Dunedin Homes and Condos : dunedin condos, dunedin real estate

Which Dunedin Homes or Condos Do Buyers Most Want?

Ron Nedd — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 20:40:00 GMT

In this month's newsletter, after reviewing the market conditions and statistics, I thought I'd list the top 3 items that make a property one that has a good chance to sell quickly and for a good price. I'll also let you know about a new feature on one of my sites that I think you'll really like. Market conditions in July did not change much - sales were very strong and inventory falls again. Sales in July were about 16% higher than last July, over 60% higher than July 2010, was the highest July in the last 6 years and makes the 7th straight month in 2012 with sales higher than the same month in the previous 5 years. When you see the chart below you'll see what I mean. (You can see the chart full sized by clicking it.)

Information for chart above was taken from PRO/Suncoast MLS from Jan 2007 thru May 2011 & from the MFRMLS for May 2011 thru July 2012. The inventory level dropped to a new low - as of 8/1/12 there were only 5886 residential properties (condos, townhouses and single family homes) listed for Pinellas County in our MLS. To give you some perspective on this, last August 1st the total was 8474 and on January 1st 2011 the total was 11087. So we are down nearly 50% from last January and over 30% from exactly 1 year ago at this time. Because of this and the continued strong sales, we are still hovering at just a hair over 4 months inventory.

Information for chart above was taken from PRO/Suncoast MLS from Jan 2007 thru May 2011 & from the MFRMLS for May 2011 thru July 2012. If you enjoy seeing these types of statistics charts, you should make sure to check out a post I did earlier this month with a link to a whole bunch of statistics graphs that really show you all the statistics for the real estate market in Florida which will give you an even better understanding of market conditions in the state. Now I'd like to describe those items that are most important in making a home or condo really sellable. This is valuable information for sellers but it is also good for buyers to know because this will let you know if a home or condo you have interest in will be more likely to sell quickly and what kind of negotiating room you might have.

Location

This is considered the prime factor in real estate. A less expensive home in a higher end neighborhood is a better buy than the nicest home in a lower end neighborhood because its value it brought up by the surrounding properties whereas the biggest, nicest home in the community tends to have its value brought down by the surrounding properties. For sellers, there isn't much you can do about this but for buyers this is an important factor to consider as it will affect you in the future when you will be selling the property. For buyers, if you do have a good or unique location, this will give you an advantage and will also help you get a higher price. For example, I recently worked with a client who was looking at condos on Sand Key. In some complexes where only a small number of the condos are directly on the beach, those condos are considered a prime location and we found that they did not come up for sale very often. The one we put an offer in on not only had our offer but another one just before us and this was after the property had only been on the market for 2 days. This would be considered a unique location because in the buildings in this complex only 1 out of 6 condos on each floor has this location and there are very few of these that have been available in the last 5-6 years.

Condition

The condition of the home or condo will determine how quickly it sells and how close the sale price is to the list price (but only if the price is not too far above market value). After working with hundreds of buyers I can say without any hesitation that homes or condos that show really well and are priced reasonably are the fastest selling properties. This includes not only updated interiors and well-kept grounds, but well-maintained properties. A home or condo that has granite countertops and hardwood floors but at the same time has obviously been neglected in other ways (wood rot on the outside, dirt on the ceilings near the A/C grates from old filters, very old roofs or air conditioning systems, etc.) will have a harder time selling because buyers are less likely to buy a home that shows these signs of neglect are a sign that there may be more problems that you don't see. I can tell you that a home without as many upgrades but that is immaculately maintained will get a lot of interest. Sellers often don't know what they should and shouldn't do to get their home or condo ready for sale and I usually help my clients with a list of the best, lowest-cost items to work on to get their house in the best condition to sell. I even wrote a post that links to an article about getting your home or condo ready to sell.

