October 17, 2007

Current listing inventory - 235 active listings in Owatonna as of today. Inventory has dropped quite a bit over the last week and that is an AWESOME sign. We've been trying to write this post for the last three days but every time that we checked the inventory it just kept dropping. Average days on the market in Owatonna has climbed to 140 days. The newer listings are getting the offers and dropping out of active category leaving the older listings which drives up the days on market count. The number of pending listings has also risen to 46 houses. Average days on the market has dropped dramatically for this category to 85 days. This is due to quite a few of the new listings receiving offers within the first 10 days or so of being listed. There have been 321 properties Closed properties since 01-01-07, with an average days on market time of 117 days.

As mentioned during one of last week's posts, we have been seeing a mini-trend recently of homes getting an offer very quickly if they are ready to go are are priced correctly for the current market. If they are not priced correctly buyers are simply ignoring them.

Buyers, if you have been considering jumping into the market, now is a good time to get off the couch. There are quite a few excellent opportunities available in our current market. We hear almost daily comments like "it's priced at X but they would be willing to sell it for Y" (put your own price range in for the X & Y). In addition interest rates are still excellent and there are quite a few good loan programs available. Also many of the lenders are offering specials that will save you quite a bit of money.

Interest Rates dropped just a tick to 6.250% on October 17, 2007.

One statement we hear time after time from home sellers is "We just want to try it at this price for two weeks". In a recent training seminar the trainer (David Knox) drove home the imporatnce of correct pricing during thre first two weeks by saying "Sure you can try it at your price for two weeks! Just not the first two weeks!!". Try to listen to your Real Estate Professional and their suggestions of price.

October 11, 2007

Not a significant number of changes to report today. However there were 13 new listings on tour yesterday. It's been a strange kind of week in real estate. 13 new listings, however the number of active listings only climbed about 4 houses since last week, the pendings actually fell 1 in the count and the solds climbed 5.

That is indicating some homes must have been removed from the marketplace (either through expiration or being withdrawn). When looking at the big picture, it really doesn't matter right now how a house comes off of the market. Of course if it your house we are talking about your house you would like to see it move to the Pending or Closed category. The big thing right now is to see the number of homes on the market decrease and to stimulate some buying activity.

One mini-trend this week is the number of recent listings (1-14 days) that are seeing a large number of showings and several receiving offers, while most of the older listings are seeing few showings and even fewer offers. We did notice on this weeks tour that several of the new listings were priced exceptionally well (at least two of this weeks tour homes and two from last weeks tour have received offers already).

There are buyers out there that are pre-approved with a lender, have no house to sell and are ready to buy, however sellers have to be realistic with their selling price and have the home completly ready to go when the house comes on the market.

One statement we hear time after time from sellers is "We just want to try it at this price for wo weeks". In a recent training seminar the trainer (David Knox) drove home the imporatnce of correct pricing during thre first two weeks by saying "sure you can try it at your price for two weeks, just not the first two weeks!!". Try to listen to your Real Estate Professional and their suggestions of price.

October 9, 2007

Current listing inventory - 253 active listings in Owatonna as of today. Inventory has climbed again over the last week and that is not necessarily a good sign. We were getting close to the 2006 high of 243 listings in October 2006 but have now moved away from that again. Average days on the market in Owatonna has dropped just a bit to 133 days. This is not always a good sign though, because as we get new listings on the market they have zero days on the market and that will skew the average quite a bit. The number of pending listings has fallen a little bit to 39 houses. Average days on the market has remained consistent at 167 days. There have been 315 properties Closed properties since 01-01-07, with an average days on market time of 126 days.

If you are a seller in todays market, you have to realistic on your price, have everything ready to go on your house, AND be patient while waiting for your home to sell. In addition there are several price ranges that have been more active in 2007 than others. You can click on the link to review the Market Absorbtion chart.

Interest Rates climbed to 6.375% on October 9, 2007. p>

October 2, 2007

Current listing inventory - 249 active listings in Owatonna as of today. Inventory dropped again over the last week and that s a great sign. We are close to the 2006 high of 243 listings in October 2006. Average days on the market in Owatonna has dropped quite a bit to 134 days. This is also a good sign as some of the long time listings dropped out of the active category. The number of pending listings has remained balanced at 41 houses. Average days on the market has dropped down slightly to 167. There have been 310 properties Closed properties since 01-01-07, with an average days on market time of 124 days. There continues to be encouraging signs this week. The active inventory has dropped again the pendings have remained stable and the closed property list continues to grow. These signs are positive for us here in Owatonna.

Last year at this same time, we had 350 homes with an average day on market time of 93 days. So 2006 compared to 2007 we are down 11.5% in sales (not as bad as much of the media would lead you to believe). The big change however, it has taken 33% longer to sell those homes in 2007 than it did in 2006.

If you are a seller in todays market you have to realistic on your price, have everything ready to go on your house, AND be patient while waiting for your home to sell. In addition there are several price ranges that have been more active in 2007 than others. You can click on the link to review the Market Absorbtion chart.

Interest Rates fell slightly to 6.125% on October 2, 2007. p>

September 26, 2007

Current listing inventory - 256 active listings in Owatonna as of today. Inventory dropped again over the last couple of days and that continues to be a good sign. Average days on the market in Owatonna has bumped up a bit to 150 days. The number of pending listings has remained fairly stable at 41 houses. Average days on the market has climbed up to 170. This big change is due to some of the longer term listings getting offers. There have been 301 properties Closed properties since 01-01-07, with an average days on market time of 125 days. There continues to be encouraging signs this week. Showings on our listings have increased slightly & the active inventory has dropped again. These signs are positive for us here in Owatonna.

Last year at this same time, we had Sold 333 homes with an average day on market time of 92 days. So 2006 compared to 2007 we are down 11.3% in sales (not as bad as much of the media would lead you to believe). The big change however, it has taken 26% longer to sell those homes in 2007 than it did in 2006.

If you are a seller in todays market you have to realistic on your price, have everything ready to go on your house, AND be patient while waiting for your home to sell. As we mentioned above it is taking an average of 170 days (5 1/2 months) for homes to go pending right now. In addition there are several price ranges that have been more active in 2007 than others. You can click on the link to review the Market Absorbtion chart.

Interest rates climbed slightly to 6.25% on September 26, 2007.