Myers Park Homes

Friends,

The first half of 2010 has been encouraging for home Sellers in Myers Park.  If they haven’t been thrilled by the low offers many have received, at least a number of Sellers have been able to sell their homes and get on to their next adventures.

In the first 6 months of this year 76 homes have SOLD/closed in Myers Park (compared with 31 a year ago), with an average closed price of $839,387, an average size of 3,749, and an average dollar-per-square-foot of $224 (compared with $223 a year ago).  The average ratio of asking price to SOLD price so far this year has been about 91%, better than the performance of the market as a whole.  The average days-on-the-market was 148 (almost 5 months!), versus 128 days a year ago.

25 of the 76 homes that have closed this year sold for $1 million or more (compared with only 6 a year ago).  The average SOLD price of that group was $1,423,940 and the average size was 5,320, for an average dollar-per-square-foot of $268 (versus $277 a year ago).  Those homes took longer to sell (181 days) than the neighborhood average, and got 90% of their final published asking price.

These are good numbers!  At the same time, in 2007 there were 96 sales by the halfway point (including 31 for $1 million or more) with an average dollar-per-square-foot of $284, an average days-on-the-market of 85, and an average ratio of asking price to SOLD price of 95%.  Ah, the good old days!

Carolina MLS

The numbers for the Carolina MLS came out today and those numbers are not as encouraging.  Although closings were up 15%, new contracts were down 13%, and the average closed price for the whole MLS was down a little more than 1%. 

Interesting, isn’t it? A year ago things were flipped and the market at large was outperforming Myers Park.  The First-Time Homebuyers Tax Credit that gave the market a boost was “neither here nor there” as regards Myers Park (few first-time homebuyers in Myers Park).  For the past year I sensed pent-up interest and demand in our market, and that is being played out in the stats for Myers Park so far this year.  But the demise of the tax credit has left a bit of a hole in the CMLS numbers.

Onward and upward!

Robert

Robert Dulin

Keller Williams Realty

Robert@RobertDulin.com

704.661.3173

Friends,

Thank goodness for some relief from the heat!

And thank goodness for another great month for real estate in Myers Park! 13 homes SOLD/closed in Myers Park in June (compared with 11 in June 2009), including 5 for $1 million or more, with an average closed price of $851,846 and an average dollar-per-square-foot of $224 (compared with $228 in June 2009). The average ratio of asking price to SOLD price was 93 (the 13 Sellers came off their asking prices 7% on average) compared to 96% a year ago.  The average for the whole Carolina MLS is 89% so we are outperforming the market.  The average days-on-the-market was 101, a considerable improvement over last June’s 143.  See graph below:

	Comparative Market Analysis

(Sold by various members of the Carolina MLS).

Now, the bigger news: 22 homes went Under Contract in June, a big number for the leading indicator of interest and demand in our market.  6 of the 22 were priced at $1 million or more.  Note the lower days-on-the-market numbers - a welcome and encouraging trend.  See graph below……

	Comparative Market Analysis

Friends,

15 homes have gone Under Contract so far in Myers Park this month, and we’ve got 11 days to go.  This is very encouraging.  While some markets have languished with the expiration of the First Time Homebuyes Tax Credit, Myers Park has not missed a beat!

I’ll check back in with you at the end of the month.

Robert

Robert Dulin

Keller Williams Realty

Friends,

The numbers just out today from the Carolina MLS indicate that we are not out of this thing yet.  In the Charlotte M.S.A. closings were up 33% (compared with May 2009) - great news!  But the leading indicator, Pending sales (new contracts), was down 12% compared with the same month last year.  This is not unexpected, as the First-Time Homebuyers Tax Credit expired April 30.  But the fact that new contracts were down over May 2009, when we were climbing out of the financial meltdown of the previous fall, is a little disappointing.

The good news is that the average closed price was up 6.6% over May ‘09.  I’m going to feel a lot better when the average ratio of closed price to asking price of the homes that sell comes up.  It has been hovering around 89% for a number of months (meaning the average seller had to come off their final published price about 11%). 

Having said all that, I sense a lot of pent-up demand and interest in the market.  There are a lot of people out looking.  But they are all still looking for a deal.  Fortunately for all of us, interest rates are still hovering around all-time lows (around 4.5% today).

Looks like a long, flat recovery to me.

Robert

Keller Williams Realty

Robert@RobertDulin.com

Unfortunately, short sales and foreclosures will be with us and part of our real estate reality for some time to come.  They pull down values in every neighborhood and no neighborhood is immune.  Most people associate distressed sales with homes in lesser price ranges but the more recent phenomenon is short sales and foreclosures of high-end homes in the finest neighborhoods. 