Price

I left this one for last because, even though it is very important, it is not the only item that affect a properties ability to sell quickly and for a good price. Buyers want to pay the lowest possible price and sellers want to get the highest possible price. But the optimum price is the one that results in a deal that successfully closes with both the buyer and seller happy with the price. With inventory being so low, sellers are getting better prices which are closer to the listing price and buyers are willing to pay more although they still do not want to pay more than market value in most cases and still want to feel that they got their property for a good price. As a buyer, when looking at the price you will need to know what the market value of the property is and should keep in mind that if a property is in a good location and is in very good condition and is priced close to market value - it will likely sell quickly and at close to its list price. If you don't recognize this and take too long haggling over price, you may find yourself competing with other buyers and may end up paying more or losing the property to the other buyer. As a seller, you need to know what a realistic sale price is for your property and not get too greedy or you may find your home or condo languishing on the market for many months. I saw this firsthand in the last several months with my client who was looking to buy a Clearwater Beach condo. We were negotiating on 3 condos (not at the same time of course) where the seller was dragging things out trying to get a better price and during that time my client realized that 2 of these condos were less than what he wanted as far as condition and/or location was concerned. In one of these cases the seller had their agent come back to us after we moved on to say they would now accept our initial offer price - that condo is still on the market a month later. In fact all 3 of these condos are still on the market. All the condos we had seen that my client showed interest in but were priced too high or had sellers that were trying to get more than their condo really was worth are still on the market. The one condo that I mentioned above that was directly on the beach and went under contract in 3 days - the seller came down more in price than all the other ones which are still sitting unsold. That seller and their agent recognized the value of their unique location but also were reasonable in their negotiations and so that condo sold very quickly and at a good price. In the current market it is even more important that you have a good Realtor to work with as either a seller or buyer to make sure you find out what a property is worth and how its pricing will affect how quickly it will sell.

New Tool

I've put a new tool on the Clearwater Beach Condo Complexes page of my Clearwater Beach Condos for Sale site that I think you'll like. This tool will let you see businesses (grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations, hospitals etc.) and schools within a 5-7 mile radius of Clearwater Beach plus useful information on the schools and businesses:

Here is a sample of the type of information you get to see on local businesses.

If you like this feature and would like to see it on the pages for other cities and communities, please let me know .

Have a great summer, stay cool and enjoy yourself, and let me know how I can help you as either a buyer or seller in this interesting market.

Sincerely,
Ron

Some Good News to Outweight the Bad?

Ron Nedd — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 21:09:00 GMT

This month I'm going to try to do something that might not be easy - counter the overwhelming amount of bad news lately that has been being thrown at us every day.

It may only be good news about Florida real estate but heck at least it's some good news.

But first, last month's sales statistics.

July is generally a down month for sales compared to earlier months although in 2009 we saw pretty strong sales due to the tax credit.

This year, as was seen during all of the last 4 years, sales in July were down from June. However, when comparing this July to the last 4 Julys, we were higher than all those years including 2009 when the tax credit boost helped drive sales up. This is now the 7th straight month where sales were higher than the same month in all of the last 4 years and the 8th straight month with sales higher than the same month in the last 3 years. Once again, the recovery trend in our local market is continuing and defying all the negative predictions. See the graph below:

(Based on information from: 1) PRO/Suncoast MLS for the period of Jan 2007 to May 2011 and from 2) MFRMLS for the period May 2011 thru the end of July 2011)

So let me quickly get into the good news and also tell you about some bad news that isn't as bad as it sounds so we can get into the gift card info.

The good news is that there is now more information coming out supporting what I've been saying about the recovery in Florida real estate. At the end of July I got a daily news email from our state Realtor organization with an article describing a report from the Federal Reserve about real estate in the southeastern United States where they said "...Florida was bucking the trend and reporting positive news."

Here's the link to that article (and don't forget to come back and finish this newsletter if you go to read it):

Florida real estate gets high marks in Fed's laest economic review

Now for the bad news that isn't quite as bad as it is being made out to be (for the most part).

This past month there were stories on the news about the state-run insurer, Citizen's, requesting a very large increase in the sinkhole coverage portion of homeowner's insurance. Figures like 400% and 2000% were brought up in these stories and I'm sure a lot of people were concerned. The areas that will feel the most significant impact from this are in Pasco County (Holiday, New Port Richey and such areas) as there have been a lot of sinkhole claims up there and the rates were already high and will be going higher. It couldn't have anything to do with all the billboards of attorneys promoting sinkhole claim services though....

Since most of the buyers I work with buy in Pinellas County I decided to see what this would really mean to homeowners in Pinellas County and was able to find a chart from Citizen's showing, county by county, what the proposed increase was and what the current average sinkhole premium is and what it would be if the proposed increase was approved.

