Tag Archives: Top Dollar

Local Pending Sales Drop as Inventory Rises

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Local pending sales drop as inventory rises which caused the month’s supply of inventory to rise 70% in May over last year. New pending sales dropped 11% in May 2022 versus May 2021, while overall pending inventory fell 11.5%

The drop in pending sales comes at the exact same time as inventory rising to 57.1% year over year in May. This explains why we are seeing price reductions. New supply to the market is outpacing demand. We still have excellent demand, but the market is not absorbing all the new listings coming to the market.

Local Pending Sales Drop
Local pending sales drop as inventory rises

The month’s supply of inventory rose to 70% to 1.7 months supply. 1.7 months is a historically low figure, and yet we know the supply is outpacing demand.  This number will not stay at 1.7 months’ supply.

Price Reductions

Today I looked and there were 2,629 single family homes on the market in Lee County. 947 of the 2,629 homes on the market recently had a price reduction. This means 36% of all homes on the market today have had a price reduction since they listed the home.

Local pending sales drop as inventory rises
7-Day Market Watch

The most fun time to be a seller statistically was back in February.  Don’t get us wrong, it’s still a great time to be a seller, and homes are selling well, if it is priced correctly.

The question is, is it more fun to be a seller today than it will be a month or two from now?  We know it was more fun a few months ago, and by the trend we are seeing in the numbers, it very well could be more fun today than in the future.

We have been telling sellers for months, the sooner you decide to sell the better off you may be. This is true today as well. We are studying preliminary sales numbers for June, and it looks to us that median sales prices will be down against May numbers.

Sales Prices Lower

Official May median price was $469,950. I just pulled up all single-family home sales in Lee County as of June 28th, the day this article was written, and median sales price came in at $449,950. That is a $20,000 drop if the number holds up. Keep in mind, there are some outstanding sales yet to be recorded for the month.

Average sales prices look to be lower in June as well. Official May average was $658,886 and the preliminary average is $598,413. That is a $60,000 drop. Again, there are some outstanding sales that could change these numbers.

Top Dollar

While we have an excellent market, the data suggest the market is cooling. Your Top Dollar may be today, and every day you wait may cost you money. If you are thinking of selling, sooner may be better than waiting. If your home is on the market, adjusting your price to get it sold today may be better than waiting. If the market continues cooling, it may not be as fun a few months from now.

A word of caution though. Median and average home sale prices traditionally decline about this time of year, so don’t make too much out of it.  More luxury homes sell in first quarter every year. What is different this year is inventory is rising.

The Fed is also tightening, and the lending market has risen. We may be in a recession, or close to one. With all these events happening simultaneously it may be safe to assume prices have stalled until we get back to a lower interest rate environment.

If you have a property to sell, you should talk to Sande or Brett Ellis 239-310-6500 We study the market and can give you up to the minute advice. When the market changes you need an experienced agent who’s been through a shifting market and knows how to handle it. Check your home’s property value on our site at www.SWFLhomevalues.com

Good luck and have a Happy July 4th Weekend!

Ellis Team Weekend Open House

Saturday 12-3 PM

2007 SW 30th Ter

4 Bed 2 Bath Pool Home

Open House Saturday 12-3 PM

 

Instant Offers Programs Cost Sellers 15% Equity or More

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You’ve probably heard of those instant offers programs whereby a company offers to buy your home instantly for cash.  Closing takes place in a short period of time.  No getting the house ready to show, no hassles with showings, no hassles period.  Sounds great, doesn’t it? What do these instant offers programs cost sellers?

Instant Offers Programs Cost Sellers 15% Equity or More

Except there’s one catch. They don’t offer you full market value.  Not even close.  A recent study showed that the typical instant offers programs cost sellers around 15% equity.  That’s a big price to pay, and costs much more than selling your home even after paying a real estate agent commission.

Going For Top Dollar

Most sellers are afraid they may have to drop their price if their home doesn’t sell.  Homes in SW Florida typically sell for around 95% of list price.  Some much more than that depending on the price range.  What this is telling us is those sellers were about 5% over the market, and when they came down to where the market was, their home sold.

Imagine selling 15% below that number.  You don’t have to imagine because it’s reality.  These instant offers companies don’t tell you that.  They also don’t tell you the final price when they make their original offer.

