With summer behind us, here’s a look at home sales trends in the Alabaster, Maylene and Saginaw areas (stats from the Birmingham MLS):

After taking a dip in June, average sales prices are holding fairly steady:

How long does it take to get a home sold in these areas? According to the MLS, the time needed is just a little over two months (the shortest it has been all year):

Right now, 354 conventional single family houses and townhomes are for sale in the Alabaster, Maylene and Saginaw areas. Of those:

289 are priced at or below $250,000;
127 are priced at or below $150,000;
22 are priced at or below $100,000;
338 have 3 or more bedrooms;
170 have 4 or more bedrooms;
29 have 5 or more bedrooms;
113 have pools or access to pools;
5 have 4 or more acres…

Need a loan to buy? Rates right now continue to be among the lowest in history. Qualified borrowers can get a 30-year fixed rate loan for as low as around 4.25%; 15-year fixed rate loans can be found by some borrowers as low as 3.75%. Colleen and I have been able to help a number of first time Buyers say ‘adios’ to renting and move into their first homes with some excellent loans at very low rates.

Needless to say, this continues to be a tremendous time to buy a home … let us know if we can help!

David

Here’s some great news if you’re one of the folks who’ve been trying to buy a home under the First Time Buyer’s Tax Credit that expired April 30th.

Congress has passed a bill extending the June 30th closing deadline to September 30, 2010. This extension applies for Sales Contracts that were in place as of April 30th, but that had not yet closed. This has affected a lot of people trying to buy, especially folks involved in Short Sales (which take longer, since Lender approval is required).

So, perhaps being patient and waiting for your sale to go through will pay off, after all!

David

Yet another indicator that the super low interest rates Buyers have been enjoying in the Shelby Co. and Birmingham real estate market may be coming to an end:

Click here to see an article in the 4/11/10 New York Times advising that rising interest rates are inevitable.

If you’ve been considering buying a home and have been waiting for the perfect time, it looks more and more as if the perfect time is about to pass you by.

It’s all the more reason to get serious, and soon!

David

You may not think of being on someone’s black list as a very desirable situation, but here’s proof that it can be good. Yep, you can be on someone’s black list, and, most likely, benefit from it.

This all started earlier a little over a month ago. That’s when Colleen and I saw an excellent opportunity pop up on the MLS. A Foreclosure, consisting of a house and about five acres of property in a desirable area of Shelby county had gone up for sale. Asking price: $109,900.

We thought it was such an enticing offer that we immediately sent e-mails to a number of people we thought might be interested. Would anyone respond? We had no idea.

We got our answer. Lots of folks, it turned out, wanted to know more, and several visited the property.

The inquiries continued. In less than five days, the property had multiple offers and sold. Needless to say, being able to capitalize on a great opportunity requires quick response. Speed is definitely the issue. Or, as some say, if you snooze, you lose.

Given the response we received, we knew it was time to let technology help people know quickly when a good real estate opportunity arises.

And so, The Black List was born.

The Black List is our quick notification e-mail list you can join to get periodic updates about attractive chances to own property in the Shelby Co. and Birmingham area.

When we see what we consider an especially juicy real estate opportunity, we’ll let you know via The Black List. Needless to say, if you’re on the list, you’ll be among the first to learn about it. And that will automatically put you in a position to capitalize on the chance, if you wish to pursue it.

The properties you read about might be Foreclosures, or they might be regular sales or Short Sales. They might be large homes or small homes. They might be in the city, or maybe in the country. They might need work, or might be move-in ready. They might be our Listings, or they might be those of another Agent. The point is to let you know quickly when a good deal pops up.

You can sign up by clicking here and entering your e-mail address in the sign-up box at the top of our website’s main page.

We’ll operate this e-mail list the way we think e-mail lists should be run: We won’t share your information, and we won’t constantly blast you with e-mails. You can unsubscribe at any time, with no questions asked.

Here’s hoping The Black List will help you with being able to take advantage of some of the great opportunities we’re seeing more and more in the Shelby Co. and Birmingham areas!

David

If Sellers sometimes have an unrealistic idea of what a Buyer is willing to pay, Tom Horn brings them back to reality.

