June 1, 2019
Wow! If you weren’t in Terravita this month you should have been. We had one of the best months for weather in memory. Contrasted to that, the Terravita real estate market was fairly average with 8 homes going under contract. I should mention though that this is a good number of sales when you consider the low inventory, and the days on market came down significantly.
The low inventory continues to be the standout data point though, with just 15 active listings for sale. With the heat coming soon we shouldn’t expect to see much of an increase until October. Speaking of the heat ….
It Is Pool Time!
It is pool time everywhere, and below is an article that was too well done and too important not to share. If you haven’t seen it I really think it is worth everyone’s time to read and maybe share. Please give it a look:
Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning
Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning
Here are the May 2019 Terravita Real Estate Market Statistics*:
*Please note this report is created as of the first of the month and is prone to changes.
**The term “Contracts Accepted” means that there was a new contracted accepted on this home this month. This is to say that this listing has moved from an “Active” status in the MLS to a “Sold” status and begun the escrow process and is heading toward “closing”.
*All information is provided by the Arizona Regional MLS and is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed.
May 1, 2019
Don’t you love when the Palo Verde’s Bloom?
OK! Terravita had a very good April sales month with 18 contracts accepted. That is a strong sales month at any time, but this year it seems particularly important.
It would appear the buyers that have been waiting for something more “HGTV” looking, are accepting that the inventory is what it is going to be . Many of the sales came in the second half of the month, and that would seem to portend well for May sales too.
As is the case these days there was a higher cancelation rate than we generally see. This is a fairly recent but naggingly persistent trend. Overall we are still in a seller’s market, but buyers seem to be pushing back a bit. One of the ways this resistance manifests itself comes in the form of copious inspection requests. When sellers oppose what they feel are either petty requests or renegotiations in the inspection phase, we get higher cancelation rates. And that isn’t good for anyone.
Inventory Is Still Down
As I alluded to above, a large part of the buyer’s frustration is the limited inventory we are experiencing. There are just are not enough homes on the market to choose from. We know this because we are working with a lot of buyers and we hear it. A lot. But we also know it on the seller side. We had two cases recently where the transaction was completely canceled, only to have the buyers come back again to rebuy our sellers home! I have to imagine that those buyers tried hard not to have to come back to us and accept our seller’s terms. If there was anything else available I would think they would have purchased it.
In the end – of course – it is really all about price. With low supply and good demand, prices have done well. But I just found a somewhat surprising chart on Scottsdale pricing that I thought you might enjoy. To see it please scroll down below. BUT FIRST . . .
Check Out Connecting Scottsdale North!
In case you missed our email this week announcing the New Connecting Scottsdale North Group, please click here: Connecting Scottsdale North
Scottsdale Prices are Up, sort of
The Median Sales Price in Scottsdale was $590,000 in the first quarter this year, up 7.5% compared with the same quarter last year, and 26% over the last 4 years.
That being said, Q1 2019 is the only 1st quarter in the chart where prices aren’t higher than the previous quarter; the median sales price was flat from Q4 ‘18 to Q1 ‘19. Compare that to Q1 in 2016, 2017, and 2018, which were all higher than the preceding Q4.
We won’t know for a few months whether this cycle of price appreciation is slowing down, or if this is just a blip in the pattern.
Here are the April 2019 Terravita Real Estate Market Statistics*:
*Please note this report is created as of the first of the month and is prone to changes.
**The term “Contracts Accepted” means that there was a new contracted accepted on this home this month. This is to say that this listing has moved from an “Active” status in the MLS to a “Sold” status and begun the escrow process and is heading toward “closing”.
*All information is provided by the Arizona Regional MLS and is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed.
April 1, 2019
Chronically low inventory continues to hinder the Terravita Real Estate Market. We just do not have enough supply to meet the demand. This time of year homes that are priced and marketed properly sell quickly.There are 25 homes in the inventory with an average of 130 days on market. That longer days on market signals that the demand is not finding the homes it needs are the price it likes. While there were 13 Terravita contracts accepted in March, that is still slightly below the average for the month, and the quarter sales number are well behind. If you have any interest in selling we have a lot of buyers in waiting! Really! Speaking of selling . . .
