While many were at the beach, at a bar-be-que, shopping or just plain having fun, I was showing property. I’m not looking for the “let me play my small violin”, lol, because I’m so happy to do so! Several reasons…

• I absolutely love to show property because I love what I do. I have the best Clients!
• Holiday weekends aren’t necessarily a holiday for us Realtors. The long weekends means buyers have the time to be here and look at property.
• I’m lucky to live at the beach…and I need to continue to sell real estate to live here

One of my buyers, whom I showed property to this weekend, called me yesterday to ask a question. She started our conversation by saying “You are lucky to live at the beach. You don’t have to go back to reality”. When we hung up, her statement really hit me…more about the going back to reality part. Yes, I know I am lucky to live here, and I don’t take it for granted…hence the reason my husband and I work so hard…we want to stay here! It’s funny because whenever I leave the area, about 2 days later, I’m “home sick”. I just want to get back to paradise. So even when I “come back to my reality, Destin, Florida” I am glad to be here and ready to get back to selling real estate.

Check out the updated YTD-2010 spreadsheet in the “stats” box to the right. For those of you who believe nothing is selling…the numbers don’t lie.

What do you think?

Comments (0)

By Debbie James, September 8, 2010

Labor Day weekend is behind us…wow hard to believe it’s September. Time is flying!

While many were at the beach, at a bar-be-que, shopping or just plain having fun, I was showing property. I’m not looking for the “let me play my small violin”, lol, because I’m so happy to do so! Several reasons…

• I absolutely love to show property because I love what I do. I have the best Clients!
• Holiday weekends aren’t necessarily a holiday for us Realtors. The long weekends means buyers have the time to be here and look at property.
• I’m lucky to live at the beach…and I need to continue to sell real estate to live here

One of my buyers, whom I showed property to this weekend, called me yesterday to ask a question. She started our conversation by saying “You are lucky to live at the beach. You don’t have to go back to reality”. When we hung up, her statement really hit me…more about the going back to reality part. Yes, I know I am lucky to live here, and I don’t take it for granted…hence the reason my husband and I work so hard…we want to stay here! It’s funny because whenever I leave the area, about 2 days later, I’m “home sick”. I just want to get back to paradise. So even when I “come back to my reality, Destin, Florida” I am glad to be here and ready to get back to selling real estate.

Check out the updated YTD-2010 spreadsheet in the “stats” box to the right. For those of you who believe nothing is selling…the numbers don’t lie.

What do you think?

U.S. Weather Map

The concept of FIFO – is applicable here – the Destin Florida real estate market was arguably the first to crash (first in) – the fall began in September 2005 and it is showing signs that it is also going to be among the first out of this prolonged (3 1/2 years) downward market adjustment. During those great years of appreciation the Destin to Seagrove Beach to Rosemary Beach real estate markets appreciated faster and higher than most of the other U.S. real estate markets; we have also fallen faster and deeper.

The spreadsheet in the Box Widget to the right Stats July 2009 demonstrates the comparison of monthly sales activity between June 2008 – July 2009 and June 2007 – July2008; specifically this includes homes, townhomes and condos located from the Destin bridge to the east end of County Road 30-A all located between the Gulf of Mexico and the bay.. These stats come directly from the Emerald Coast Association of REALTORS MLS Database.

The spreadsheet shows that over the last twelve months the “Active” inventory has fallen on average 21% per month while sales “Pending Sales” are up over 23% per month and Sold or recently closed sales on average are up over 3% per month with a average reduction in Expired Listings falling more than 24% per month. So we you can see what we are seeing; less inventory and more sales consistently for the last 12 months – is this a trend, I suggest it is.

Those of you waiting for the bottom, I suggest you are seeing it here, like any yard sale those who show up first get the best choices and those who show up later get what was picked over. Yes this inventory will be replaced by more inventory and yes these sellers will be less inclined to negotiate as aggressively as today’s sellers.

A few days back I read the article below published by the Housing Predictor an Independent Real Estate Market Forecaster and was written by Mike Colpitts, this article supports the scenario outlined above.
________________________________________
10 Signs to the Bottom of Real Estate Markets
The bottom of each real estate market in America won’t occur with much fan fare. In fact, few people will realize that it’s even happening when they do, and they’re usually only recognized after the bottom has already hit.
The search for the elusive bottom to any real estate market is akin to finding the proverbial needle in a hay stack. Once they’re fully realized, the elevator is usually on the way up and higher prices follow.
Bottoms to real estate markets are a lot like trying to determine when stocks in financial markets are at their lowest price. Veteran investors say it’s a fool’s game to try to find the bottom to make a buying decision because as you wait, study and calculate the tendency is to over analyze as the market makes its own moves and often leaves you in the lurch.

