As of February 1, 2012 there were 975 single family residential homes on the market in the Lakes Region communities covered in this report. The average asking price came in at $526,831 with a median price of $249,900. On February 1 of 2011 there were 940 homes available at an average of $545,417 and a median of $279,000. The current level of homes represents a 15 month supply which is the same as last February.

Home is all about the holidays and having friends and family over for parties and celebrations. We have Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and the 4th of July. We also have Super Bowl Sunday which, to many, is probably the biggest non-holiday house party of the year. I think Super Bowl Sunday should be changed to Super Bowl Monday, call it a holiday like it should be, and give people the day off. Production is way off on Monday anyway as hung over employees just pretend to be working. Of course, the game time would have to be changed to noon on Monday or people won’t work on Tuesday and we are right back where we started.

People have always gathered to celebrate big sporting events. I think it goes back to prehistoric times when the cavemen had a successful hunt. They all went into their caves to have a feast, drink fermented fruit juice, and draw pictures of the hunt on the walls. These were the first known flatscreens. Humanity progressed and in the Roman times spectators watched teams of gladiators dismember each other from skyboxes in the Coliseum in Rome. I’m sure there were just as many taverns around the stadiums back then as there are today. These establishments were for those who couldn’t afford the 87 Denarius Roman silver coins that it would cost to buy the equivalent of a $2,500 Super Bowl ticket. Many modern sport fans that don’t make it in person to the big game gather in sports bars (more…)

The successful sale of any home in today’s somewhat trying real estate market can be broken down into distinct components that are inexorably linked together; (1) marketing the property, (2) the available pool of willing buyers, and (3) price. Unfortunately, these three components often get blurred and home sellers get confused and discouraged when their home doesn’t sell. They always ask why are so few buyers looking, why has it been on the market so long, and why is no one at least making an offer? Any offer!

It is logical that if you have a property for sale and you market it correctly, at the correct price, that you will eventually get a buyer. That’s the way it always has worked. So what has changed? Well for one thing, there are a whole lot fewer buyers in the swimming pool today. That’s no secret. So what do you do to increase your odds of finding a buyer. The answer really lies with the proper marketing of the home and the price it is offered at.

Buyers don’t generally fall from the sky, although sometimes it appears to be that way. Some have called it divine intervention when one miraculously appears. In reality, buyers are found through the marketing of a home no matter how ineptly or professionally it is done. There was a time when you could put a handmade cardboard sign on your lawn and you could sell the place over the weekend. Those times are long gone and may never return. Ineptness doesn’t work very well anymore unless you put an unbelievably low price on a property. Selling a home today has gotten very competitive and complicated.

The problem is that most sellers don’t know, or understand, how homes are marketed to begin with, let alone which methods are effective. Understanding exactly what your agency is going to do for you and comparing their program to others is very important. It is impossible to assess whether a buyer exists for your home unless you know for sure that your property is being seen by EVERYONE THAT MIGHT BE LOOKING FOR A HOME. Not only that, it must be marketed correctly and in the most positive and professional way possible. Properties that are promoted with a few fuzzy pictures, poor lighting, and even poorer composition combined with vague or incomplete descriptions of the property itself won’t get you far. If your agent relies on local newspaper ads as his primary print advertising component you should plan on living in your home a long, long time. Today you need professional grade photography, full color promotional material, national internet exposure on as many realty sites as possible, social media exposure, color print ads, video, and more. Reports can be provided to home sellers showing the number of times buyers see their home on the internet. So if plenty of people are looking at a property on line but not calling to see it in person, what should the seller conclude? Sellers also need to be very conscious of feedback from agents and buyers that have seen their property.

That being said, if you feel confident that your property is being seen by EVERONE THAT MIGHT BE LOOKING FOR A HOME, and no buyer comes forth to even make an offer, you can probably safely conclude that your price is very likely too high for the current market. If so, it is time to bite the proverbial bullet, swallow your pride, and reduce the price of your home to where it will attract an offer. Generally speaking, there is a buyer for every home at the right price.

