The market seems to be in a good stride right now.  There are approximately 5700 showings per week, market-wide, although last week was down a bit.  Inventory is stable and sales are picking up; I believe all of this is relevant to the foreclosure freeze and a depressed inventory numbers, as a result.  I stand with my prediction that prices will stop falling in late third quarter of this year and, overall, this year, will be a disappointing year for values.  That being said, the next 60 days is a wonderful window of opportunity to sell while inventory numbers are held-back and buyer numbers/demand is improving.

8622 Active listings
2011 Pending sales
Just under 600 sales closed in the month of February.

At this time it appears that the inventory numbers are stable and the pending sales index is slightly climbing.  Actual closings are still lagging behind with fewer than 600 in February; Although, this number is slightly above the sales number of 2010.  Based on current trends, pricing is still under a tremendous amount of pressure, but the actual fundamentals of the housing market are starting to recover.  As those trends continue over the next 12-18 months, we'll experience a full price stabilization (which will likely begin to be noticed by year's end). 

April through June will likely b...

The most recent market numbers are as follows:

8621, Active listings, increasing.
1963, pending sales (number has been on the rise since January 1)
437 CLOSED sales in February thus far (565 closed this time last year and we'll hit about that number once all sales are entered for this Feb)

The Case-Schiller report from December reported that home sales have in fact declined both year over year and month over month as of December 31, 2010.  This reporting adds credibility to the arguments made by this Blog for the past 12 months.  If an Agent tells you that our market is improving ask "what does that really mean?  Are you saying prices are going up, stabilizing, or does that simply mean ...

Market Update:

8584 total active residential listings.
1839 pending transactions marketwide.
137 closings thus far in February.

The recent release of White House "White Papers" outlining reform for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are not helpful to the real estate recovery in the short-term but may be partly necessary to insure this sort of Real Estate market crash doesn't happen again at such a grand scale.  The current government involvement in the backing of loans is more than 85%.  This means that without the US Government, there is virtually no mortgage market.  The plans being unveiled in Washington infer that they will gradually reduce the size of Fannie and Freddie (and government ...

The latest MLS Stats are as follows:

8550 Active Listings
1787 Pending Transactions
485 closings in the month of January

The growing inventory and growing pending index number shows a general "new" supply and "current" demand balance, but volatility remains moderately high.  In looking at the January sales number, it was not very exciting.  This is a continued sign that we have a fairly long road ahead still ahead of us (for recovery).  The one bit of good news is that we are 9% higher in sales in January of 2011 than in 2009.  (Using the 2010 number, would be a false indicator, given that we had a government tax credit in place).  This means that demand, while light, is picking up (...

Here are the MLS numbers for this week. 

6117 Homes for Sale
8520 total properties listed in MLS (not counting land).
348 closed so far in January.
1718 Pending Properties in MLS.

We are continuing to find that buyers are gravitating more toward resale properties and have had good success (in the absence of the usual bulk of Foreclosures being listed) of selling non-short-sales.  We still have much more work to do for our sellers who have not obtained a contract; the market remains very challenging.

My Team is getting nearly 100% of our short-sales approved and about 70% of our seller's fully released at closing.  These odds are way beyond average in this market.  We're spending a lot ...

There are presently 8334 listings for sale in the residential MLS of Charleston.  There are 1596 properties in pending status.  This number declined tremendously at year end, but seems to be growing very slightly at this point.  The final sales number for December was 661, which was a rather impressive number for The Holidays.

Thus far, January has started off very strongly with active showing activity in most price ranges.  We are also seeing people put properties at all prices under contract.  Demand is still low, but due to the foreclosure freeze of October and November, so is inventory.  Now, is perhaps the best point in time to sell a home in the past three years, given this...

This year has been great for some but tough for most. I am fortunate to have been able to guide many of my clients to a profitable purchase or timely sale and set them up for success in Real Estate as our market begins to recover.  Thank you to all of you that afforded me the opportunity to be your Realtor.
 
Many have asked for my prediction of next year's market so that they may begin to map out future decisions based on today's housing facts. Please note that this is VERY difficult to do accurately, requires an understanding of today's numbers and knowledge of the outcomes of prior historical events. One of the biggest obstacles in creating a meaningful forecast such as this is the lack...

The latest statistics show a reasonably stable market trend given the Holidays, although inventory is no longer falling. 

605 homes sold in November.  (final number)  This is a bit low considering November 2009 we closed 867 homes. 
1760 are pending (under contract)
8817 are currently for sale. 

CNBC recently reported on Bank of America and it's level of Foreclosure activity, which I thought I would share.  Given the fact that one is seven mortgages in America is serviced by B of A, and they are reporting that 1.2 million of their 14 million loans are presently delinquent, I was alarmed.  If you extrapolate those factors based on "market averages/assumptions" that would estimate that ...

We've seen a slowdown in showings and new sales as expected for the Holidays.  Here are the latest market-wide MLS numbers:

8848 Active Properties in MLS.
1799 Pending Properties in MLS.
594 properties closed in November (estimate this number will end at 615 when all data is in)

The latest data from the National Home Reports shows that prices fell in September and October, but new contracts (Pending Index) picked up in October.  This Pending Index, however, has fallen in November, and we believe the same will occur in December.

Sales will remain stable throughout 2010, between 600 units and 800 units on average.  Inventory will climb by 10-12% between January and March. 

By the Fourth ...