In these increasingly complicated financial times, troubled by the credit crunch finding a market’s elusive bottom is no easy task. But here are 10 signs to ponder on whether the bottom of your market is near:

1. The inventory of listings is reducing as properties come off the market, especially those over priced places that have been sitting on the market rotting. Noticing fewer for sale signs in that neighborhood you’re interested in buying a home or condo in these days?

2. The Mass Media spurs interest with talk of a bottom. Newspapers and television reporters speculate and ask the experts if a bottom is occurring like it’s a national real estate market trend when all markets have their own local bottoms and are scattered over time.

3. Sales volume begins to pick up, slowly at first as pent up buyer demand results in more showings.

4. People are less fearful of the market.

5. People begin to talk about how much money there is to be made investing in real estate again.

6. Increasing telephone calls to realty offices on listings and for sale by owners.

7. The Fed finishes tinkering with interest rates at least for a while, trying to get a handle on how the markets are moving.

8. People commonly talk about the bottom occurring like it’s a thing of the past with increasing consumer confidence.

9. Prices finally seem to stop dropping.

10. Financing becomes easier to obtain.

There aren’t hard and fast rules to insuring that your real estate market is at the bottom. All bottoms are different after all, but one thing’s sure. The bottom of markets have historically been for a much shorter duration than the top, which is one reason why most property owners are secure in their positions. Statistically, very few real estate buyers make their purchases at the bottom or the top. Most buyers find themselves buying somewhere in between.

I am the broker of a boutique resort real estate brokerage in Destin Florida and frankly over the last couple of weeks, no make that months, better yet let’s say over the last three years the agents in my office have been struggling with REALTORS who continue to price properties based on competing Active (that is not SOLD) properties. For some reason they think their new listing needs to be added to the glut of the over priced – that is not SOLD properties.

Why is it these “Experienced”, “Seasoned”, Professional” REALTORS insist on listing over priced properties – why is it that they (the professionals) continue to let the property owners set the price – why are these properties even on the market For Sale – why is it that when presented with offers that represent today’s current Fair Market Value these agents continue to defend these over priced properties?

Frankly I cannot explain it – we deal with it daily and not matter how many facts and figures we present to the seller’s agents they contend that their property is more special then any of the other still-not-sold properties.

So here it is my take on this whole affair – Transactional Brokerage Relationships – that’s right – Florida Agents that this relationship seriously. Rather than counseling – educating & convincing their sellers to true market values they placate their sellers and take the over priced listing.

Truth be known it is because of the foreclosures and short sales that inventory is moving off the market – the lenders are taking serious losses and prices are being set by appraisers based on true market conditions. Sellers on the other hand cannot or are not willing to take the same losses yet who do they expect to pay for their mistakes?

ATTENTION – Listing agents – do your jobs – counsel & educate your prospective sellers –  if the property seller is unwilling to list at no more than 10% above fair market value – DON’T TAKE THE LISTING. The fact is you really need to be pricing your new listings at the last selling comparable price. There is no reason why properties (other than vacant land) need to be on the market more than 45 days. I am seeing fairly priced properties selling in less than a week. Remind your sellers – there is only one price for their property, its called FAIR MARKET VALUE and buyers, appraisers & lenders all support this concept and will not pay for your sellers unfortunate situation. So until you get your sellers on board with current market values there is no point in putting the property on the market.

The concept of FIFO – is applicable here as well – the Destin Florida real estate market was arguably the first to crash – the fall began in September 2005 and it is showing signs that it is also going to be among the first out of this prolonged (3 1/2 years) downward market adjustment. The Destin to Seagrove Beach to Rosemary Beach real estate markets appreciated faster and higher than most U.S. real estate markets; we have also fallen faster and deeper.

The spreadsheet below demonstrates the comparison between last 6 months to  the same 6 months the year prior of the Destin real estate market; specifically this area includes properties located from the Destin bridge to the east end of County Road 30-A. These stats come directly from the Emerald Coast Association of REALTORS MLS Database.

The spreadsheet above shows that over the last six months that inventory has fallen on average 15% per month while sales (Pending Sales) are up over 20% per month and Sold or recently closed sales on average are up over 10% per month with a average reduction in Expired Listings falling more than 20% per month. So we can here less inventory and more sales consistantly for the last 6 months – is this a trend, I suggest it is.

Those of you waiting for the bottom, I suggest you are seeing it here, like any yard sale those who show up first get the best choices and those who show up later get what was picked over. Yes this inventory will be replced by more inventory and yes these sellers will be less inclined to negotiate as aggressively as todays sellers.

This morning I read the article below published by the Housing Predictor an Independent Real Estate Market Forecaster and was written by Mike Colpitts, this article supports the senerio outlined above.

