STAT PACK

STAT PACK - NOVEMBER 2012

Quick sales numbers thrown at you for reference. Listing vs Sales - up to end of November 2012 versus the same period in 2011.


UPLANDS
2012 - 39 Listings/22 Sales
2011 - 50 Listings/24 Sales


Fairview
2012 - 22 Listings/14 Sales
2011 - 12 Listings/8 Sales


WestEnd
2012 - 45 Listings/38 Sales
2011 - 52 Listings/29 Sales


Lakewood
2012 - 14 Listings/12 Sales
2011 - 24 Listings/14 Sales


Parkland
2012 - 13 Listings/10 Sales
2011 - 12 Listings/5 Sales


Greenbrook
2012 - 12 Listings/7 Sales
2011 - 9 Listings/7 Sales


Ingram Park
2012 - 16 Listings/12 Sales
2011 - 28 Listings/10 Sales


Central
2012 - 38 Listings/28 Sales
2011 - 49 Listings/21 Sales


Meadowbrook
2012 - 26 Listings/24 Sales
2011 - 32 Listings/15 Sales


SunnyLea
2012 - 22 Listings/14 Sales
2011 - 13 Listings/8 Sales


Totals for these sudivisions


2012 - 247 Listings/181 Sales

2011 - 281 Listings/141 Sales


Sales remained strong and listings dropped in almost every subdivision. This current situation has obviously created a market geared more towards the Sellers as the demand for homes is up and the supply is down.


As always, if you have any questions or comments regarding real estate, never hesitate to contact me directly.


Brad Stolson
Broker/Owner

Housing Market Outlook 2013

Blistering Sales in a Blistering Summer

2008 was the last great real estate year, sales were abundant and listings would simply fly off the shelf (so to speak).  The first half of the real estate year posted 179 transactions selling at an average price of $215,000.  There was little selection and the town was bustling with activity and everyone had a sense we were growing. 

Of course, everyone is well aware of what happened in the last quarter of 2008.  As we settled in for what felt like a long recession, real estate was looking awfully gloomy.  However, the country persevered and for the most part our little town of Brooks remained quite stable real estate speaking.  The prices stopped rising and in fact dipped a little, not a lot, but enough for everyone to feel the crunch.

By the same ½ in 2009 there were only 118 transactions with an average sale price of $206,000.

Fast forward to 2012 – we have smoked 2008 in almost every aspect of the residential real estate market.  The first ½ stats have reported 198 transactions with an average sale price of $227,000!!!.

That translates to 2012 being the best real estate year to date ever!!!  Brooks has been becoming more and more stable over the last 3 years.  Stability in real estate translates into excellent news.  Prices should start to go up and by the looks of some recent sales happening they have already started to slightly rise.

RE/MAX Main Street Realty has also battled the currents over the last 4 years  and we have been diligently working hard for all of our clients and increasing our service standard by educating and providing valuable information for all of our clients.

Our hard work and dedication has paid off for our clients and the homes we have sold for them.

As of 2008 RE/MAX Main Street Realty had only 47% of the market.  Through the last “harder” years we have increased our market share to 53%.  We are also proud to say through the first 6 months of this year sold our listings 20 days less than the rest of the board and have sold our homes for $7000 more than the average.  Of course these numbers don’t sound like much but if you have the opportunity to get more money (like $7000) and do it quicker (like almost 3 weeks) – wouldn’t that sound like a smart decision when you’re ready to sell your chunk of real estate?

As always, if you would like to more know about values of your home please never hesitate to contact myself or any member of RE/MAX Main Street Realty.

Brad Stolson

Broker/Owner

Is Your REALTOR Advising you or are you Advising your REALTOR

Granted you are not obligated to price your home at what the agent suggested but at the very least should your agent not be suggesting a reasonable market value?  I have heard too many times in Brooks, that the opening statement from the agent is “how much do you want to list for?”

