Wasilla Real Estate News, Valley Market Real Estate,

Monday Morning Market Memo Oct 12-22, 2007 October 22nd, 2007

Wasilla Real Estate News, Real Estate Statistics for Wasilla, Palmer and the rest of the Mat-Su Borough

The inventory dropped a little this week. Not because we sold more houses but because fewer new listings came on the market. People are reluctant to sell during the months of November and December. We will probably not see the amount of new listings pick up significantly until January or February.

		Average Price	DOM
New	29	$287,820
Total Active	915
Pending	24	$217,847	90
Closed	23	$210,591	87

It is interesting to note that there are several new construction houses in this recent list of closed sales. People are still buying new homes and builders are still building. The days of building any old house and they will come, however, is gone. A builder needs to do his homework before beginning a project on speculation.

I note that of the twenty three closed sales this week, eleven sold in less than 40 days and for full price. Most of the others took some major price reductions to sell. A couple of them were new construction houses that were on the market for a long time.

Typically, a spec house, (this is a house built by a builder on speculation), will be marketed from the time he clears the lot, sometimes before that. But it usually actually sells about the time it is all finished, or close to finished, so they are on the market a long time. Those tend to drive up the average days on the market.

Written by Marty Van Diest Please leave a comment.

PRICE Is The Answer To Your Selling Problems October 18th, 2007

Categories: For Sellers

* Warning *
This is a hard hitting post about home prices in Wasilla, Palmer, and the Mat-Su Valley. If you would rather be placated, you may want to click on another web-site.

Every Tuesday I meet with a group of Realtors in a secret valley location. OK…we meet at Meads Coffee House in Wasilla. We meet to discuss current issues in the Mat-Su Valley real estate market.

Lately we have often discussed what it takes to get a house sold in this slower market. Different things are always discussed. Location, condition, and marketing are three items always on our mind.

If a house is in the right location, it will always attract attention, but it won’t necessarily sell. People will note it on the Alaska MLS, they may even go take a look. But if the price isn’t right, it won’t sell. Granted, you can get a higher price for a house in good location than you would for a similar house in a poorer locaton. But you can’t expect a buyer to pay very much for that.

Once in a while, the micro-location makes a difference. Perhaps a family with young children is just moving to Alaska and finds a house next door to Grandma and Grandpa. For them, it might be worth paying an extra $5,000. I’m not sure how Grandma and Grandpa would feel about it however.

But if you are having problems selling your home in this market, it most likely isn’t because of location, condition or marketing. If you have a problem selling your home……..

Price is the answer, PRICE is the answer, PRICE IS THE ANSWER!

This was the unanimous opinion of last Tuesdays discussion. Almost any house can sell if it’s priced right. There are a few homes in the Mat-Su Valley that you literally can’t give away because of environmental issues, but I suppose if you paid the buyer enough, they would take it. So price is still the answer.

That is not to say that your home shouldn’t be in it’s best possible condition, or that it shouldn’t be marketed well. But if you have been on the market for 90 days or more without a buyer, it’s time for a price reduction. Face it, if it’s been on the MLS with photos for that amount of time almost all the buyers in your price range have rejected it. You are just waiting for a new buyer to come into the market that sees the value in your house that others can’t see. Unless Grandma talks her kids into moving next door, it isn’t selling at the current price.

It is very important to price your home at it’s current market price right out of the gate. If you are too high you will realize that after 60–90 days. By then, you may not be able to get what you would have received when you first listed it. Not only is it shelf-worn, the market may have dropped out from under it. Price it right, and it will sell right away.

People talk about how long it takes to sell a home. Some say it takes 90 days or 120 days. The truth is that a home that is priced right will sell in 30 days or less with no reductions in price. It is only very occasionally that a home sits on the market for 90 days or more and sells for it’s full listed price in our current market.

People are still buying homes in Wasilla and Palmer. There are about 80 buyers this year for every 100 that we had last year. These buyers are looking at a LOT of homes before they buy. I show people enough homes that they become experts in their price range. It isn’t hard to tell when a home is priced right after you look at 25–30 homes in a particular price range over a period of a couple weeks.

Give me a call or send me an email about pricing your home. I can work on a consulting basis or a commission basis, your choice. My cell phone number is 907 232–7900.

If you would like to keep abreast of the Wasilla, Palmer and Mat-Su Real Estate market, click on the subscribe button to the right.

Written by Marty Van Diest 4 Comments »

Wasilla Real Estate Prices, 2000-2007 October 16th, 2007

Categories: Market Trends

We have seen quite an increase in prices over the last seven years. Below, are the figures from the MLS system that show many more homes sold this year compared to 2000 and at a much higher price.

Notice that the average days on the market for sales in 2000 was 140 days. This year so far it has been only 77 days. Of course the average days on the market for the entire inventory in general is much longer than that. Many of those homes will never sell.

If you average the total increase in median value over the last five years it comes to about 7 1/2 % per year. That is tame compared to some of the areas of the country with huge increases. Some of the large West Coast cities saw single year increases of more than 40%. Some of these same cities are currently experiencing decreasing home prices of about the same magnitude.

Here are the prices from 2000 and from 2007.

Jan 1, 2000–Oct16, 2000 560 sales, Median price $130,058 140 dom

Jan 1, 2007–Oct 16, 2007 977 sales, Median price $217,500 77 dom

Written by Marty Van Diest Please leave a comment.

Wasilla Real Estate News, Monday Morning Market Memo for Oct 15, 2007 October 15th, 2007

Categories: Market Trends, Monday Market Memo

Wasilla Real Estate
News Statistics for 10/8–10/15/07

For the second week in a row the pending sales price has averaged less than $200,000. This is where the most market activity is taking place.

		Average Price	DOM
New	45	$228,316
Total Active	933
Pending	22	$190,809	130
Closed	29	$229,403	66

There are quite a few builders targeting the below $200,000 market so a good amount of the pending sales are new construction. We have represented a lot buyers with new construction in this price bracket this year. We can help you find a builder from this price on up to this house we recently pended on Hart Lake.

The total inventory rose a little this week. It should begin to decline as we enter the snowy season. The buyers that are still in the market during the winter will be starved for new listings so you may want to think about entering the market when most people are not.

Give me a call on my cell to discuss your personal selling and buying strategies. 907 232–7900.

I will actually sit down to discuss your real estate needs, we try to help you, not sell you.

Real Estate Consulting…or Real Estate Selling?

Written by Marty Van Diest Please leave a comment.

Matanuska-Susitna School District Boundaries October 14th, 2007

Categories: For Buyers

Matsu school logic Buyers often focus on a particular schools boundaries in their home search. Sometimes their children are already in a particular school or perhaps they have heard good things about a particular school. For the past ten years or so the Colony District has been the most popular.

I happen to live in the Colony District but chose Palmer High School for our one daughter who attends public school because it has an International Baccalaureate Program. We teach our other children at home.

I am usually a little uncomfortable to tell someone that a home is in their desired school district because these boundaries can change. Couple that with the fact that new district boundaries were historically hard to determine. You had to get a hard copy of the new map after the boundaries were changed.

Thankfully, the Mat-Su School District has put these boundaries on web. All the boundary maps are listed here. Please remember that these boundaries can change with shifts of population or when a new school is built.

Written by Marty Van Diest 1 Comment »