Some perspective: 8,243 homes SOLD/closed in Mecklenburg County in 2009.  2,237 condos and townhomes SOLD/closed during the same period, for a total of 10,480 homes, condos, and townhomes SOLD/closed in 2009.  In the same period 12,768 homes, condos and townhomes were foreclosed on in Mecklenburg County.  I think that is a startling statistic.   

Currently there are 416 active For Sale REO properties (properties that have already been foreclosed upon and are now owned by the bank) in the Carolina MLS, and another 266 Under Contract.  That means there are thousands of foreclosures yet to hit our real estate market.  Will the banks let them trickle out or dump them onto our market?  Time will tell.  In any case the effect on property values will not be positive, to say the least. 

More and more common is homes, condos and townhomes sold as “short sales”.  In a short sale the bank has agreed to accept less than what is owed on the property.  The benefit to the Seller is a less onerous hit on his credit record (although the hit is still pretty bad) than a foreclosure.  The problem is most agents have no business representing short sellers, as it is a very specialized and complex undertaking.  By the time many agents figure out what they are doing, the seller’s home has gone into foreclosure and all is lost. 

I am honored to serve on the Grievance Committee for the Carolina Regional Realtor Association.  We spend more and more of our time every month dealing with complaints against Realtors who represent short sales.  The lack of standardized processes by banks and the sheer overwhelming numbers of distressed sales the banks are dealing with often make for a bumpy ride for buyers and sellers. 

If you or somebody you know is behind on your/their mortgage payments, don’t just sit there until the world collapses around you - do something!  Selling your home as a short sale is better than allowing your home to fall into foreclosure.  I have my SFR certification (in short sales and foreclosures) and can advise you on what your choices are and can put you in touch with the experts you need, depending on where you are in the process.  

Don’t wait until the choice is made for you.

P.S. Interested to see if there are homes in YOUR neighborhood that are in the foreclosure process?  Visit http://realist2.firstamres.com/searchforeclosure.jsp?firsttime=yes&tabAction=SEARCHES and enter your neighborhood in the subdivision box.  You may be surprised by what you find.

Friends,

Please bear with me while I try to figure out my formatting problem with some of these wide graphs of stats.

Robert

Robert@RobertDulin.com

Friends,

I know I must sound like the proverbial broken record, but the tune is a pleasant one: May was another excellent month for home sales in Myers Park.  Myers Park is coming back!  13 homes went Under Contract in May - 6 Conditional and 7 Pending.  (See graph below)

	Comparative Market Analysis

Subject Property
#	MLS#	Type	Area	Address	Subdivision	BR	Bths	Total HLA	List Price	DOM
1	931319	2 Story	5	2110 Radcliffe AVE	Myers Park	3	3/0	1800 - 2200	$525,000	56
2	938333	2 Story / Basement	5	2920 Chelsea DR	Myers Park	4	3/1	2400 - 2900	$725,000	27
3	928868	2 Story	5	2111 Malvern RD	Myers Park	4	3/1	2700 - 3300	$768,000	64
4	937764	2 Story / Basement	5	2002 Pinewood CIR	Myers Park	4	3/2	2800 - 3300	$875,000	30
5	910078	2 Story	5	1908 Maryland AVE	Myers Park	5	5/1	5100 - 6000	$1,399,000	142
6	912801	2 Story	5	2521 Croydon RD	Myers Park	5	5/2	6300 - 7400	$1,795,000	132
Average						4		3500 - 4200	$1,014,500	75
Number of Properties: 6

Subject Property
#	MLS#	Type	Area	Address	Subdivision	BR	Bths	Total HLA	List Price	DOM
1	911848	Ranch	5	3220 Willow Oak RD	Myers Park	3	2/0	1200 - 1500	$355,000	131
2	926426	Ranch	5	2820 Forest DR	Myers Park	3	2/0	1800 - 2100	$400,000	49
3	931696	2 Story / Basement	5	3221 Sunnymede LN	Myers Park	4	3/1	2500 - 3000	$469,000	24
4	909201	Ranch	5	1687 Sterling RD	Myers Park	5	3/0	2000 - 2400	$525,000	119
5	914260	Ranch	5	1437 Sterling RD	Myers Park	3	2/0	2000 - 2400	$559,000	120
6	922657	2 Story	5	3321 Selwyn AVE	Myers Park	4	3/1	3100 - 3800	$625,000	70
7	929396	2 Story	5	1823 Asbury Hall CT	Myers Park	4	3/0	3100 - 3700	$725,000	55
Average						4		2200 - 2700	$522,571	81
Number of Properties: 7

(Sold by various members of the Carolina MLS.)