I seen a house  listed at almost $100,000 over their actual market value, then after 2 weeks the price reduced by $30,000 – and then….they advertised a HUUUUGGGEEEE price reduction to appear like this is a great deal – the house was still nearly $70,000 overpriced?  This can’t be good for anyone in a real estate market – it artificially inflates values for the next house in the same neighbourhood and it loses all buyer confidence which results in insulting lowball offers.

Look around town – there are some ridiculously priced homes that have no business competing with other homes that should be at that price.  In my opinion, the agent should know better and should be strongly encouraging their client to be at or close to market value.  After all, a falsely inflated market helps no one in the City of Brooks.

I spend a large amount of my time teaching the agents at RE/MAX Main Street Realty, on how to properly price properties and how to give solid advice.  We are not in the business of just putting up signs – but educating our clients on the value of their home.

Enough venting – to the statistics.  First quarter statistics are in (over a month now – but better late than never).

To date, RE/MAX Main Street Realty is having a banner year.  February and March competed with and exceeded all of our expectations and in fact they were the best February and March’s ever recorded (including 2008 – the last “good” year of real estate).  The volume of sales has not overly affected the actual price of real estate but the properties are certainly changing hands quickly and often.

1^st Quarter Stats – Brooks and County of Newell

-2011 – 51 transactions vs. 2012 – 90 transactions

-          RE/MAX Main Street Realty doubled their production this quarter versus the same quarter last year with 49 transactions. (55% of the total transaction reported by the Board)

-           The average sold price for Main Street Realty also rose from $215,000 to $234,000, compared to the average in Brooks of $210,000. 

-          We also show that Main Street Realty has conducted their transactions quicker – the average days on market were reported at 133, compared to RE/MAX of 113.  Doesn’t sound like much, but 3 weeks can feel like a lifetime when your property is up for sale.

Overall, we are not expecting big jumps in values of properties, in fact I wouldn’t be surprised if a correction happened this year or in the very near future of 10-15% decrease (as reported on CBC May 1, 2012 as an overall national correction).  I also believe the stability in prices and the real estate market in Brooks is a sign of strength in our local economy.  2012 looks like it will be a great year and I am certainly looking forward to that.

As always, if you have any questions or comments about real estate in the Brooks market, never hesitate to contact me.

STAT PACk

Very productive start to the 2012 year to date.

There have been 34 homes sold within the City of Brooks to date as of this posting.

RE/MAX Main Street Realty (MSR) currently has 43 active listings. Compared to 25 for the Century 21 and 32 for Royal LePage.

Since January 1, Main Street Realty has listed 20 properties in Brooks alone and sold 12 homes listed by RE/MAX Main Street Realty.(MSR)

We have also completed 32 transactions (each sold home gets credit for 2 transactions - one for the buyer and one for the seller)

February 2012 for MSR has been absolutely spectacular with matching transactional numbers with the last two Aprils/Mays (traditionally the "hot" times for real estate)

With continuing numbers like this we would expect a huge year real estate wise, and of course low product and high demand is deemed to increase prices.

Real estate is my life, if you have any comments, questions or suggestions regarding these numbers or other information you are receiving, please never hesitate to contact me directly.

Brad Stolson

Broker/Owner

RE/MAX main street realty

2011 - STABLE AS SHE GOES!!

An up and down year?  Not at all.  An up and down couple of years?  Nope.

Year end stats for RE/MAX Main Street Realty are in.  Sales wise we sold exactly as many as we did in 2011 as 2010 – 110 properties specifically in Brooks.  130 properties when we include the County of Newell.

This property sales translated into 206 transactions in 2011 (197 in 2010).  The average price for RMSR (RE/MAX Main Street Realty) went up approxiamately $3000. ($225,400-2010 to $228,300-2011).

These numbers scream stability.  Stability in a real estate market is very good.  The stability along with the fantastic mortgage rates that are available right now is excellent. 

So far in the early stages of 2012 there is a huge amounts of buyers.  They are scarfing up the properties that show value.  Bottom line is, if you have a property for sale and its not selling, it is price.  I personally am currently working with several buyers in a variety of price ranges.  They are all willing and waiting to buy a home.

As with the last two years of history, I am assuming that the Brooks real estate market will remain stable and as evident with the last two years – strong.