Olympics fever has everyone writing about, Granted, Boston.com, the tag for Boston.com’s real estate blog has been "Everything you need to know about Boston’s other spectator sport" since it launched. Yesterday’s blog entry was entitled "Real estate games."
Perfect timing for FSBO open house this weekend at TogetherInMotion.com in Arlington, MA.
To do:
Check weather
Use http://Playp.us to invite others to help plan event
A leading group of real estate technology innovators is using a sports metaphor, the "Real Estate Olympics", to launch a compelling, timely competitive for the "Real Estate Pacesetter of 2008."
If you translate those MEGA-trends into an Olympic metaphor, you get a different kind of competition and a different call for "Best of Breed." Just as the Olympics have 302 events, there are hundreds of steps in the home buying and selling process and real estate innovators empowering consumers with money-saving, do-it-yourself tools at EACH STEP in the process.
For more than a decade, The Real Estate Cafe’s has maintained a list of "Best of Breed" innovators at each incremental step, and we are eager to share them with our clients and others. Real Estate innovators, if you think you should be on the list, please send us an email:
1. Nominating yourself for the appropriate step in the home buying and selling process, and
2. Explaining how you help do-it-yourself home buyers or sellers save money (or time).
Link to recent press post Inman re "real time real estate."
Instead of developing a "CMA" type of report that describes sold data, I’ve
been using the "pending date" instead of the sold date.
Reason? The market is changing so much on a daily or monthly basis,
that considering "comps" may not be as accurate if the sold date is used, as
much as using the "pending date." If you develop a list of 6 houses that
sold in August to compare those sales with an offer you’re making today, then
what if the market has been in a decline since March? How much of a value
difference may there be from properties that went pending in the spring,
compared to a property on the market now?
Some, if not all of those 6 "comps" could have sold last spring. As
we know, listing agents and appraisers will often use the "comps" that best fit
the subject being appraised rather than an objective assessment of the sales
data.
So, next time you structure some type of analysis, why not use "pending
dates" instead of "sold dates" to make any comparison to a subject property
you’re trying to negotiate for on behalf of your buyer clients?
I suggested this to one of the "honest" appraises we typically use
here…he said he’s only using month old "comps" because there is an ongoing
decline in values here.
Insert: EXP & CAN Listings Last 10 Weeks of 2009 Fireworks weren’t the only thing exploding across Massachusett last night: more than 2,200 MLS listings…
Massachusetts home buyers, if you have been waiting for housing prices to slide into your acceptable range, this could be time to "carpe diem." As shown in the graph above (click for larger image) of MLS activity during June & June over the past 15 years (1994 to 2008):
The number of off-market properties — expired, canceled & temporarily withdrawn listings — surged to a new record of 16,319 properties just after midnight.*
In contrast, sales have fallen from a peak of 19,180 in 2006 to 12,335 in 2008 (as of 12:30am, August 1).
That means that sales are down by about a third, while off-market listings have nearly doubled since 2005 when we first wrote that expired listings were a leading indicator of the real estate bubble.
Over the past three years (2006-2008), more properties have been pulled off the MLS than sold during June & July. For every three listings closed in the past two months, four were pulled off the MLS statewide in Massachusetts.
What do these raw numbers mean to buyers and sellers? Think of expired and canceled listings as a two-sided window of opportunity, or the real estate equivalent of a "tax-free holiday." Sellers can accept an offer about 5% less than their last asking price and still net the same profit because they are no longer obligated to pay a traditional real estate commission.
Will this "commission-free holiday" be enough to motivate buyers to make offers, or will motivated sellers in Greater Boston begin making offers to well-qualified buyers as is happening in other markets?
The Real Estate Cafe is advertising buyers on Zillow to make it easier for motivated sellers, particularly those who have received pre-foreclosure notices, to find them. If none of our buyers wants to purchase your home, we offer seller services "a la carte" on a fee-for-service basis. If you’d like to learn more about how to sell your home "for sale by owner," we’re organizing a FSBO support group and invite you to see our "FSBOs on Steroids" presentation. If you’re not interested in selling on your own, we’d also be glad to do a Listing Agent Report Card to help you select a new listing agent and try to negotiate a reduced commission. Email for more details.
* Technical note: Includes all residential property classes in
MLSPin: single family, multi-family, condominiums and land.
Temporarily withdrawn listings available for 2008 only.
Over the past decade, The Real Estate Cafe has had the privilege of working with some extraordinary home buyers and sellers who are not afraid of doing parts of their own real estate transactions, and who do extraordinary things in their own personal and professional lives, too.
To launch our new "FSBOs on Steriods" seminars and to celebrate our 10th anniversary, we will profile a number of past "do-it-yourself" clients through a series of "Do’ers profiles." Some of our baby boomer clients and blog readers will remember the original "Dewar’s profiles" from the 1970’s, or it’s recent revival. The Real Estate Cafe’s current and past clients are notable, too: one recent Cambridge client is building a "do-it-yourself" air craft in his garage, and another friend is one of the nation’s leading advocates for "do-it-yourself" funerals.
What’s the "do-it-yourself" movement got to do with real estate? That story will unfold in subsequent blog postings. Stay tuned to learn how you can save thousands of dollars in your own real estate transactions by doing some of the work yourself, and hiring professional help "a la carte" from The Real Estate Cafe’s menu of services. If you are thinking of selling your own home, visit our step-by-step guide online or attend one of our upcoming seminars to learn how you can save money and save lives by "doing-it-yourself."
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