Tom is an appraiser in the Birmingham and Shelby Co. area, and owns appraisal-source.com, a company Lenders and homeowners trying to sell on their own rely upon for accurate residential market appraisals.

Colleen and I caught up with Tom and got his analysis of what’s happening with home values in the Shelby Co. and Birmingham areas. We found out pretty quickly that talking with Tom is very interesting!

From everything we learned about home price trends in the area, as well as the negative effects on home sales prices caused by government-mandated changes in the way appraisers are selected, we knew we needed Tom to share his expertise with us.

We’ve divided our interview with Tom into two segments. Click the players just below to listen to Parts 1 and 2.

Tom Horn Interview Part 1:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Tom Horn Interview Part 2:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

…or, if you’d like to listen by downloading to your portable device:

Click here to download Part 1 (10 Mb).

Click here to download Part 2 (7 Mb).

Links to Thomas Horn’s websites:

Click for Appraisal-source website

Click for Tom’s Appraisal Blog

We hope you enjoy … and thanks, Tom, for the great information!

David Black

After taking a look at new numbers from the Birmingham MLS, it’s clear that Buyers have the upper hand when it comes to purchasing a home in the area.

Almost all across the board in the areas we checked, sales in January were down, and in some cases, half of what they were four months ago:

The message for now is clear: Buyers call the shots.

If you’re looking to buy, all sorts of factors are on your side at the moment. First, there are lots of homes available (482 in Helena and Pelham, 350 in Alabaster and 684 across the North Shelby Co. area at the moment!). Second, smart Sellers know they have competition and will do whatever they can to ‘work a deal.’

Third, interest rates are, in two words, still great. One of the Lenders we work with reports 30-year fixed rates remain below five percent, while 15-year rates (which were around 4.375% last week) have dropped a bit more.

So, if you’re a Seller, the message here is that you absolutely must meet Buyer’s expectations in terms of how nicely your home shows, and price. Fail to meet either of those requirements, and your home won’t sell.

And if you’re a Buyer, with such a good market for buying a home, one question comes to mind:

What are you waiting for?

David

Ever wished for a crystal ball so you’d know what’s ahead? That might, or might not, be a good thing, depending on what you want to know…!

On the one hand, having a crystal ball to look into the real estate market could sure help ease concerns for some folks here in the Birmingham and Shelby county areas. Or would it?

Suppose you’re thinking of selling your home. Would you be more inclined to sell sooner, if, say, the ball suggested values would continue to slide in 2010? What if the ball suggested you’d get more if you wait?

I don’t think we really need a crystal ball to know that home values will rise. Nearly every expert out there predicts they will, at some point.

It’s those last three words that are the kicker: At some point.

Hmm. Does that mean in the next three months? Ten months? Two years? This is where having a crystal ball would be pretty handy.

However, crystal balls are about as plentiful as bumper stickers in Alabama supporting the Texas Longhorns. People ask us questions frequently that would pretty much need a crystal ball to answer accurately. “What is my home going to be worth in a year?” would be one such question.

“What will my home sell for if I list it right now?”

Ahh. There’s a question that doesn’t need a crystal ball as badly to answer. We have good resources we can draw upon to come up with a figure that—more times than not—winds up being very close to actual selling price.

The fact is that if your home ’shows nicely’ as Agents like to say, and is priced where we know Buyers will bite, your odds of selling are promising. And, yes, that’s true even in the tough market affecting so many neighborhoods in the Birmingham and Shelby Co. areas as we plow into 2010.

This might sound ridiculously obvious to some, but the ’shows nicely, priced right’ concept is one we’ve seen trip up a lot of people trying to sell their homes. So, not everyone really understands how important this really is. Or put another way, not everyone really ‘gets it.’

During 2009, we represented Sellers who agreed to price their homes where we suggested. Granted, they weren’t always thrilled with the price we recommended. But they swallowed hard and said, ‘okay.’ Why? Because they needed to sell. Helping ease this frustration was their knowledge that—when they turned around to buy another home—they’d be enjoying the opposite side of the tough selling market, getting a very good deal on the home they’re buying.

