Home Buyers - do your homework! (Huntsville, Madison: bank owned, days on market, for sale)

[mellot]

I have been searching for a new home in Madison for the past 4 months in the $400K to $600K range.

It is amazing how much inventory there is out there, and how much has been on the market for 6 months or more. The bottom line is that the Madison Market is overpriced and sellers and their agents don't want to realize the recession is impacting Madison and Huntsville. You are not going to make a huge profit on the house you just bought three or four years ago.

I have been looking in Highland Lakes, Clifts Cove, Walden Preserve, Chapel Hill, and a few other neigborhoods. In the past four months, the only homes that have sold, have sold in the $115 to $125 per square foot range.

Yet, homes that have been on the market forever are listed at 130 per square foot and higher. There is one 3500SF home listed in highland lakes at $167 per square foot- give me a break!

When I talk to realtors, they tell me that there are numerous jobs moving to Redstone because of the BRAC. Well, maybe in 2011, but not now. Remember, people are trying to sell their homes in Northern VA to move to Redstone and having a tough time.

Furthermore, I need to remind everybody that R&D will get cut in the Obama administration. It is just a matter of time.

The biggest mistakes sellers are making are:
[SIZE=3]1. Thinking your home is the exception: It's natural to be emotionally attached to your home, especially if you've lived there a long time. But allowing this affection to obscure the realities of today's real-estate market is a serious mistake. If your local market is declining in value, you'll need to price your home at a compelling level. That will require a painful decision: to price the property at or below comparable homes in the area, even if the price point is less than what you think your home is worth. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]2. Another reason sellers might price a home too high is that they're simply unaware of the dynamics of their real-estate market. To sell your home, it's essential to have a firm grasp on the conditions in your area. Sellers should study the pricing trends and sales data in their local market. But the data tell only half of the story. To fully understand the market, sellers should get a first-hand look at the nearby homes that are also up for sale. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3] [/SIZE]
My 2 cents.

[Charles]

One problem with doing your homework is no data to do your homework with. And the number one piece of data needed to do your homework is recent sales. For some reason (NAMLS???) these data are really hard to find online. It's also hard to get square foot data on homes (currently listed) and street addresses for currently list homes.

The NAMLS has prospective home buyers by the balls (of the feet).

Here's one datapoint: A house down the street from us was listed at $849K (6200 sqft). It was listed for quite a long time, at least since last summer. It sold recently for I think $816K ($132/sqft) so that's like 96% of asking. It didn't have a lake front or open space back either; it was surrounded by homes but on a nice flat cul de sac.

[mellot]

Charles,
you are right. However, I am working with a realtor who provides me all this data from the NAMLS. I get a report on everything that sold in the neigbohoods I am interested in and what it sold at.

[mm42]

A simple solution would be to switch your focus to the Ledges or McMullen Cove, where you can pay $200-$300/sqft!

[friday13]

Originally Posted by mellot

I have been searching for a new home in Madison for the past 4 months in the $400K to $600K range.

It is amazing how much inventory there is out there, and how much has been on the market for 6 months or more. The bottom line is that the Madison Market is overpriced and sellers and their agents don't want to realize the recession is impacting Madison and Huntsville. You are not going to make a huge profit on the house you just bought three or four years ago.

I have been looking in Highland Lakes, Clifts Cove, Walden Preserve, Chapel Hill, and a few other neigborhoods. In the past four months, the only homes that have sold, have sold in the $115 to $125 per square foot range.

Yet, homes that have been on the market forever are listed at 130 per square foot and higher. There is one 3500SF home listed in highland lakes at $167 per square foot- give me a break!

When I talk to realtors, they tell me that there are numerous jobs moving to Redstone because of the BRAC. Well, maybe in 2011, but not now. Remember, people are trying to sell their homes in Northern VA to move to Redstone and having a tough time.

Furthermore, I need to remind everybody that R&D will get cut in the Obama administration. It is just a matter of time.

The biggest mistakes sellers are making are:
[SIZE=3]1. Thinking your home is the exception: It's natural to be emotionally attached to your home, especially if you've lived there a long time. But allowing this affection to obscure the realities of today's real-estate market is a serious mistake. If your local market is declining in value, you'll need to price your home at a compelling level. That will require a painful decision: to price the property at or below comparable homes in the area, even if the price point is less than what you think your home is worth. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]2. Another reason sellers might price a home too high is that they're simply unaware of the dynamics of their real-estate market. To sell your home, it's essential to have a firm grasp on the conditions in your area. Sellers should study the pricing trends and sales data in their local market. But the data tell only half of the story. To fully understand the market, sellers should get a first-hand look at the nearby homes that are also up for sale. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3] [/SIZE]
My 2 cents.

