Wasilla Real Estate News, Valley Market Real Estate

Wasilla Real Estate Statistics For Oct 21 through Nov 3, 2008 November 3rd, 2008

Categories: Monday Market Memo

Here are the statistics for this past week for all residential property in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.  This includes Wasilla, Palmer and all the surrounding areas.

The closings came up last week after two down weeks of only 15 closings each.  The end of a month is usually a higher closing period than mid-month.

Pendings are down drastically this past week however.  My reasoning is that buyers are hesitant to commit just before this major presidential election.  Next week, when the sun comes up like it normally does, some buyers will decide to move forward no matter who is the President of the United States.

The total inventory has dropped again and may go below 800 by next week. 

If you would like to get my list of motivated sellers, just drop me a line at marty@valleymarket.com or call 907 232–7900

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Monday Morning Market Memo… Oct 20-27, 2008 October 27th, 2008

Categories: Monday Market Memo

Wasilla, Palmer, and Matanuska-Susitna Borough real estate statistics for the week of Oct 20–27, 2008. 

This week I noticed that 6 of the 15 closings were new construction.  Although the new construction market is down along with the rest of the real estate market, it is still holding it’s own.  Obviously 1/3 or more of the buyers are finding better value with new construction than with existing homes.

Only 5 of the homes that closed this week were built before 1990.  That is consistent with the total inventory where 28% of all the homes on the market are pre-1990.

That indicates a shift in our market.  For a long time we were concentrating on homes that were built during the early 80s real estate boom.  Now those are obviously a minority of the homes sold.  Homes built during that era need to be aggressively priced because they are competing with the very energy efficient homes being built today.

We closed on this home in Hart Lake Estates this week.  Everyone who saw it commented on how nice it turned out.  The appraiser, the buyers and their Realtor were all pleased with the results.  The builder, Petr Rytikov is going to begin another home very similar to this one near Lucille Street in Wasilla soon.  If you are interested in finding out about it, give me a call at 907 232–7900 or email me marty@valleymarket.com  .

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Monday Market Memo…Oct 13-20, 2008 October 25th, 2008

Categories: Monday Market Memo

Here are the statistics for Wasilla, Palmer and the rest of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough for the week of Oct 13–20, 2008.

I looked back at our inventory last year at this time, it was a total of 915.  Our total inventory is down significantly, thats a good thing, because our total sales are off by about the same amount.

There were 31 pending sales last week, that is a healthy number for this time of year.  The closings are low but will probably spike a little in the next couple weeks.\

There are a quite a few buyers in the lower price ranges, but there are very few homes in that price range.  This is the price range between $150,000–$200,000.  Many of those buyers are opting for new construction because of the scarcity of homes that meet financing criteria. 

I am working with a buyer right now who is getting into a brand new 3 bedroom, 2 bath home of just under 1200 square feet for $172,000.  It is a five star plus home, so when it is finished he will receive a $7,500 rebate check from Alaska Housing for energy efficiency.  Not only that, over the years he will save even more because his utility bills will be significantly lower than other homes.

If you would like to find out how to do that, give Jay or I a call at 907 373–0999 or email me at marty@valleymarket.com

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Wasilla Real Estate, Monday Market Memo Oct 6-13-2008 October 14th, 2008

Categories: Monday Market Memo

Wasilla Real Estate statistics for the week of Oct 6–13, 2006.  These statistics include all residential real estate in the Matanuska Susitna Borough.  That is a large area, about the size of the state of West Virginia.  The vast majority of real estate activity takes place in the core area around Wasilla and Palmer.

As you can see, closings were down last week but there were more new listings than I expected to see.  It actually increased our inventory slightly during a time of year when we expect the total inventory to slowly decline throughout the winter.

Notice the low average and median price for this weeks closed listings.  I thought that the low price might be influenced by foreclosed houses.  After reviewing all 16 houses I determined that only two were foreclosures.  Three of the closed houses were new construction.  That shows that we still have a vastly different market than many of the foreclosure influenced markets in the lower 48.

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Wasilla Real Estate…Monday Market Memo, Sept 29-Oct 6, 2008 October 6th, 2008

Categories: Monday Market Memo

These are the Wasilla and Palmer real estate statistics for the week of September 29 through October 6.  These numbers include all the real estate transactions on the MLS from Talkeetna and Trapper Creek in the North to Sutton and Glacier View in the East.

While the new listings low for the second straight week, the closed sales are high for the second straight week.  At the end of the month it is common for many people to get their deal closed.

As we go into winter time we are will see the inventory shrink.  Many of the homes on the market have been there for a long time and have become stale.  This is a good time to put a well priced home on the market.  It stands out as a new listing and a good price.

As usual, the strongest market is in the low 200K range.  Good houses in this price range find a lot of interested buyers.  If you are looking for a house in this range, give me a call.  907 232–7900 or drop me a line at marty@valleymarket.com

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