How Do I Assess Current Home Prices and Trends in MY Neighborhood?
You must first understand what is happening in your area to be able to properly price and sell your home in this market. Because of the abundance of homes for sale, your objective should be to price your home so that it is THE BEST home at THE BEST PRICE compared to your competition. We do this by analyzing current sales data from the Local MLS. Here is a look at what we do for one of Franklin's most popular neighborhoods, Westhaven, over the last 3 years:
First, We Look at the Number of Units Sold Over the last 3 Years (2008-2010):
This allows us to look at how many homes are currently for sale in the area and see how many homes are actually selling each month. This could indicate when the best time is to have a home on the market and availible for the maximum number of potential buyers. This graph obviously shows sales activity is strongest in the Spring and Summer months, but there is excellent activity all year long.
Next, We Consider The Median Sales Price Over the Last 3 Years. This is the Average Sales Price of each, individual home SOLD over the last 3 yeasrs:
This information shows us which price ranges are selling the most or has the maximum buyer demand. The graph is very consistently showing homes in this neighborhood continue to sell well in the $450,000 to $600,000 range, but it is starting to trend significantly towards the lesser expensive homes in the neighborhood as the ones that are selling. More expensive homes can probably expect to have longer number of Days on the Market.
Lastly, We look at the Average Sold to Ask Ratio Over the Last 3 Years:
This is a very "telling" graph. Westhaven has been a fast growing neighborhood with a lot of new construction homes being sold in the past couple of years well before they were completed. With builder add-ons and buyer's change orders during construction, many homes ended up selling for more than their original asking price! This information indicates the Trend of Closed Sales. In this case, the the trend indicates that towards the end of 2010, homes are actually Selling for Asking Price, or more than the Asking Price, compared to previous years. This is a real "trend" indication and usually means that the market is stabilizing and more buyers are appearing in the area. This is a very good sign and a positive trend for the market!.
Any other Local Realtor® is probably just going to present you with a spreadsheet with a bunch of numbers only they can understand. We want you to be fully informed and understand everything that is going on in Your Market!
This is just a quick review of some of the exclusive tools we have to allow you to be better prepared and properly market your home for sale with successful results.
