Market continues to show signs of positive change in Frederick

If you have been waiting to buy a house at lowest price, your wait might just be over. The number of sales have picked over the last few months across Frederick county. It is still happening in pockets, not all neighborhoods are seeing “SOLD” signs across their front lawns quite yet.

Frederick City has shown some increases in sales over last year and increase in price over last quarter but still below this time last year. While places like Brunswick are still struggling with sales, granted there is a sales increase but not like Frederick.

Thurmont has signs of good times to come like Frederick as you can see below.

Now what about the rest of the state? Remember I said it is happening in pockets. Real estate is extremely local. The state has an increase over last quarter, however not much at all over last year while we have. So if you play the law of averages, not every area in the state of Maryland is doing as well as our area.

I am still glad to see the decline in the inventory of homes in Frederick County. Sellers are more serious and lower number of foreclosures available (more to come, just a small reprieve.) Too much inventory just pollutes the market.

The July numbers are available at the Frederick County Association of REALTORS® website and by clicking here.

So what do you think? What have you seen in your neighborhood? Are there more SOLD signs or they still collecting dust? Did you want me to take a closer look at your area?

Have a great day.

June Housing Market Report for Frederick County

The market has definitely made a turn. This is the fourth month in a row that the sales were above last year sales for the same time. Again, prices have not completely stop from declining, however the price ranges have moved into the higher price bracket. What I mean by that is that more homes are selling at a higher price range now. For the longest time homes under $250,000 was the magic number. First time home buyers were eating them up (with a few real estate investors.) Investors are having a tough time at purchasing Condos for investments.  Banks have raised fees and implemented strict application guidelines. Which is fine for the First Time Home Buyers so they can buy affordable homes before the $8000 tax credit runs out (12/1/09.)

The majority used to be in the red and yellow areas, but has definitely grown to the green (and just a little bit in the light blue. This tells me that finally that the “move up” home owners are finally making their move. I am sure they are not make money hands over fist, but what is really happening (and if you think about it in any market) they are just getting a much better deal on the new house.

Seriously, think about it. No matter what “market” you are in the home you are selling is the same predicament as the one you are going to buy. Yes, if you are going to make tons of money by selling your house in a “sellers” market, you are going to pay a lot more for your replacement home. Obviously, it is quite the opposite in the “buyers” market. If you are going to lose on your house, you just negotiate to pay less in the next house at a bigger discount that what you are losing now. Capiche?

The changes in the market is not fully wide spread across the county, but in pockets. Urbana is still on fire. A few weeks ago I reported that there were 19 under contract and only a few resales left on the market. Well, now there are 25 under contract and 10 available townhomes for sale. The average days on the market for the sold townhomes are 29 days. So, if you want to purchase in the Villages of Urbana, you need to act quick. Brand new town homes are on fire as well. Advantage Homes sold out of the first phase of their inventory within the first couple weeks of opening. (They have more, but weren’t planning on them moving that quick.) They have outstanding features for their standard homes (granite and stainless steel appliances.) All of the builders have great products out there. (NV homes and Main Street Homes as well.) Also, if you didn’t know it, you should take your REALTOR with you to visit new home sales. As I was told by one of my clients that ventured in alone said, “Boy, does their demeanor change when your around.” Nothing against the hard working salesman at the sales office, but I believe there is a sense of “I am the only expert in the housing market here” and they feel this gives them the upper hand when they are discussing things with you. It doesn’t cost you anything to have a REALTOR® with you and no they are not going to get you a better deal because you don’t have one with you.

While the prices are still declining the increase in activity will help them recover soon. I don’t expect them to bounce back quickly as the economy is still in turmoil, but I suspect the bleeding will come to a slow halt soon. You can see the whole report on our association website at FCAR.org. You can just click here for the June Housing report.

Have a great day. Don’t forget where you found this information and please feel free to share it. If you need help finding a house or selling your current one, give me a call.

Frederick, what is going on in this market?

It has been pretty busy last couple weeks for me, showing property around Frederick County and around Gettysburg.  I haven’t had the chance to pull very many numbers, until now. WOW is all I have to say.   We are not climbing out of this market slowly.  There are some leaps and bounds being made in a few neighborhoods.   I have talked to a few agents and managers around the DC area.  Manassas, Va was ground zero for the distressed homes in our area.  They are currently up 200% over this time last year in units sold.  Simply amazing!!! It is not uncommon in today’s market for homes to receive multiple offers.  Price, condition and location are still major factors in real estate (and always will be regardless of market conditions.)  Here is a snapshot of the town homes in The Villages of Urbana and the Urbana Highlands. Seven of the 16 Active homes are actually New Homes offered by Advantage Homes, NV Homes and Main Street Homes. Those listings usually never leave until they sale all the homes in the neighborhood. They are seeing more business as well. Client almost missed out on their dream home by one hours. They had put a hold on the property and another buyer returned after thinking about it only to find out it was going…YAY for my buyers.

What that means is that only nine town homes are left as resales (or available now.) You have total of 19 homes under some form of contract. This used to be flipped and a much wider gap only six months ago. This means there will be a shortage in homes and we will be back to fighting over listings as a buyer. For the longest time we had too many homes on the market. It is the old adage of “Supply in Demand” Too much supply and not enough demand means lower prices and longer time on the market for the sellers. Too little supply and all this pent up demand means arm wrestling for homes. Prices are still low but if this continues we might see the decline stop. Previously (last couple months) I have noticed increase and activity and low prices where buyers were offering lower than asking…this market might have a different outcome.

Couple things affecting the total number of active listings; Sellers are getting serious about their homes sales (no longer just testing the market,) People are able to stay in their homes (refinancing for lower monthly payments,) and of course, more are selling than last year. You can see the latest report from FCAR.org by clicking this link. You will notice sales trends have been up for the past three months…another good sign that we should have the horrible market behind us. Now, let’s not get drunk and disorderly like the early parts of the 2000s. Stay within your means!

Sales are picking up and so are the prices

For most of the spring market, it seems that the magic number was $250,000.  Everything that had seen go under contract in Frederick County was at or below $250,000.  My best guess was these are the first time home buyers trying to take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit.  With them removing the starter homes, the next natural step is for the upgrade sales to start to occur.  The average sales has jumped up a little but more importantly the number of sales are up too.  The next graphic shows you the average sales asking price and the number of homes under contract.

Personally have I have seen an increase in multiple offers on well priced homes that were under $250,000.  I had a conversation with one of our Title Attorneys at RGS Title, Chris Patt, the other day and he had mentioned the traffic in DC has also increased.  He said most of the contracts are multiple offers.  This is only a matter of time that it will roll out to Frederick County.  It always seems that it starts in the higher populated areas and then comes out to us.  Even though the prices are picking up, they are still dropping, if that makes any sense.  They are buying higher price points at a lower price.

So, words of wisdom; Buyers be prepared to pay asking price for the home. The beat down on the sellers is slowing down.  Appraisals are actually very close to asking price.  The sellers are getting wise and pricing appropriately.  Sellers make sure your home is ready and price right. It’s not time for you to fix things while the home is on the market. Don’t put it on until you think it is ready for the pickiest buyer.  Now is not the time to use “Kentucky Wind-age” pricing model.  (Price a little high, knowing the buyer is going to cut you down.)  Clean and priced appropriately!!!

I am ready to help you with your purchase and your sale.  Just give me a holla…

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