Here’s something to think about on pricing. Last year, out of the 773 homes that sold, 50 sold in a week or less. They sold at 97.5% of the original asking price and at an average of 85% of assessed value (based on those providing tax assessments in the MLS). The 61 homes that sold in 8 to 14 days were at 95% of the original asking price and at an average of 88% of assessed value. The 78 homes that sold in 15 to 31 days sold at 94% of the original asking price and 90% of assessed value. It is no surprise that many sales took a lot longer. There were 398 properties that were on the market over 90 days before finding a buyer. These properties sold at 90% of the original list price and at 91% of assessed value. So it appears the better the price, the quicker the sale. You might also argue that you can get more for a property if you list high and play the “let’s negotiate” game. There were also 1,062 properties that had their listings expire without selling in 2011—I wonder if they were all playing that game?

 It was a great end to the year with fifteen waterfront sales on Winnipesaukee in December at an average of $675,300. That compares to nine sales last December but at a much higher average price of $1,306,044. Only three of the fifteen sales last month were over the million dollar mark resulting in the low average sale price.

The least expensive sale in December was at 65 Cow Island  in Tuftonboro. This classic Lake Winnipesaukee summer camp has the desired knotty pine interior, wood floors, a first floor bedroom, two large bunk rooms upstairs, a wood stove, and the requisite screened porch where you can sit and tell lies all night. The camp sits on a .79 (more…)

The New Year always seems to start off with a big drop in inventory due to many listing agreements expiring at the end of the year. For the communities listed in this report, we went from 1168 single family homes on the market as of December 1 down to 943 listings as of January 1, 2012. This represents about a 14.5 month supply of homes for sale which would be a much more manageable and healthy inventory level if we could stay there but many of these listings will be renewed or re-listed with another agency and work their way back into the system. Last January 1st we similarly had 940 homes available and the inventory was back up to almost 1,300 homes for sale by June 1. The median price point of the (more…)

It is hard to believe but it is New Year’s Eve yet again. Where did the year go? It is time for celebrating and looking forward to a new and hopefully better year to come! Many folks feel that it can’t get much worse. Others feel we have turned the corner on what has been a difficult time emotionally and economically for many people in this country and around the world. New Year’s Eve is when predictions and resolutions are made in abundance, but predictions usually are not much more than guesses and resolutions generally lack the resolve of our forefathers. If anything, we should all resolve to be more resolute. That would really help.

Anyway, I looked back at my predictions from last year—and at the predictions a lot of people made that are way smarter than me. The National Association of REALTORS® predicted a 5 to 10% increase in home sales in 2011 because of a rebounding economy and job creation. I think they missed on the economy and jobs part. The NAR currently has revised home sales numbers over the past four years (more…)

There were 60 single family residential home sales in the towns covered by this report in November, 2011. That’s just off the 63 sales last November although the average price was down from $365,623 to just $263,025. There was only one sale over the million dollar mark last month compared to five in November 2010 which contributed to that significant drop in the average sales price. Sales under $200,000 continue to make up over 50% of the transactions while the $300-400,000 range is still struggling badly. Year to date, our total sales are off by just (more…)

November was not one of those banner months for waterfront sales in the Lakes Region. Winter is on the way you know, although some days it just doesn’t feel that way. There were just five transactions on Lake Winnipesaukee last month at an average $858,600. Last November the tally was double that amount at an (more…)

As of December 1, the residential home inventory was bulging like the sack of toys in the back of Santa’s sleigh! There were 1168 residences available at an average asking price of $498,326 in the communities covered by this report. That is up from the 1074 available last December at an average price of $548,594. The median price point is down from $279,900 last December to $259,450 this month indicating that there are more (more…)

As of November 1, 2011 there were 1277 residential homes on the market in the communities in this Lakes Region real estate market report. The average asking price came in at $516,128 with a median price point of $269,900. Last November there were 100 fewer homes on the market at an average asking price of $559,403 and a median of $284,450. Seems like all the trends are heading in the wrong direction including the weather. The current home inventory represents a 20.5 month supply of property to sell. That’s a lot of work, but maybe it will help keep us warm this winter…

Being a real estate agent means that buyers rely on you for all sorts of important information about (more…)

Last September residential home sales in the towns covered by this report were strong with 91 transactions at an average sales price of $263,411. Sales this September were weaker with only 68 sales at an average price of $213,838. Sixty three percent of the transactions were under the $200,000 mark and only ten percent were over $400,000. With three quarters of the year done we stand at 545 sales so far at an average price of $312,141. That compares to 583 sales at an average of $302,541 for the same period last year.