For Pinellas County the chart lists 3 areas: Coastal, St. Petersburg and Rest Excluding St. Petersburg. The proposed percentage increases for these 3 were 2045.6% for Coastal, 163.8% for St. Petersburg and 5.2% for the rest of the county.

As shocking as the Coastal increase might seem, the current average sinkhole premium in that area is listed at $3 and would increase to $72 under this proposed rate hike. Now that's still an increase and not a welcome one, but it isn't as horrible sounding when you know the actual amounts as compared to just hearing a "2000% increase".

It's always good to get all the information before assuming the worst.

Hope the rest of your summer is great and that I get to see you before the first snow flies!

Sincerely,

Ron

Harder to Get Good Deals?

Ron Nedd — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 20:49:00 GMT

It's time to take a look and how the current real estate market got into its current condition and where things may be headed from here.

Each month I go over the last month's sales statistics and look at what that tells me about our local market. This month, in addition to that, I'm going to go over what is happening with our inventory levels and what that has to do with the condition of the current real estate market here.

I'm also going to ask you about whether I should include a new feature on this site and need your feedback.

But I'm going to start with the June sales numbers....

Each month so far this year it appeared, in the beginning of the month that we were starting to seeing a slowing of the positive trend that has been going on the last few years and by the end of the month the sales were way up. I really thought that June would show a slowing of sales as it is pretty typical that the Spring months are strong and then sales weaken during the summer. So June was another surprise.

The sales last month were not only slightly up from May and higher than the month of June for the past 4 years, June's sales were actually the 3rd highest month from January 2007 forward. When you look at the chart below you'll be able to see that the turning point began in December 2008 and other than the 5 months following the end of the tax credit last year, every month starting with December 2008 has at least been above the same month in the previous year with the last 6 months being higher than the same month in the previous 4 years.

As I've been saying, this is a trend that shows a recovery in our local real estate market and demonstrates strength. This doesn't mean that everything is all better now or that there can't be some problems in the future. But it does mean that there is an underlying strength in the recovery in our local market House prices appear to have stabilized and condo prices look like they may have reached the bottom too.

Here's the sale chart for last month:

Now I'm going to take this a step further. There is another statistic that is used to look at the stability of a real estate market which I mentioned quite a while ago but haven't really covered since. It has to do with the existing inventory of homes for sale.

In the boom market that peaked in 2005, there were so few listings and so many buyers that sales and price statistics went nearly straight up for a while. A measurement of the condition of the real estate market can be done by taking the total number of properites for sale in a specific area at a given time and dividing that by the number of sales in that area during the same time period.

For example, if there were 10,000 properties for sale in a specific county at the beginning of July and during the month of June there had been 1000 property sales in that same county you would divide 10,000 by 1000 and get a figure of 10 - which is the # of months of inventory in that market.

During the peak of the market here the # of months of inventory was around 2, at the worst point it was about 32. A normal market is somewhere in the 5-7 months range.

Over the last few year I've been watching the inventory levels slowly descending on a steady basis and so I thought it might be a good time to look at the trend and I found something quite interesting when I put together a chart. The inventory levels are starting to flirt with the 'normal' range again. See for yourself:

There are also some repeating trends on this chart you should notice. The highest month each year is January (which is typically the lowest sales month); the graph trends downward from January thru about April each year then trends upward the rest of the year (except for 2009) and there is typically a steep drop in December. These tend to follow the buying trends - January the weakest month; improved sales throughout Spring; slower sales during the summer; strong sales in December.

If this year follows the typical trends we should see the the light blue line start trending upward and probably hovering around 10 during most of the rest of the year.

Now what does this mean and why did I call this newsletter "Are the House and Condo Deals Disappearing"?

With the inventory reaching more normal levels and the sales remaining strong we have a situation where demand has been increasing and supply has been decreasing. I wrote about this in a few of my previous newsletters where I described situations where buyers were losing out on deals because of competition from other buyers. In addition I've noticed that the low price range properties that were available at the end of last year aren't around anymore or are only rarely seen.

A lot of buyers and investors recognized what was going on in this local market and acted quickly to get in on the action and that resulted in increased sales and a reduction of inventory, especially the really well-priced properties. Another factor that increased the demand was a brutal winter season. I regularly hear from buyers in the northern states that they have decided they have had enough cold weather and are now ready to buy their winter home or retirement home in Florida, especially since the prices are so much better.

