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Archive for the 'Sellers' Category
Top 10 Mistakes Sellers Make – Video
Take a look at this video from real estate expert Barbara Corcoran who talks about the top 10 mistakes sellers make when trying to sell a house.
Please note her specific mention of the fact that your first offer is ususally your best (nearly always true), that it’s critical to have professional photographs taken since the majority of today’s buyers start their search on the internet and that having clean closets will lead your buyers to think you’ve given the same amount of attention to rest of your house!
Remember…in addition to the nuts and bolts of selling a house (price, square footage, etc…) part of the process is about appealing to your buyers on a psychological and emotional level. So without further delay, click on the Top Ten Mistakes Sellers Make to see the video – enjoy!
New Low for Riverfront in Ortega?
A riverfront house that was originally listed for nearly 1.9M at 4404 McGirts Blvd. has closed for $965K — that’s almost 50% less than the original asking price! Was the property ever worth 1.9M? Maybe not. There was, however, an offer of well over 1.4M that another realtor brought them early on in the listing period that was turned down – ouch!
There’s an existing house on the property that will eventually be torn down to make way for a new construction home. The lot had about 150′ of riverfront and beautiful views of both the marina across the way and of downtown.
I wrote a post yesterday about a non-waterfront lot on a prime street in Ortega that just closed for about $250K — between that low on Arapahoe Avenue and now this one for waterfront, my prediction is that this is the bottom. If you’re waiting for deals, you should choose quickly because at these prices, they will begin to disappear.
If you’re looking for something special, please let me know. Sometimes I know about things that aren’t yet listed and/or price reductions that are about to happen. Inside information can help you snag a great deal.
Thanks for reading. Please join me for my next post about what’s happening in Ortega, Avondale and Riverside!
PRIME Lot in Ortega sells for less than $250K!
Well folks, between the low of $180 per square foot for the short sale on Elizabeth Place and now a new low for land in Ortega, I think we have finally hit the bottom.
A prime lot (there’s an existing house on the property that will be torn down) in the neighborhood of Ortega recently closed for just under $250K. The actual sales price was more like $222K but the buyer paid thousands of dollars in closing costs making the net sale price closer to $250K. The buyers intend to build a new home on the lot and will live in the neighborhood while their new house is under construction. The lot dimensions are 100 x 125.
My prediction is that people will begin to say to themselves “I should have bought that” and start looking around for the next best opportunity. This will cause some of the inventory that’s been languishing to begin getting snapped up.
If you’re one of those people, we have a great lot listed on a prime street in Avondale. I wrote a post about it several weeks ago but since then, we’ve been granted permission by the historic commission of Jacksonville to have the house torn down. So…. if you’re looking for a great building lot on a great street, please give me a call!
WANTED! Bungalows in Avondale, Ortega or Riverside!
With the economic stimulus offered by the government set to expire at the end of April and interest rates that remain under 6%, bungalows under $250K are in more demand than ever!
My partner Caroline and I know that there are lots of people out there looking for these houses and would love to help you sell yours.
If you’ve beening thinking of selling but wonder what’s going on in the market, please give us a call — we’d love to talk.
2009 Riverside and Avondale Condo Sales Nearly Even with 2008
Click Here to see Graph
In 2007, there were 18 Condominium Sales in Avondale, Ortega and Riverside. In 2008, there were 21 and so far this year (2009) there have been 18 with 3 more pending. The sale prices of the units has fallen quite a bit but, as you can see, the total number of units sold has been surprisingly steady.
A bright spot on the landscape has been Villa Riva – 5 of the 18 sales this year have been at this premiere building in Riverside — that’s a healthy 27% of the total sales year to date. 4 of the 18 sales have been at a building called 1661 Riverside which puts it at a close second with 22% of the sales. The third largest seller has been a waterfront building called Beau Rivage in Avondale that’s had 3 sales or 16% of the market.
For more information about the condo market in the Avondale, Ortega and Riverside areas, please call us for a list of inventory and what we think are the best values in today’s market. We know these buildings inside and out. We can tell you which units have the best views, which buildings have a great management team and other important details about the various buildings in the area.
Thanks for reading, please join me for my next discussion of real estate in the Avondale, Ortega and Riverside neighborhoods.
Extra, Extra….Read All About It!
In case you’re wondering who has the latest and greatest news — it’s often a realtor who specializes in your local area market. I often know about a house that’s getting ready to come on the market, a house whose price is getting ready to be reduced or about programs that lenders are getting ready to roll out that could save you a lot of money.
You might say that I have a lot of insider information. So…if you’re the kind of person who likes to know about it before it happens, then give me a call and I’ll be certain that as soon as I know it, you will too!
If you’re a loyal reader of mine (which I hope you are!) then you’ll know that I specialize in the Avondale, Ortega and Riverside neighborhoods of Jacksonville. Please join me for my next adventure in these very special neighborhoods of Jacksonville!
An Interesting Perspective
My former neighbor in Coral Gables, FL was an older British gentleman who loved to come over and talk real estate. “What’s my house worth today,” he would chuckle as I opened the front door to let him in. That was, of course, back in the days when house prices were going up almost daily.
I suppose if I were to greet him at the door today, he might still say “what’s my house worth today,” but probably with more of a grimace than a chuckle. Actually, knowing Patrick, he wouldn’t have grimaced and I can tell you why.
Over the course of the eight years that we lived next door to each other, we had many of these conversations but one thing that Patrick said still rings in my ears today. It was one of those “pearls of wisdom” that perhaps we should all consider embracing.
Patrick said, “when we were coming along, we were THRILLED if we sold our house at the end of our mortgage term for the same price that we paid for it — that meant that we had essentially lived in our houses for FREE. At the end of our mortgages, we got our money back”!
