001 to $300,000 | 272 | 32 | 8.5 Months |
| $300,001 to $400,000 | 83 | 10 | 8.3 Months |
| $400,001 to $2,000,000 | 68 | 5 | 13.6Months |
| Totals | 546 | 77 | 7.09 Months |
This is helpful for both buyers and sellers. If you are a buyer in a screaming sellers market where it might only take 1 month to sell the average house you know you better make your decision quickly and not try to bargain much when you want a property. You better grab it quickly. A seller in a buyer market must value any offer like gold because the buyer has lots of other choices and could walk away for a different house if the seller is too stubborn with his price.
Taking a look at the Wasilla and Palmer real estate markets you can see that we are fairly close to the center. It is a slight sellers market under $200,000 and a slight buyers market over $200,000. When you get over $400,000 it becomes more of a solid buyers market.
There is somewhat of a misconception by most buyers right now that they are completely in the drivers seat and many are missing out on houses that they really want because of this. Some places in the country are solid buyers markets with absorption rates longer than 2 years. The media plays this up so that people think the buyers market is universal. Obviously, looking at the numbers above, this isn’t so. We are in a slight sellers market for prices between $200,000-$400,000. If you are under $200,000 you are competing in a slight sellers market.
Make your decisions accordingly.
This representation is based in whole or in part on data supplied by, and to, the subscribers of Alaska Multiple Listing Service, Inc. (AK MLS, Inc.). AK MLS, Inc. does not guarantee nor is it in any way responsible for its accuracy. Data maintained by AK MLS, Inc. is for its own use and may not reflect all real estate activity in the market.
Monday Market Memo for March 31-April 6, 2009 April 6th, 2009
Wasilla Real Estate News statistics for the past week. These are the statistics for single family homes in the whole Matanuska-Sustina Borough. Most of the real estate sales occur in the Wasilla and Palmer core areas.
|
|
Average Price | Median Price | DOM | |
| New | 40 | $285,161 | $234,450 | . |
| Total Active | 771 | $279,824 | $238,000 | 147 |
| Pending | 19 | $267,013 | $219,000 | 82 |
| Closed | 16 | $218,052 | $179,500 | 88 |
The real estate activity for the valley continues to increase as we go into spring. The Home show and Spring Showcase of Homes for the Mat-Su Homebuilders was well attended. We had two homes in the show that were built by Pacific North Construction. We had about 300 people a day visit the home on Finger Lake, many people said it was the nicest home they had ever seen in the Valley, Take a look at a few photos here. Or just take a look at the trim on the 12 foot ceilings of the living room below and you can see why.
Pacific North’s other home at 3551 Aoki also saw steady traffic.
Also, during he weekend we received an offer on a $359,000 house and on two separate lots. It does appear that people are taking action on the many incentives to purchase in place right now.
I thought I would compare this week to the same week in 2008. The first week of April of 2008 is below. It looks similar to the graph above.
Average Price
DOM
New
53
$283,230
.
Total Active
756
280,056
142
Pending
30
$216,144
87
Closed
18
221,759
117
Remember if you want to get on the motivated sellers list, or the deals of the week list…just drop me a line to let me know.
Marty Van Diest, Tele 907.232.7900 / marty[at]valleymarket[dot]com
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