15 homes SOLD/closed in May (including 8 for more than $1 million) compared to 10 in May 2009, with an average closed price of $937,000, an average days-on-the-market of 121, and an average ratio of asking price to SOLD price of 94 (the 15 Sellers came off their asking prices 6% on average).  See graph below…

	Comparative Market Analysis

The average dollar-per-square-foot of the 15 sales above was $223, way off the $283 Sellers were fetching, even in 2008.  But if you lifted the two short sales (the two Selwyn homes) from the equation, the average jumps up to $253/square foot.  But we can’t do that, can we?  Distressed sales (short sales, foreclosures, and REOs) will be with us for some time to come (as in years), pulling down values in every neighborhood.  Please watch for my blog on distressed sales coming soon… 

There were 180 homes For Sale in Myers Park at press time (a year’s supply).

Condos and townhomes fared better in May than they did in April - with 5 going Under Contract (see below):

	Comparative Market Analysis

(Sold by various members of the Carolina MLS) 

7 condos/townhomes SOLD/closed in May compared with 5 in May 2009 and only ONE in April of this year.  Condos/townhomes continue to struggle due to stringent FHA and other lending requirements.  There were 119 condos and townhomes For Sale in Myers Park at press time.

	Comparative Market Analysis

Friends,

We still got the MO(mentum)!  Closings of homes, condos, and townhomes were up 25% in the Carolina MLS in April.  And new contracts were up 32%!  The average closed price was flat, however.  Will the demise of the First-Time Homebuyers Tax Credit (which ended April 30) mean a slowdown for our local market?  The tale will be told when the May numbers come out in June. 

Stay tuned…..

Dear Friends,

Pure and simple - April was fabulous for home sales in Myers Park.  Last April there were two closings in Myers Park - and one of them was a bank-owned property.  This April, 15 homes SOLD/closed, with an average closed price of $763,236, an average size of 3,209 square feet, an average dollar-per-square-foot of $238 (it’s coming back up!), an average DOM (days on the market) of 181 (6 months, folks), and an average ratio of (final) list price to SOLD price of 94 (on average the Sellers of the 15 homes came off their asking price 6% - besting the CMLS at large, where Sellers came off their asking prices 11.5% on average).

	Comparative Market Analysis

Subject Property
#	MLS#	Type	Area	Address	Subdivision	BR	Bths	Total HLA	List Price	Sale Price	%SP/LP	Sold Date	DOM
1	898886	2 Story	5	1232 Providence RD	Myers Park	4	2/1	1,952	$299,900	$303,750	101	3/31/2010	83
2	921699	Ranch	5	3326 Willow Oak RD	Myers Park	3	2/0	1,617	$355,000	$317,500	89	4/16/2010	45
3	838820	1.5 Story / Basement	5	3212 Pinehurst PL	Myers Park	3	2/0	1,782	$365,000	$310,300	85	3/29/2010	369
4	917450	2 Story	5	254 Hillside AVE	Myers Park	3	1/0	1,598	$399,000	$400,000	100	3/31/2010	13
5	918050	Ranch	5	2109 Dartmouth PL	Myers Park	3	2/0	1,836	$524,000	$505,000	96	4/15/2010	60
6	855919	Ranch	5	2031 Hastings DR	Myers Park	3	2/0	2,600	$550,000	$548,000	100	4/16/2010	352
7	920025	Ranch	5	2615 Portland AVE	Myers Park	4	3/0	2,748	$695,000	$657,000	95	4/19/2010	38
8	917991	1.5 Story	5	2834 Chelsea DR	Myers Park	4	4/0	2,854	$730,000	$707,000	97	4/22/2010	9
9	912822	2 Story / Basement	5	213 Wales AVE	Myers Park	4	3/0	3,357	$799,000	$745,000	93	4/16/2010	13
10	920022	2.5 Story / Basement	5	531 Hermitage CT	Myers Park	3	2/1	2,853	$889,900	$830,000	93	4/28/2010	65
11	854277	2.5 Story	5	1409 Devon DR	Myers Park	5	5/1	4,500	$899,000	$830,000	92	3/31/2010	291
12	752791	Ranch	5	2854 Sharon RD	Myers Park	4	2/1	3,349	$925,000	$870,000	94	4/15/2010	763
13	865977	2 Story	5	315 Ridgewood AVE	Myers Park	5	4/1	4,676	$1,269,000	$1,100,000	87	3/16/2010	266
14	912894	3 Story	5	261 Ridgewood AVE	Myers Park	6	6/2	6,192	$1,395,000	$1,300,000	93	4/19/2010	50
15	865943	2 Story	5	1574 Queens RD W	Myers Park	4	3/1	6,219	$2,300,000	$2,025,000	88	4/21/2010	292
Average						4		3,209	$826,320	$763,236	94		181
Number of Properties: 15

(Sold by various members of the Carolina MLS.)