We also dealt with Sellers in 2009 who disagreed with us. They felt they had a better idea than we did of what their home would would sell for. And guess what happened with their efforts to sell? Nothing. Zilch. Their homes didn’t sell, despite being on the market plenty long enough to sell. I remember several cases where other homes in the same neighborhood as our Clients’ house sold, and in the general price range we had recommended.

There were some cases where our Client’s home never even got an Offer. We always talk about how important it is to listen to what the market is telling us. Let me assure you of one thing: If a home for sale doesn’t even get an Offer, that’s the market talking. It may even be shouting.

I know one thing for sure about trying to get a home sold in this market. You either have to ‘get it,’ or you have to trust your Agent’s advice. Otherwise, your home is probably not destined to sell.

I think the real question that emerges is: How badly do you want, or need, to sell?

Clearly, there are many situations for folks where—regardless of how the market may be performing at the moment—it’s important to sell sooner, rather than later. Some Sellers who contact us tell us they need to sell as fast as possible, and are waiting for us to tell them what to do to make it so.

These are the people we feel confident we can help.

And no, we don’t have a crystal ball to predict the outcome.

But listening to the market and to your Agent go a long way right now, and will most likely mean you can start packing sooner, rather than later.

David

I asked a group of Realtors who sell homes in the Birmingham and Shelby Co. area recently what their thoughts are of 2009, now that it’s ‘in the rear view mirror.’

While a few Agents reported a strong year last year, most told me they weren’t sad to see ‘09 become history.

We hear conflicting information in the media a lot these days about home sales, and this can even happen when you’re looking at sales in a small, targeted area.

Here are a few statistics from the Birmingham MLS that show trends in 2009, compared to 2007 and 2008. Clearly, the local market was a difficult one for many:

Here’s a look at average sold prices for homes in the area:

And, finally, how long did it take to get a home sold? Here’s a look at that:

While these numbers show a challenging market, people with a lot of years in the real estate business under their belt continue to believe that the market will undergo a gradual change, back to more balanced conditions.

No one knows exactly when that will happen, or how quickly it will occur, but most are confident it will. Some think it’s already starting.

Perhaps 2010 will be the year…

David

Here are a few news tidbits involving home sales:

…Sales in the Birmingham area shot up 46% in November, marking the second straight month of increases over the previous year, according to the Birmingham Association of Realtors. In November, 879 homes sold, compared to 603 in November, 2008;

…November sales of previously occupied homes surged to their highest point nationwide in nearly three years, according to the National Association of Realtors;

…Lawrence Yun, NAR’s Chief economist, sees continued progress in 2010, even as some of the government’s efforts to stimulate the housing market ease. “We expect a temporary sales drop [before] another surge in the spring when buyers take advantage of the expanded tax credit,” Yun said. That “hopefully will take us into a self-sustaining market in the second half of 2010.”

…Roughly 2 million homebuyers have taken advantage of the $8,000 First Time Buyer’s Tax Credit, according to NAR estimates;

…Sales of new homes, however, dropped 11% in November, their lowest level since April (new home sales represent a dwindling share of the market). Bottom line: If you’re looking for a new home, chances are you’ll find builders extremely anxious to work a deal;

Overall, analysts feel the housing market continues to recover from its recent downturn, with the government’s assistance programs getting much of the credit.

If you’re thinking of buying a home in the Birmingham and Shelby Co. area, the market remains very much in your favor, thanks to a large selection of homes to choose from, motivated Sellers, and a continuation of some of the lowest ever interest rates on loans.

Last, but certainly not least, keep in mind that the First Time Buyer’s Tax Credit, originally set to expire November 30, 2009, has been extended to April 30, 2010. The government has also expanded the program to provide incentives for current homeowners who relocate — click here for details.

David

You can have fun and help people at the same time.

That’s what the Oak Mountain Real Estate Network’s annual Christmas Auction, held November 18th in Pelham, is all about:

Despite a tough economy, we had a lot of Agents and people working in affiliated fields participate. When it was all over, the Network had raised nearly $2,200. The Network supports two very worthy causes here in Shelby County: SafeHouse and Family Connection.

Special thanks to Auctioneers Kelly Bishop-Hicks with Allstate Insurance and John Holliman of the Holliman Law Firm, who did a great job!

David