Earlier this year I wrote to you guys about my favorite seller story for 2018. I described how we helped a seller who’s home had endured 1,953 days on the market of unsuccessful selling, and sold it for him quickly. (If you missed the first story click here: Seller Story 2018)Well It happened again! Now we have a story for 2019! But this time with a twist.
Scott’s Favorite Seller Story So Far In 2019
In my last story the seller called me because I had sold his neighbors home for full price very quickly. This time a real estate agent called! He asked if I would take over a listing he had been unable to sell and pay him a referral fee. This home has had sat unsold for 1,192 total days on the market! That is over 3 years worth of days on the MLS, and believe me it is much harder to sell a home that has stagnated on the market. But we love helping sellers, so we accepted the challenge.
Our team went in and completely revamped the marketing, relisted the home for $10,000 higher than it was listed previously, and we got the seller an offer the very first day. That offer is now in escrow waiting to close so that seller can move on with his life. (I found out later that the seller asked the agent to call me, so I have left the names out of the story to avoid any embarrassment) But here is our seller telling his side of the story:
Here are the March 2019 Terravita Real Estate Market Statistics*:
*Please note this report is created as of the first of the month and is prone to changes.
**The term “Contracts Accepted” means that there was a new contracted accepted on this home this month. This is to say that this listing has moved from an “Active” status in the MLS to a “Sold” status and begun the escrow process and is heading toward “closing”.
*All information is provided by the Arizona Regional MLS and is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed.
March 1, 2019
It is funny how things change:
Last month at this time in this blog I was making fun of the “Polar Vortex” the rest of the country was experiencing and how we were enjoying 70 degree temperatures. This month we had this!!!!!!!!
Last year at this time I wrote how things were looking great for the year ahead because Terravita had over 40 homes on the market for sale AND there were already 25 contracts accepted for the year. This year there are just 25 homes for sale and there have only been 11 contracts accepted for the calendar year. We have tons of buyers that want to live in Terravita! We need more inventory! If you are looking to sell give us a call!
If you make it to one of our Open Houses, be sure and tell our buyer’s agent Ryan that you saw him in the Titleist ad below. Apparently, he has been moonlighting as a lifestyle model! Here he is rocking some Camo Titleist attire:
Here are the February 2019 Terravita Real Estate Market Statistics*:
*Please note this report is created as of the first of the month and is prone to changes.
**The term “Contracts Accepted” means that there was a new contracted accepted on this home this month. This is to say that this listing has moved from an “Active” status in the MLS to a “Sold” status and begun the escrow process and is heading toward “closing”.
*All information is provided by the Arizona Regional MLS and is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed.
Happy February all! Our 70 degree temps being contrasted to what most of the country is experiencing makes it feel all the happier doesn’t it?
The Terravita real estate market enjoyed a more normal sales month by having 6 contracts accepted. This is a decent January number but like our temperatures, it feels much better when contrasted to December only having one home go under contract.
More interesting this month is the average price per foot. The Terravita average came out to $241 per foot this month which is slightly below our annual average. Nothing interesting there right? But a closer look reveals that the average was the result of only 2 closings: One for $200 per foot and the other for just over $300 per foot! If you look still closer you would see that the home that sold for $200 per foot was arguably better updated and had better views than the one that sold for $300 per foot. And to a real estate numbers geek like me… now That is interesting.
Finally, thank you for all your kind emails about the twins and their 10 year challenge photos that we sent earlier.. Your kindness reminded me of the response to what was easily the most popular postcard we ever created where we included the twins. Maybe we should send it again!
Here are the January 2019 Terravita Real Estate Market Statistics*:
*Please note this report is created as of the first of the month and is prone to changes.
**The term “Contracts Accepted” means that there was a new contracted accepted on this home this month. This is to say that this listing has moved from an “Active” status in the MLS to a “Sold” status and begun the escrow process and is heading toward “closing”.
*All information is provided by the Arizona Regional MLS and is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed.
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