AMEN!!

What I do not understand though is this: These sellers overpricing their homes have REALTORS!! While I do understand the seller must have a say in setting the price, it seems to me their realtors:
1. have no clue about the market
2. have no say/opinion/collaboration with the seller to set the right price for the market conditions (afraid to "hurt" seller's feelings)
2a. don't say anything to get a bigger comission--> hope a sucker comes along and pays their ridiculously inflated asking price.
3. some of these sellers are Realtors flipping properties (yes, 30% resale price increase and property back on market after 3 months within purchase on a 4yr old home IS flipping, don't care how many "improvements" the "investor" did to justify this pricing. Oh, and by the way, resetting the "clock" after 180 DOM- withdrawing a property off MLS for a week and BOM again doesn't fly with me either)


DOM-days on market
BOM-back on the market

[friday13]

Originally Posted by Charles

One problem with doing your homework is no data to do your homework with. And the number one piece of data needed to do your homework is recent sales. For some reason (NAMLS???) these data are really hard to find online. It's also hard to get square foot data on homes (currently listed) and street addresses for currently list homes.

Charles, Charles,

what am i gonna do with you?

Getting registered with the public MLS and setting up personalized search engines get you updates directly to your inbox: address included, and the status of the listing:new, back on market, price change.
Once you have the address, the Tax assessor's office gives you the sqft. (among other things).
And by the way - I never used this service myself- the MLS realtors offer to send you a CMA for any property.

[justinREA]

Just my two cents here, but you really have to make sure you are using a realtor that is working in your best interest, any agent that you have an agency agreement with should be doing this no matter what.

Like previously said you need the data from NALMLS to show what is selling and what is listed in that neighborhood. Also important is the property history and the days on market. There is usually a reason why a property has been sitting on the market for a long time.

The difference between the Huntsville market and other areas in the country is that sellers in our area just are not as desperate to sell as other markets. If everyone in a neighborhood is selling their homes for top dollar and people are paying it and the comps support it then you cannot really say that homes are overpriced in this neighborhood. Not saying this is the case with what you are finding but just a fact. You have to have all of the information to determine what offer to make and if the list price is appropriate, your agent should be doing this for you as they should be working in your best interest.

After living in Cincinnati, Ohio for the past 5 years before moving back to Huntsville I noticed a big difference in the real estate markets after working in both now. In Cincinnati the sellers are much more desperate to sell and homes are being sold for as low as 80-90% of list price and the market is flooded with short sales and bank owned homes. Big difference than our market here where sellers are not as desperate and homes are selling for 95-100% of list price.

As a Realtor it is my job to advise my clients that is in their best interest but when it comes to sellers we also have to be realistic with list prices. If a home down the street that is just like the seller's home and has sold for $500,000 but was on the market for 180 days or maybe it was taken off and put back on a few times, the seller needs to know this. It would be smart to list the property lower than this price, however, ultimately it is the seller's decision, I can only advise them. If they want $500,000 for there home they need to be prepared for it to take a long while or expect lower offers.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by friday13

Charles, Charles,

what am i gonna do with you?

Getting registered with the public MLS and setting up personalized search engines get you updates directly to your inbox: address included, and the status of the listing:new, back on market, price change.
Once you have the address, the Tax assessor's office gives you the sqft. (among other things).
And by the way - I never used this service myself- the MLS realtors offer to send you a CMA for any property.

I will check this out... thanks. I may have to DM you for details on the process unless you would like to post that.

[Toymeister]

Originally Posted by Charles

One problem with doing your homework is no data to do your homework with. And the number one piece of data needed to do your homework is recent sales. For some reason (NAMLS???) these data are really hard to find online. It's also hard to get square foot data on homes (currently listed) and street addresses for currently list homes.

The NAMLS has prospective home buyers by the balls (of the feet).

Here's one datapoint: A house down the street from us was listed at $849K (6200 sqft). It was listed for quite a long time, at least since last summer. It sold recently for I think $816K ($132/sqft) so that's like 96% of asking. It didn't have a lake front or open space back either; it was surrounded by homes but on a nice flat cul de sac.

Green for Charles because he brings his insight to this post and not a (often useless) link to another post or article

[E Limestone Dude]

Originally Posted by mellot

I have been searching for a new home in Madison for the past 4 months in the $400K to $600K range.

I imagine you have the pick of the litter at that price range. That is the specific range I think has been WAY overbuilt for the area.

That is alot of bread for sure!