8927 Active Listings on MLS
1844  Pending Transactions (a few drop outs have occurred - but nothing alarming)
8672 - sold year to date (meaning our active inventory represents just shy of 11 months - 5 months from a normal number - still way to high)
436 - sold month to date in November 2010. 

We are seeing an expected overall slowdown in showings, however our inquiries are picking up; I always feel that January is "on-track" when this condition occurs.  I believe our best shot to sell is in January, although we've sold several houses and have several in negotiation now.  People are buying.  In general, the Holidays is a time for a minor price correction, however, I would recommend a...

In the past 12 months I've shown nearly 800 homes for sale to prospective Buyers.  That's 67 homes a month, 17 homes a week, 2-3 homes a day.  Just when I think I've "seen it all" I get surprised by something like I did last week - Black Shag Carpet in the Master Bathroom ... even surrounding the Bathtub!  The purpose of this particular Blog this week is to help Sellers gain an understanding of what to do and what not to do when putting your home up for sale.

When my Team is hired by Banks to sell their Foreclosure properties they give us money to fix them up before we put them on the market.  Did you know that?  Not only are Foreclosures priced extremely well they are actually spending ...

There are 9001 properties for sale in the MLS.  This number continues to improve given the seasonal aspect we see each year in the last two months.  The pending number of sales remains positive, staying in the 1850-1870 range.  The number rose by 20 units since my last reporting which gives me optimism that we have some underlying strength even if conditions remain tough.  Below are the number of properties pending in each price range. 

1090 Properties under contract below $200,000
599 Properties between $200,000-$500,000
96 Properties between $500,000-$750,000
89 Properties over $750,000

2 in 10 deals are investors paying cash.  1 in 10 deals are home buyers paying cash.  5 in 10 de...

Seller Monday Market Update:

MLS data as of today: 
9067 active listings
1858 pending transactions
646 closings

The above numbers represent a stable scenario.  Inventory on a slight seasonal reduction, pending index fluctuating between 18-1900 for nearly two months now and closings holding steady in the mid-600's. 

With this inventory scenario and the lack of government intervention, prices are doing one clear thing:  falling. 

We've got another 5% down to go in real terms.  And, we'll see a huge release of foreclosures in the first 60 days of 2011, which will bring our inventory numbers to slightly higher than where they are now (after a continued decline for the season).

We'll be in...

Here are the current numbers for the Charleston, SC Real Estate Market:

Listings For Sale:  9,119
Listings Pending Sale:  1,824
Closings:  615 (Unofficial Numbers for October)

Now is the time of year when sales start to slow down, which directly correlates to the reduction in inventory we will see over the next 60 days.  Many believe that Spring is a "better" time to sell their home because that's when more people are looking.  I challenge that belief; December has always been my best month in sales. 

Maybe it's because there are less Realtors working, which makes it easier for me to gain market share an sell more homes.  I think it has more to do with the mentality of Buyers and Sellers...

FORECLOSURE UPDATE

10/20/2010
REOMAC CONFERENCE
HOLLYWOOD, FLORIDA
SESSION REPORT, by Bryan Crabtree

Moderator:  
Rob Galbraith, Esq. Of Davidson Fink

Panelists:
Steve Benetz, NRT REOExperts LLC    
Tom Federman, Esq. Federman and Associates
    Rick Sharga, Realty Track
    


“The foreclosure industry is in a state of turmoil,” according to Rob Galbraith, speaking as Moderator in the Foreclosure Update Session at REOMAC, Hollywood, on October 22, 2010.  He added that there are basically four types of legislative and political events currently contributing to this reassessment of the foreclosure process.  These include new legislative interpretations of new and old statutes (on the assignment of mor...

This past week our Team attended the REOMAC conference in Florida.  These conferences are attended twice per year as they provide the most up-to-date analysis of the economics and statistics in the housing market.  For the staggering foreclosure numbers, Nationwide, please see the separate article posted "Foreclosure Update for Charleston, SC." 

Not included in the article (due to the local nature) is a private conversation with Rick Sharga, the VP of Realty Trac.  When asked "what are you seeing in Coastal South Carolina, specifically Charleston?"  his response was "you guys are really hitting the radar on foreclosures.  A few months back you were off the radar, now you're in the...

As you may or may not know but can probably guess:  Charleston is a GREAT place to live! 

This week the "numbers" remain flat with no real news to report.  9348 Active listings in the MLS and 1840 Properties Pending sale.  Both of these numbers are flat and the norm for this time of year.  Frankly, trying to "analyze" these numbers and "project" the potential outcome of housing is incredibly difficult.  Why?  Because there is no rhyme or reason to the numbers we're seeing (up, down, sideways).

I received an email today that I believe adds incredible insight into our current market:

I began pondering what the future would bring last night and decided to take a World History Lesson.  For this, I looked at Japan in 1989.   Japan was the second largest economy in the world th...

MAKING AN OFFER

When I work with Buyers and Investors my objective is essentially the same.  I want to be able to send a Seller the lowest possible offer that will get them to think things over and respond.  Resisting the urge to send in a low ball offer is a hard thing to do (we've all done it at some point).  Having said that, just as some Sellers may think your offer is unreasonable there are just as many Sellers out there asking an unreasonable price.  Here are a few tips for coming up with a good offer:

1) Do your Research

In order to effectively negotiate you need to know what the property is actually worth.  Ask your Agent to do a detailed analysis of the homes that have SOLD in...