So what does this mean to you? It means that you need to know that sellers won't always be as easy to negotiate down in price, there will be less of the truly exceptional deals available and you will need to be fully prepared and act quickly when you find one, and that you shouldn't procrastinate if you're ready to buy but think maybe you should watch what happens just a little longer.

How this market will proceed in the future will depend on what happens with both the national and state economies and employment rates but even so I think that even if it doesn't continue to grow it will remain fairly stable.

Now there's one last thing I wanted to cover and I'd like your help on this. I've been working on putting together a report that will show all the foreclosures listed in the northern half of Pinellas County and the beach communities and have a way to publish this on my site with a daily update. I've got this report set up where it will show what is available broken down by type of property and by city and community, and I have been able to program it where you can search by price range, square footage, number of bedrooms or bathrooms, etc. and even will show you how long it has been on the market. But then I wondered if anyone would really use this tool or have any interest in it.

So I'd like your feedback on this to see if there actually is a demand for this information. Please either leave a comment below to let me know if you have any interest (or not) or send me an email to let me know. If I see that there is enough interest I will finish my work on this project and then let you know when it is ready.

Make sure you do something you enjoy this summer and I hope to see you here soon.

Sincerely,
Ron

Finding the Great Home and Condo Deals

Ron Nedd — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 01:44:00 GMT

This month, after reviewing the sales statistics for last month, I’ll be answering the question above for you.

Last month’s sale were down about 10% from September and 20% from last October. The drop from last year is understandable since it was getting close to the end of the period for the initial tax credit. I don’t know why there was a drop from September to October but one possibility is the problems with the foreclosure paperwork from banks which put a temporary halt to many foreclosure sales.

The trend that I discussed the last several months though has continued. Even with October’s sales being down, there were from 8-15% above where they were in 2007 and 2008 which was prior to the tax credit going into effect. This still appears to show that there has been a continuing, gradual recovery in the market since December 2008 and we’ll keep watching the statistics to see if this trend continues. Take a look for yourself at the chart below:

Now let’s talk about the exceptional deals. To answer the question at the beginning – yes they are still out there and after discussing the different types I’ll share some examples of ones I’ve found recently.

I’d say they fall into 3 categories: foreclosures, short sales and regular sales.

The foreclosures have always had the lowest prices but have often been in the roughest condition. It’s always risky because the bank isn’t going to be disclosing any problems with the property, in most cases, and some can be a real mess. If you are a contractor or can get remodeling work done inexpensively, then they may be something to consider even if they are in rough shape. But unless you find one that is in pretty good condition except for some cosmetic work, you should be very cautious.

The other problem with foreclosures is the recent brouhaha about the faulty paperwork. This seems to be starting to straighten out but I still would advise you to consult with an attorney to make sure that you are not getting yourself into something that will be a problem down the road.

Short sales can either be great or horrible. The key is knowing which it is before you get too far.

The horrible ones are the ones that take 6 months or more to hear back from the bank and then they either reject the short sale or reject your offer and want an unrealistic price; or you wait for months only to find out they accepted another offer.

The great ones are the ones where you’re getting a great value and the process moves quickly. Typically these are ones where the bank has already done a lot of the short sale process on a previous offer or, even better, where the bank very recently approved the short sale and the price but the buyer hadn’t waited and the property has just come back on the market.

Sometimes you can tell this from the information in the description but that is not always the case. Sometimes I can see information in the field with information just for realtors and sometimes I can look up the history for that property and tell from that, so if there isn’t anything in the description then you can always ask me to see if there is other information elsewhere.

The least complicated of the three types is the regular sale. I call it regular sale even though there may be some unusual circumstances, like being an estate sale or a relocation, but basically this just means that it is not a foreclosure or a short sale requiring bank approval.

I’ve had many clients get very good deals because of some circumstances that motivate the sellers to want to sell quickly, making them more negotiable on pricing. Just this month I came across a house for sale in a very nice golf community in Dunedin with a view of the golf course out the back. The house needs a lot of updating but the location is very good and it appears to be an estate-type sale. The listing agent has told me twice that the current owner wants to sell this quickly and there is no outstanding loans so I know about how much they want and based on what houses in that neighborhood sell for this is a very good deal for someone who is willing to do the updating needed.

I also came across a newer, 3 bedroom 3 bathroom townhouse for sale in Tarpon Springs that is in good condition and is a bank-owned sale at $100,000.