Even bigger news: another 24 homes went Under Contract (13 Conditional, 1 Contingent, and 10 Pending).  That is a very encouraging ‘leading indicator’.  And 9 of them are for homes over $1 million, leaving 50 For Sale in Myers Park (and 729 on the market across the entire MLS). 

	Comparative Market Analysis

It makes sense to me that Myers Park will perform well over the next few months, and outperform the market in general.  Sales numbers for the market at large are likely to show some deceleration due to the demise of the 1st Time Homebuyers Tax Credit, which ended April 30.  And given Myers Park’s average SOLD price, it is unlikely the tax credit has played much of a part in driving sales.  I would think the energy in our neighborhood market is due to a number of factors: many people’s stock porfolios have reboundeed somewhat and they are feeling bullish; more and more people feel more and more confident that they are not going to lose their jobs; many people got bonuses this year that they didn’t get last year; and, more than anything, more and more Sellers have gotten real, at long last, about their asking prices.

So far, through the first 4 months of the year, 48 homes have SOLD/closed in Myers Park (compared with 10 at this time last year) with an average dollar-per-square foot of $224 (compared with $203/square foot last year), and an average days on the market of 169 (compared with 120 last year). 

There were 175 homes For Sale in Myers Park as of “press time”.

I expect great things in May.

Condos and townhomes did not fare so well - only one SOLD/closed (compared with 3 last April):

	Comparative Market Analysis

Subject Property

#

MLS#

Type

Area

Address

DOM

BR

Bths

Style

Parking

Total HLA

List Price

Sale Price

%SP/LP

Sold Date

1

865196

2 Story

5

2048 Queens RD B W

294

3

3/1

Georgian

2 Car Garage

3,540

$1,224,900

$1,191,673

97

3/31/2010

Average

294

3

3,540

$1,224,900

$1,191,673

97

Number of Properties: 1

(Sold by various members of the Carolina MLS.)

Another 6 went Under Contract:

	Comparative Market Analysis

Robert

Robert Dulin

Keller Williams Realty

Email Me

704.661,3173

Myers Park Homes For Sale

Friends,

Our fabulous spring continues in Myers Park as 10 homes have SOLD/closed so far in April (compared with two for the entire month of April, 2009).  Perhaps the most positive metric in the table below is the average ratio of list price to asking price of 94% (Sellers came off their last published asking price 6% on average).  The fact that this number is up reflects two things, I think:

1. More and more Sellers are becoming more realistic about their asking prices and

2. More and more Buyers, after sitting on the sidelines, are perceiving those prices as values.

	Comparative Market Analysis

Subject Property
#	MLS#	Type	Area	Address	Subdivision	BR	Bths	Total HLA	List Price	Sale Price	%SP/LP	Sold Date	DOM
1	898886	2 Story	5	1232 Providence RD	Myers Park	4	2/1	1,952	$299,900	$303,750	101	3/31/2010	83
2	838820	1.5 Story / Basement	5	3212 Pinehurst PL	Myers Park	3	2/0	1,782	$365,000	$310,300	85	3/29/2010	369
3	917450	2 Story	5	254 Hillside AVE	Myers Park	3	1/0	1,598	$399,000	$400,000	100	3/31/2010	13
4	918050	Ranch	5	2109 Dartmouth PL	Myers Park	3	2/0	1,836	$524,000	$505,000	96	4/15/2010	60
5	855919	Ranch	5	2031 Hastings DR	Myers Park	3	2/0	2,600	$550,000	$548,000	100	4/16/2010	352
6	920025	Ranch	5	2615 Portland AVE	Myers Park	4	3/0	2,748	$695,000	$657,000	95	4/19/2010	38
7	912822	2 Story / Basement	5	213 Wales AVE	Myers Park	4	3/0	3,357	$799,000	$745,000	93	4/16/2010	13
8	854277	2.5 Story	5	1409 Devon DR	Myers Park	5	5/1	4,500	$899,000	$830,000	92	3/31/2010	291
9	752791	Ranch	5	2854 Sharon RD	Myers Park	4	2/1	3,349	$925,000	$870,000	94	4/15/2010	763
10	865977	2 Story	5	315 Ridgewood AVE	Myers Park	5	4/1	4,676	$1,269,000	$1,100,000	87	3/16/2010	266
Average						4		2,840	$672,490	$626,905	94		225
Number of Properties: 10

Sold by various members of the Carolina MLS.

Additionally, 13 homes have gone Under Contract so far in April, including 6 homes priced over $1 million (leaving 51 still on the market).  The contract prices of these homes will be available when they close.

	Comparative Market Analysis