10 Signs to the Bottom of Real Estate Markets

The bottom of each real estate market in America won’t occur with much fanfare. In fact, few people will realize that it’s even happening when they do, and they’re usually only recognized after the bottom has already hit.

The search for the elusive bottom to any real estate market is akin to finding the proverbial needle in a hay stack. Once they’re fully realized, the elevator is usually on the way up and higher prices follow.

Bottoms to real estate markets are a lot like trying to determine when stocks in financial markets are at their lowest price. Veteran investors say it’s a fool’s game to try to find the bottom to make a buying decision because as you wait, study and calculate the tendency is to over analyze as the market makes its own moves and often leaves you in the lurch.

In these increasingly complicated financial times, troubled by the credit crunch finding a market’s elusive bottom is no easy task. But here are 10 signs to ponder on whether the bottom of your market is near:

1. The inventory of listings is reducing as properties come off the market, especially those over priced places that have been sitting on the market rotting. Noticing fewer for sale signs in that neighborhood you’re interested in buying a home or condo in these days?
2. The Mass Media spurs interest with talk of a bottom. Newspapers and television reporters speculate and ask the experts if a bottom is occurring like it’s a national real estate market trend when all markets have their own local bottoms and are scattered over time.
3. Sales volume begins to pick up, slowly at first as pent up buyer demand results in more showings.
4. People are less fearful of the market.
5. People begin to talk about how much money there is to be made investing in real estate again.
6. Increasing telephone calls to realty offices on listings and for sale by owners.
7. The Fed finishes tinkering with interest rates at least for a while, trying to get a handle on how the markets are moving.
8. People commonly talk about the bottom occurring like it’s a thing of the past with increasing consumer confidence.
9. Prices finally seem to stop dropping.
10. Financing becomes easier to obtain.

There aren’t hard and fast rules to insuring that your real estate market is at the bottom. All bottoms are different after all, but one thing’s sure. The bottom of markets have historically been for a much shorter duration than the top, which is one reason why most property owners are secure in their positions. Statistically, very few real estate buyers make their purchases at the bottom or the top. Most buy some where in between.

Another Seller turned buyer sold his commercial  property in Tennessee after being on the market for nearly a year – sold it and closed a few weeks ago. Coming to Destinto buy his new vacation home at the beach in April – price range around $750,000. You have to know the people that bought his commercial real estate sold something first.

The snowball begins to roll slowly – properties sell and close and the snowball picks up speed. The traditional philosophy of real estate investing is in play, you still make your money on the buy – buy low – keep 5-7 years – remember this is a cyclical business and then 1031 into another property. Interest rates are at an all time low, property values are at the same levels they were at in early 2003 – we’ve got all the makings of a new economy.

I have discussions with all three of these valued assistants throughout the day and the one recurring comment by both although mostly from buyers is “I am waiting for the BOTTOM”. The allusive proverbial Bottom, what is it, where is it and how will I recognize it?

What is the “Bottom” – based on discussions with the multitudes of Buyer Prospects Amanda and Lucy speak to it is a time somewhere in the future where prices will be at their bottom – hmm. When pushed for an answer about where the bottom is the only answer is we will know it when we see it. So I have some thoughts on this subject. The bottom is a frame of mind – it is a wait and see attitude – it is fear and it is an opportunity to capitalize on our neighbors’ miss fortune.

How many more lives must be destroyed, how many more American families need be uprooted? It is not up to our government to fix this catastrophe – its up to us.

Where is it – the Bottom is exactly under our noses – the bottom is where we put it. It can be today or it can be a year from now its all a matter of when the multitudes of buyers sitting on the sidelines waiting to score big decide the time is now. Well the time is NOW. The sooner we hit Bottom the sooner we will rebound the sooner the properties the buyers are buying will appreciate – hey this could actually turn this economy around.

Recognizing the Bottom; many suggest we will only see the Bottom once we look in our rearview mirrors. The Bottom should be determined by a leveling off of selling prices. Here in Destin we have already seen this happening in the last 12 months Destiny By The Sea homes went from $334/sq ft in the first 6 months to $330/sq ft in the second 6 months and since the first of this year we have seen selling prices at $338/sq ft.

In another community called Diamond Lakes we have seen multiple offers on several properties and we are already seeing increasing numbers of homes and condo going under contract; in the last 7 days we have seen the following numbers go Pending in Destin and Santa Rosa Beach Florida.

• <= $300,000 – 30 have gone Pending
• $300,001 – $600,000 – 33 have gone Pending

I suggest that the Bottom is here and now if we get off the side lines and make it so. I you are looking at each other sitting on the fence waiting to see which of you jump first – I guarantee as soon a one jumps all the rest will follow – somebody please jump and let’s get this baby going.