I also found a townhouse in good condition in Dunedin with a boat slip for under $180,000.

Then there’s the 1 bedroom 1 bathroom condo on Clearwater Beach just 2 blocks from the beach that is listed at $99,900.

These will just give you an idea of some of the exceptional deals I’ve noticed recently and posted on my blog. You can see these and any others I’ve found by going to my blog or going to the ‘deals’ section of the blog on my Clearwater site. I’ve also set it up so you can get email notifications any time I add any new deals and if you want to know how to do that let me know.

I hope that those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving will have a nice holiday later this month and I look forward to seeing you when you’re ready to start looking.

Sincerely,

Ron (727-687-1160)

Sales in September Keep Up

Ron Nedd — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 01:38:00 GMT

This month's newsletter is going to be fun.

I'll be going over last month's local sales statistics but I'll also be announcing the winners of the gift card contest and letting you know about something exciting that is now available for you that will let your cell phone help you when you are out looking for a house, condo or townhouse or when you see one you want more information on.

Last month I reported on the surprise increase in sales in August after they dropped in July (following the end of the tax credit). If you pay attention to the news then all you probably heard was how much sales were down from last year after the tax credit ended and that this showed that the market wasn't recovering and that the world was coming to an end (okay, they didn't say that last part but that's sort of implied in most news stories).

What is left out of these stories is that the sales numbers from last year at this time were falsely inflated due to the tax credit so you can't really compare this year's numbers after the tax credit to last year's number during the tax credit and say that the decrease means something significant.

So what do the statistics show that happened in September? Sales were actually up from August slightly but there is a definite drop from last September. Keep in mind though that the tax credit was originally going to end last year at the end of November before it got extended so that extra but false boost is included there.

What is interesting though is that this September is well above September 2008 and 2007. This is the trend I'm paying attention to. Taking out the months with the falsely inflated statistics and look and the same month in previous years. When you look at this, you can see that there is still a local market recovery going on. Check out the chart below to see for yourself.

Check back next month to see if this trend continues.

Next I want to congratulate the winners of the gift cards contest. If you missed the last 2 newsletters you're probably wondering what I'm talking about.

I had a contest during the months of August and September where anyone who posted a comment to any of my blog posts on my Dunedin Homes for Sale and Dunedin Real Estate blog (on the homepage below the MLS search section) or on my new Clearwater Homes Clearwater Condos blog would be entered for a chance to win a $50 gift card. I also had a contest for a $50 gift card for anyone who posted on my Facebook page and another contest for a $25 gift card for anyone who sent me a suggestion for a blog post.

And the winners were John from New Jersey for his blog post suggestion, Claudia from Massachusetts for her blog comment and Liz from Florida for her Facebook post. Congratulations, thank you and enjoy your gift cards!

For those of you who didn't win, I will be randomly choosing someone each month for a gift card from anyone who posts a comment on either blog or either of my Facebook pages with some additional contests coming in the future. So visit soon and comment away.

Finally I want to tell you about something very exciting that is now ready for you. I have been doing a lot of studying lately about various tools and technology that are available or becoming available that can help people who are in the process of looking for a house, condo or townhouse to buy. From the research I have done I found one that I feel will be very useful to anyone who lives here or visits this area and is looking for something to buy, either now or in the future.

It is an app (application) for cell phones that lets you see the available properties for sale in the area you are in or lets you enter an address of a property you drive by, and then you can pull up the listing information on your cell phone right then. This will work on smartphones like the iPhone, Android phones, Palm Pre or Pixi and other smartphones but should also work on other phones as long as they have Internet access and texting capabilities.

You can now download the app on your phone by clicking the link at the top of right side of this page and following the instructions on the page it takes you to. There is also a link on that page to a video that demonstrates how it works on a more basic phone (and it works even better on a smartphone) I've already tested it on my phone and I have to say that it is pretty slick and I think you will really like it when you see it. After you get a chance to download it and use it for a while, let me know what you think about it by leaving a comment on the download page.

Whenever there is something new like this that happens I'll post it on my blog so you may want to consider subscribing to my Blog Feed that will send you an email with any updates.

I hope you have a nice Fall - the weather here has been perfect lately - and I look forward to seeing you when you are in my area.

Sincerely,

Ron (727-687-1160)