We might all be well served to stop obsessing about the values of our homes (unless you NEED to sell which is another story altogether) and hope that by the end of our mortgage term we’ll sell our homes for what we paid for them. I kind of like that idea — what about you?
Thanks for reading – I hope you’ll join me for my next real estate adventure!
Open House Attendance Way Up!
Good News! We had an open house today at two of our listings today. One at 1837 Ingleside Avenue and another at 4834 Arapahoe Avenue and they were busy!
Back when the market was strong, attendance at open house was strong too. The market was bustling with activity. Buyers were out looking for a house to buy, sellers were out looking to see what the competition was and realtors were out looking for a house for their customers.
Then, the market stopped. Over the last year at our open houses, we’ve been lucky to have one or two people stop by but they were probably just walking by with their dog — certainly not making a deliberate point to come and see this particular house. The level of traffic we had today (and over the last few weeks as well) indicates that the market is beginning to “buzz” again. We don’t know if it’s pent up demand or the fact that people always have had to (and will continue to need to) move around but there is definately a new energy around our open houses lately.
Several of the people who came by today would be perfect buyers for these houses. One couple has children in a school nearby, others have just relocated here from another state (and they’ve sold their house!), another is in a house that they feel is too small and yet another has just had a baby and is looking for a larger home. So, all in all, there were lots of potential prospects.
So, the message is good. The people are out looking again. We hope that lookers will become buyers and that this could be the beginning of something good. I’ll keep you posted!
Monday Morning Market Report – Week Ending 10/11/09
Well, it’s Monday evening — not morning! Sorry I’m a bit late with my weekly report but here are the stats. For the week ending 10/11/09, there were
New Listings – 10
Closed Sales – 2
Pending Sales – 1
Price Changes – 15
As I study the data, two things “jump” out at me — the (note the word “the” – there’s only one this week) pending sale is a beautifully renovated two story home on College street complete with two car garage, gas cook top in the center island and steam shower. The sellers paid $410K for it in Jan. 2007 and then did a master bath renovation.
A year and a half later in July 08, they put it on the market at $449K and left it there for a year until it expired. Then, in Sept. 09, they put it on the market for $330K ($80K less than they paid + renovations) as a short sale. The asking price was only $119 per square foot — a real deal — which is what today’s buyers are looking for. End of the story? It went under contract in less than a month! Stay tuned to see what the final sales price was!
The other transaction that popped out at me was a closed sale on 1389 Belvedere in Avondale. It was also a distressed sale and was a two story brick 4br/2ba with 2,190 square feet. It was purchased for $320K in Nov. 2004. There is no “interim” history, so we don’t know when the property fell into arrears but the bank took title to the property on 8/14/09, the property was listed for $257,900 on 8/20/09 and it was sold on 10/06/09 for $253,000 with a $10,000 contribution from the seller for closing costs and prepaids. This equates to a net selling price of $243K or $113 per square foot — and the house had a nice kitchen.
So….the moral of the story seems to be: Distressed Property in Good Condition + Low Price = Quick Sale!
Be sure to take note of the consistently high number of Price Reductions. In the past 3 weeks that I’ve studied/provided market statistics for the Avondale, Ortega and Riverside markets, there were 12 price reductions the first week, 19 the second week and 15 this week. That’s a lot of price reductions! We see over and over again that when a property gets reduced enough and hits the “magic” number proving itself to be a tremendous value, buyers take note and there is generally an offer shortly thereafter.
Thanks for reading! Have a great week.
Some GREAT reasons NOT to shop for real estate on FSBO websites!
I recently attended a class where they told real estate agents (like me) that a great place to find potential listings is on For Sale By Owner websites. Afterall, the people who have posted their homes on these sites have publicly declared that they intend to sell their homes, they’ve gone to the time and trouble to “list” the house for sale, established a price, etc…. and (more likely than not) have figured out that people aren’t flocking to their homes for appointments and might be ready to talk with a realtor.
The idea seemed to make sense so this morning, I googled “for sale by owner” websites, pulled up the top three on the search, opened their sites and searched for homes in the zip code 32210. Guess what — there were only 6 homes listed for sale, the majority of them have only one photo and very limited descriptions of the property. Guess what else? By contrast, there are 99 homes listed for sale on the MLS in zip code 32210. So, would you rather choose from 6 or from 99? The answer seems pretty clear.
Another important point — I quickly noticed several properties that I’m familiar with that have not only sold — they were sold months ago! For example, 2847 Doric Avenue is listed on one site for $315K — this home sold on July 31, 2009 for $275K and yet it’s still listed as actively for sale.
Another example is a home located at 4751 Apache Avenue that’s listed for $452K. This home is not only not for sale by owner, it was listed for a while by ReMax and is now listed with the Fred Miller Group for $375K.
I even saw a home in Murray Hill (1309 Lamboll) that we listed and have now sold. It closed on August 27, 2009 for $162,250. That listing stated the last time the listing was updated was 548 days ago — don’t you know that a lot has changed in the last 548 days!!!
So, it seems pretty clear. If you want the most current information about what’s for sale, how much it costs, where it’s located and other important details, work with a realtor who specializes in the neighborhood where you want to live. Don’t waste your time looking at a very limited selection of properties and chasing down ones have already been sold! And remember….working with a realtor to find a house is FREE!!!
If you register on our website allaboutavondale.com, you can create your OWN search — price, bedrooms, baths, lot size, waterfront or not, etc… and it will not only give you a CURRENT list of properties available but will also send you updates when there are new listings or price changes.
PS – If you’re a seller and reading this, you may want to reconsider listing your home on a FSBO website and call me for a FREE analysis of what your home is worth in today’s market! I can be reached at 904-252-5181 or by email at steilberg@comcast.net.
Thanks for reading – have a great day!
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