To date these national companies haven’t come to SW Florida.  We have spoken with people who have used them in other markets, and they’re not happy.  First, it starts with an offer, typically 7-10% below fair market value.  Seller accepts the offer, and inspections are setup.  Then the instant offers company amends the offer to account for major renovations needed.  That could total $30,000 or more depending on inspection results.

If the seller’s biggest fear was having to reduce asking price, it was just realized by accepting an instant offer.  The only difference is the process sped up, and the reduction was severe.  Had the seller priced their home upfront to meet today’s market, they could have sold quickly and put much more money in their pocket.

These sellers’ biggest regret was using an instant offers company.  Sometimes the fear of the process overrides the financial loss, until the financial loss becomes real.  We can help with this.

Choices

In the near future we’ll bring an iBuyer program to SW Florida.  You’ll be given the choice.  Take the instant offer or go for top dollar with us.  Logically most will choose the top dollar, but we’ll have the choice for those looking for the instant sale.

If you’re in a situation where you need to sell fast and you’re fearful of the process, a simple sit-down meeting can answer many of your questions.  We can look at what fair market would look like and discuss insightful ways to get your home sold fast, and not for bottom dollar.

Anyone can give away a home.  That’s easy, and costly.  We can help you sell fast and put more money in your pocket.  We’ve been working on a few solutions to help sellers that are exciting.

We have an instant repair bid program.  Basically, we take the home inspection and upload into our system.  Within 48 hours we have bids to repair anything on the report.  This makes it easy for buyers and sellers because almost instantly they know the price of the repairs.

Many times, deals are lost because a buyer believes the repair cost is just too expensive.  By having instant bids, they know the cost upfront.  Often, the repair cost isn’t as bad as they think.  Sometimes sellers blow up because they believe the repairs the buyer is asking for will add up too.  Having an instant repair bid shows the seller the true cost of the repair.  Perhaps buyer is asking too much, and now the seller will know.

The instant repair bid is a nice tool which can give both buyer and seller peace of mind.  It’s also much less expensive than giving your house away to a greedy iBuyer program.

Thinking of Selling?

If you’re looking to sell, talk to Brett or Sande at the Ellis Team at Keller Williams Realty.  239-489-4042 Ext 4  We can show you how to net more at closing and make the process easier for you.  Don’t let fear of the process let these companies take advantage of you.  A solution is often just a face to face conversation away.  Or visit www.SWFLhomevalues.com for a quick idea of your home’s value.  If you like that price, we can talk further.  If you think it’s off, we can sit down and discuss that too, because it could be.

See last week’s article “Wall Street Fear May Spark Main Street Opportunity”

Good luck and Happy Selling!

Southwest Florida Real Estate Listing Inventory Hits 4 Year High

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Agents have been complaining that this season has been a softer season than in years past.  Buyers don’t seem to be as motivated.  Southwest Florida real estate listing inventory hits 4 year high in February and sales prices have been flat since last year.  So why is it that top teams are having a fantastic season?

Southwest Florida Real Estate Listing Inventory Hits 4 Year High

The Ellis Team has lots of pending sales, plenty of closings, and before it’s all over March and April should be excellent months. Other large teams are selling well too, so how can it be both a fantastic market and a slow market?

The answer is it’s a great market if you know what’s really going on and you advise your clients accordingly.  Listing at a set price and forgetting it won’t do your seller’s any good if the market is on the move in that price range.

Statistically we have a balanced market.  It has shifted from a seller’s market to balanced, or slightly favoring the buyers right now.  Just like not all Realtors are the same, it’s also true with price ranges.  The below $300,000 market is doing well right now and the above $400,000 has slowed a bit.  However, there are sales in all price ranges.  We have a sale on a listing at $1.3 Million right now. You must know what range you’re in and adjust.

Aggressive marketing is critical in a changing market.  As more sellers compete for fewer buyers, you want your listing to stand out.  Every buyer will not purchase your home, we know this.  You want as many buyers to be exposed to it as possible.  Sellers mistakenly believe putting it on MLS and adding to a few online sites is all that’s needed, and all buyers will know about it.  This is not true and a costly mistake.

At the time of listing you set a listing price.  This price needs to be evaluated.  New listings may enter that market as competition.  Existing listings may reduce their price, making your home less attractive.  Remember, the seller sets the price, and the market determines the value.

Lastly, as homes sell, new comparable sales set the market.  Appraisers use these new sales as the best data sets for determining market value.  These new sellers won the home selling game.  Existing listings have not yet, and there is no guarantee they will either.