I am a real estate broker in Destin Fl and I hear each of these sentences at least 10 times a week;

1. “I’m looking for a DEAL”
2. “I paid X dollars for this place in 2004 and I am not going to give it away”.

 For the record there are no deals – there is only FAIR MARKET VALUE. The days of “the DEALS” for now are a thing of the past – deals existed when mortgages were substantially below FAIR MARKET VALUE – when a property owner fell on unfortunate times, could not afford to pay their mortgage and the property went up for auction and was sold at was considered to be a deal, because the selling price was below fair market value and closer to liquidated value or the remaining mortgage value.

Today the mortgage amounts are far greater than market value – the lenders are taking great losses with the Short and Foreclosure sales – these selling prices are based on appraised value as are those properties sold by motivated sellers. Believe it or not properties have been selling here and there are baseline values for every type of property on the market for sale today. So yes everyone knows what the expected selling price of  a specific property will be because it is based on Comparables which are public record. If you compare today’s property values to those of 2004 – these are not deals as much as they are today’s fair market value properties that can be afforded by a broader spectrum of home buyers hence the return of so many first time home buyers.

 Just this week 71 properties went to contract in the Destin Florida real estate market; this includes homes, condos & townhomes from Destin proper to Santa Rosa Beach south of the bay. Properties are selling and there are sold comparables that will tell the lenders, buyers and sellers the fair market value of these properties.

 “Not giving it away” – this giving it away is not what I or anyone else expects a seller to do? The problem seems to be that many sellers (yes they are shrinking in number) are not yet convinced that their properties have not depreciated like the rest of the comparable properties of this cyclical real estate market. The impression that their property will be bought by that one emotional buyer who falls in love with and cannot live without buying their property is the stuff dreams are made of. Even if an emotional buyer falls in love with their property likelihood is that they will still get it appraised or will finance the property and in both cases will not appraise.

 Sellers continue to remind me what they could have sold their property for $X in 2004. I would like to suggest that their properties did not sell when every other overpriced property was selling and 5 years later it still has not sold – even with slight price deductions along the way they still have not reduced their price to today’s values – this is called chasing the market. Truth be known their property – is not – and – has not – appreciated with what it is costing them to keep it and we are not going to see those unbelievable values of 2004 return in the foreseeable future.

Short Sales – Bank Foreclosures – Motivated Sellers – this is what is selling today – they are not giving the properties away – money is actually changing hands – everyone is actually happy at the closing table and these are NOT DEALS – these sales are fair market value sales. These sold prices continue to reinforce fair market values and sooner or later we will forget about those good ole days and today’s price will finally be considered Fair Market Value.

Buyers Returning to Destin Florida

Buyers are returning to the Destin Florida real estate market – because believe it or not – today’s buyers are also the smart successful sellers of real property yesterday. Want to know why they are so smart? Because financially they are secure, they’ve got the 20% & 25% down payments, their credit scores are good and they know that by selling their property at today’s fair market value it can be replaced by property bought at today’s fair market value. These buyers were sellers that sold and closed on their real estate either here in Destin Fl or they sold their properties in our feeder markets like – Memphis Tennessee – Atlanta Georgia – Little Rock Arkansas & Birmingham Alabama. They are also coming from many of our southeast’s drive to neighbors who have also sold real property in their small towns, villages and cities real estate markets; they drive to Destin Florida because they love enjoying our beaches, fishing and golf – they are selling and closing their properties to cash in at today’s values.

Ask me what this all means to you – I can tell you that this will and is beginning to snowball – as more and more sellers close on their sold properties they are becoming buyers, as more buyers enter the market more property will be sold – more property sold more buyers again.

Want to know where the bottom is – its here right under our noses and no matter what the media says – it is people that drive our economy. I own a small real estate resort brokerage in Destin Florida – my agents are all busy showing a lot of property – on average we are writing 3 transactions per week, we are even seeing mutlipule offers on some properties. I ask every buyer who comes into our office why they are buying today and they tell me the time is now. You know, much like a sale at any retail establishment there are only so many units that they can sell; buyers sift through the racks and pick the choice pieces leaving the rest, the leftovers go to the late comers. Know what happens next – the inventory that was sold at a discount has to be replaced and the new inventory based on this new demand becomes higher priced inventory.

My agents are showing and selling more property today then they had 12 months ago, we have more agents showing and writing contracts on our listings today then we had a year ago. If the bottom is not here right now then we are within just a few percentage points of the bottom. Today’s buyers must be buying for the more traditional 5 – 7 year hold time so the few percentage points that may or may not remain on the table, especially at today’s interest rates is insignificant.