Real estate revolves around numbers. For example, numbers like the square footage, the size of the lot, number of bedrooms, number of baths, water frontage, road frontage, etc. There are statistical numbers such as days on market, price per foot, median price, and sales price. The sales price is obviously THE most important number to most folks. It represents the value of their home. But how does the sales price relate to the all important appraised value or assessed value?

The sales price of a home is probably the most accurate number we deal with. It is what it is. It’s what the buyer and the seller agree that the home is worth at that given time. Sometimes (well maybe most of the time) it isn’t easy getting to that number without a lot of arm wrestling, negotiations, and a little praying. Assuming that the deal is an arms-length transaction, the value of any home is set by the market place and the accepted deal. Obviously, the housing meltdown flooded the market with foreclosures and short sales and has had a pronounced negative effect on property values. There are $200,000 houses selling for $125,000 while other home owners are trying to sell similar $200,000 houses for the full amount. Nevertheless, recent sales are what are used to determine the value of other homes on the market during the appraisal process.

The appraised value of a home is a pretty critical number. If there is financing involved, the appraised value has to equal or be greater than the sales price or the lender is not going to loan money to purchase it . The lender, through a third party intermediary company, sends out an appraiser to determine the value of the home based on recent, previous sales of similar properties in the same general area. If you are buying your home for cash, then congratulations are in order. But, hopefully, you are still getting an appraisal to ensure what you are buying is worth what you are paying. Many deals today hinge upon the property appraising and it can be tough to find good comparable properties because there just aren’t that many sales in certain price ranges or areas. When a property does not appraise for the agreed upon price the buyer does not get his loan, so he doesn’t have to buy the home. If that happens, the seller needs to decide whether he wants to keep his property or sell it for less than the contract price. Obviously, this can be a point of further negotiation and some give and take between the two parties.

The assessed value of a home is what your town thinks your property is worth. Towns hire independent companies to appraise properties to determine their current values and compute the total property value for their town. They can then set the tax rate that will raise enough revenue to cover the town’s operating expenses. Whenever a town does a reevaluation of the properties in their community there are always home owners that feel their properties are assessed too high or too low. Tax assessments are also derived by looking at recent sales of properties in the community, but assessments may not be as accurate as a formal home appraisal. The towns’ tax assessors do not get to see the inside of many homes and the task of trying to fairly assess a whole town is certainly much more difficult than finding the value of a specific property.

Right now, we are seeing many properties selling below their assessed value because we are in a very difficult market. For the most part, if you buy a home below the tax assessed value you probably got a good deal, but many times you have to spend a lot of money to get the home back up to snuff. You have to carefully consider the condition of the home. Conversely, there are many homes that sell over the assessed value every month and with good reason. These homes generally are those that are of high quality, are in nicer condition, have had upgrades not reflective in the assessments, or have intrinsic value associated with views or waterfront properties. It could also be that the assessed value was not reflective of what is really there. Generally speaking, the homes that sold for over assessed value probably have at least one thing in common: they all appraised for the purchase price or higher.

Comparing the assessed value of a home that is for sale to its asking price is a good place to start your evaluation of the property but it should not be the end of it as there are a lot of other factors to consider. Think of the assessment as kind of a base line. Of the 62 sales in September where the current assessed value could be determined, 40 of the sales were under the assessed value but 22 sales were over it. That’s why you need a REALTOR® working with you to advise you based on his knowledge of the market place and values.

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