We know this much.  Homes that are marketed aggressively and priced correctly will sell.  If a home is unfairly overpriced, it will not sell no matter how much marketing is used.  Conversely, a home may actually sell below its fair market value without aggressive marketing.

This is where a true professional comes in.  To get Top Dollar, you need an agent to help you set the right price, continually monitor the market in case adjustments are needed, and market your property to actual buyers.  Preferably your Realtor will have a large database of buyers from past marketing efforts, combined with finding new buyers with ads targeting buyers for your home.  Together, that’s a winning combination.

We have a large database of buyers because we have a popular, easy to use listing website that helps buyers find homes they’re looking for right away.  Unlike other websites, it updates every minute or so, so hot new listings and price adjustments are seen in real-time by buyers.

Sellers can even get an idea of what their home is worth too.  Simply go to www.LeeCountyOnline.com to search for homes or find out what your home is worth.  If you’re thinking of selling, call Sande or Brett at 239-489-4042 Ext 4.  If you’re looking to buy, our team of friendly and helpful buyer agents can assist you as well.

Good luck and Happy House Hunting!

Ellis Team Weekend Open Houses

Open Saturday 1-4 PM

2403 SW 53rd Ter

SW Cape Coral Pool Home

 

Upper End Homes Leading the SW Florida Real Estate Market

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Most people tend to believe the lower end is always the strongest segment of the real estate market.  If you looked at the October Months’ Supply of Inventory you would agree.  The months’ supply graph is a snapshot in time, so we added a little something to it this month. Upper end homes leading the SW Florida real estate market.

Upper End Homes Leading the SW Florida Real Estate Market

What if you looked at the change in direction from our previous snapshot in July?  Would that change your opinion?  Static data paints a picture and changes in direction tells a story.  The changes are not huge numbers.  For instance, the $Million+ went from 15.66 months in July down to 14.62 months in October.

Each price point above $300,000 saw a reduction.  Each price point below $300,000 saw an increase in months’ supply.  Many times, we see a price range here and there flip, so it stood out to us when we saw such a shift up to a point certain.

Upper End Homes Leading the SW Florida Real Estate Market

So, what does all this tell us?  Perhaps a lot, and perhaps not much.  It tells us we should keep an eye on it more so for the change in direction than for the change in numbers themselves.  You see, the number change isn’t particularly significant.

We did have a disruption in the market in September.  Could it be that lower end homes were hit harder than upper end homes?  Possibly, but if it were true that closed sales were disrupted you would also think that current inventory would be disrupted too.  Could it be that prices have risen to a point where first-time buyers and below $300,000 buyers are tapped out and can’t afford more increases?

If the latter were true we’ll see that going forward.  Keep in mind, as season approaches we’ll have more listings coming to the market and more buyers from up North buying homes too.  That can skew local buyers’ affordability issues until after season.

My intuition tells me numbers going forward will be strong.  While we’ll track these numbers going forward they may just be a blip.  I would have expected the lower end to have done better simply because we see lower end homes being gobbled up in days if not minutes.

Data Speaks For Itself

We like to report the numbers as we see them.  We don’t use the numbers to prove what we think is happening in the market.  The numbers tell us what actually is happening.  From there we can interpret what we think it means, but it does no good to try to use numbers to prove a point just to be right.

Throw in a hurricane for good measure and numbers can state about anything you want them to say.  We’ll report September housing numbers for Southwest Florida soon.  As you would imagine, our market was disrupted, and the numbers bear that out.  We may even see a rise in October numbers due to sales that were postponed from September.

Our team is bringing several homes to market.  We’ve got some good values and more coming.  If you’d like to search the MLS like a pro, visit www.LeeCountyOnline.com  Customers love it because the data is updated instantly.  This past week a customer asked me why a home shows one price online but a different price on our website.  I explained that our website has an instant feed, so when any agent in MLS changes a price or adds a new listing, it shows up right away on our site.

Accurate, Speedy Data Wins

This is particularly important when you’re looking to find the right home.  Speed wins, and beating out other buyers to hot new properties can be the difference between owning that home and watching someone else buy it.  The same is true with price changes.  Imaging having your eye on a property and seeing it sell because it was reduced.  But you didn’t see the reduction because the site you use never displayed it.  It was sold before they could display it.  That doesn’t happen with our website.

If you have a property to sell, the Ellis Team can sell it fast and for Top Dollar.  Call Brett or Sande 239-489-4042.  We can help you buy that dream home too.  Always Call the Ellis Team at Keller Williams Realty!

Ellis Team Featured Property of the Week

New Listing in Reflection Lakes

Are Zillow Home Value Zestimates Purposefully Inflated?

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One of the common question real estate agents get from sellers centers around a home’s Zestimate on Zillow. Deep down sellers know what homes are selling for in their neighborhood and how their home compares.  Often, they just want to try a much higher price simply because Zillow says their home is worth more.  We attempt to answer the question, Are Zillow home value zestimates purposely inflated?

The buzz amongst real estate agents is they can’t believe how far off many Zestimates are these days.  Agents laugh anytime the words Zillow and home values are mentioned in the same sentence because they know they’ll have to explain how inaccurate these things tend to be.

Last weekend I had a conversation with one of our sellers.  She brought up her Zillow Zestimate.    Within 15 minutes after that conversation I went outside to work in my yard and my next-door neighbor asked me about his Zestimate.  He noticed it went up over $100,000 last month and wondered if the real estate market was that good right now.

Zillow Home Value Zestimates Purposefully Inflated

Of course, his value didn’t change $100,000 last month.  Perhaps you’ve heard the story of Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff.  His home was valued at $1,750,405 on March 1, 2015.  The funny thing is, it sold 1 day earlier for $1,050,000.  That’s a difference of $700,405.  Put another way, Zillow was off over 40% on their CEO’s own home.

Are Zillow Home Value Zestimates Purposefully Inflated?

So is Zillow’s data that bad, or could there be another motive?  Let’s remember where Zillow gets its revenue. Zillow charges agents, property managers, and lenders to appear on their website.  They are gathering leads to sell to agents.  Some agents pay several thousand dollars per month for these leads.  Zillow takes MLS and public records data and assembles them and markets that data to the public in the hopes of attracting eyeballs to its site.

To increase revenue and charge more to agents, brokers, and lenders Zillow must increase visits to the site.  One way to do that is advertise more on the Internet and TV.  Another way is to change up the values frequently in hopes of getting repeat viewers to come back often and see what’s going on with their value.

We get it.  The market changes every day.  It doesn’t typically change $84,000 in one day.  So, either Zillow’s algorithm for calculating values is off, the underlying data are off, or they are trying to create a buzz by getting people to check back repeatedly.  In the news business, they call it Click Bait.  Click bait is when editors write a sensational headline to get readers to click on the article.  It could be fake news, doesn’t matter.  If the headline works, it attracts readers which ups the hit count.  The higher the hit count, the higher the advertising rates.  Most reputable news organizations don’t utilize this tactic.  They don’t have to because they have valuable content.  Tabloids on the other hand use this with perfection.

Agents are paying top dollar presumably for new leads not realizing Zillow is stoking the fire by attracting the same old leads repeatedly.  Consumers may be unaware that Zillow now has data on everyone who has checked their home value, and they are selling data like that.

Zillow Admits Errors

Zillow says that nationally their Zestimates are off by 7.9% on average.  That’s a lot!  However, in Seattle where their CEO’s former home is located, they claim to be more accurate at only 6.1% off.  Can we really trust their numbers when they were off over 40% on their own CEO’s home?

If you’re thinking of selling, we have an automated valuation tool that may be more accurate.    More importantly, we will never sell your info to other agents and brokers.  Why would we?  We want your business.  We’d love to earn your business.

If you’re thinking of selling, call the Ellis Team at Keller Williams 239-489-4042 Ext 4  Let us show you how we put more money in your pocket at closing than other Realtors and how we sell homes Fast!  And, we’ll show you what true Top Dollar is for your home so you can make accurate decisions.

We’re here to help.  Always ask for Sande Ellis or Brett Ellis.

Read about Southwest Florida Real Estate Market Statistics to be released tomorrow.

Paint the Town Red

This weekend is the Keller Williams Paint the Town Red Event.  We’ll have around 100 homes open in a single day.  It’s the single biggest open house event of the year.  Check back as we’ll be posting the addresses here.

Ellis Team Featured Open Houses

Sunday 1-4 PM

Ellis Team Open House

6180 Winkler Rd

 

 

 

 

 13624 Gulf Breeze St Reflection Lakes Pool Home