Housing Market in Bloom?

After our short bout of wintery weather, I’m feeling rather eager to see the spring (and even more so the summer). Part of what makes San Antonio so great is the fantastic weather. As the temperatures thaw and our days get warmer, I’m seeing a pick up in real estate activity. More people searching for homes, more questions being asked, more phone calls being made, and an overall increase in traffic to this website. As I shake off the final remnants of a wicked cold, I wanted to discuss a few preparations that you should all be thinking about over the next few weeks as you prepare to sell your San Antonio home.

Selling your home in San Antonio

Spring cleaning – No one loves the thought of spring cleaning, but we all know that a house that sparkles will sell faster. Think of it this way, as February and March move along, many new homes will enter the real estate market. If you had two homes to pick from that were similar in shape, size, and amenities; which would you choose – the one that looked like the homeowner’s had kept shiny and clean through the winter months or the one that didn’t? Now multiply that by the number of homes that are going to be on the market soon and you’ll see the big picture. Your home has to be better than all the rest. Get out the mop and broom, change the filters in your heater, pick up the trash that has blown into the flower beds (it’s been windy this winter), shine up the windows, and clear out the clutter. Let’s get that house sold!

Price right, price strong – You’re going to have a lot of competition in the coming months, so you’re going to want to be priced right from the start. Long gone are the days when you could test the market with a high price and hope someone would bite. Buyers are quick to dismiss a property these days if the price doesn’t suit their needs. In fact, pricing has become more important than ever because buyers are willing to wait out a seller. And once the price reductions begin, the buyers think they’re on to something and tend to wait even more, hoping the seller has only started their desperate reductions. It’s a dangerous game to play. Take a look a comparative market analysis (email me to request one), look at the current market conditions, and devise a marketing plan with your Realtor®.

Offer more than expected – Sometimes, it’s the little things that make your home stand out from the others. Offering a home warranty (I cover my seller’s under a home warranty at my own cost for the duration of their listing) or appliances (washers and dryers, media room equipment, refrigerators, etc.) as part of the listing can entice the buyer to choose your home over a similar home in the neighborhood. It’s also less you have to pack on moving day. Don’t think you’ll get a dollar for dollar value for these items though – this is a big mistake I see made quite often. Today’s buyer is being enticed to new home communities with large incentives and upgrade packages. Some of your biggest competition is going to be local builders who have the deep pockets to slash prices and give buyers more than than they expect. Although most home sellers can’t afford the kind of incentives a builder can, offering more than expected can be the deciding factor for a home buyer.

Get your home on the market!

It’s time to get that home on the market. So spruce up your home, give me a call, and let’s get that home listed! I’ll work to price the home right, get the marketing machine in gear, and get the buyers into your home. From the minute the for sale sign goes in your yard to the day you sign off on the contract and hand over your keys, I’ll be there with you every step of the way.

Free Market Analysis

photo courtesy of quinet

How’s the market in San Antonio?

“How’s the market?” It’s the question on everyone’s mind. Even when people looking to buy or sell, they always want to know where the market stands. We all know the real estate market has been… uh, interesting, to say the least… over the past few years. We’ve all heard the news and by now know that San Antonio real estate has fared better than most, but what does that mean?

Ups and downs

The real estate market in San Antonio (viewed as a whole in the chart above) is complex and different from area to area, but I wanted to look at the overall picture for our city today. As you can see both inventory and median price have been on a decline. This is actually interesting as typically (when markets behave under the rules), these two numbers will move inversely to each other. It’s the law of supply and demand. With our economy in flux and the mess created by the housing crisis however, markets (in real estate and elsewhere) haven’t quite been abiding by those rules.

The decline in inventory is a good sign – people are buying houses. San Antonio homes are being bought at a quicker pace then they are being purchased. Eventually prices will be pushed higher with the decline in inventory, but for now, prices are remaining on the lower side. As this data encompasses all of San Antonio, it’s helpful to remember that it includes thriving areas and declining areas. The best method for getting a true picture of your market is to look at the data on the zip code level, then look even deeper at the neighborhood level with your Realtor® when you’re ready to consider buying or selling.

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photo courtesy of Lenni!

Data Gold Mine

The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s HUD User website is a gold mine of statistical data on economic and market conditions. Whether you’re an investor looking to see what current and projected rental market conditions are or just someone who loves data on housing, jobs, and population; HUD’s Regional Economic and Market Analysis has reports on many areas of the country including San Antonio.

Reading through the San Antonio Comprehensive Market Analysis (PDF file), I found much of the data to be inline with conventional thought about San Antonio – our population is growing and our value in housing for investment or personal living purposes remains strong. Although the data is based off of statistics from October 1, 2008 (and prior), projections in the report extend to October 1, 2011 and most of the projections for 2008 to present are inline with what we’ve been seeing (job growth thanks to the military and economic conditions such as affordable housing, growth in population keeping pace with our local economic growth, and a relatively stable housing market).

The San Antonio report is definitely worth a read if you’re looking for data on our local area. When you’re ready to dig down deeper in localized markets, visit the San Antonio Housing Market Report section of this site for real estate data by zip code.

photo courtesy of jimmothy05

Should You Stay or Should You Go?

In my daily reading today, I came across an excellent article, “5 Reasons You Should Sell Your House Today!” on the Keeping Current Matters Blog. Typically, a title like this might me think the post will be a bit of the “rah rah rah” type, but in reading it, I found myself nodding my head along in agreement.

The article is a definite must read for anyone considering selling their home today or debating when to list their home on the market. There are a lot of factors that play into the timing of entering the market and at this moment, it seems the stars have aligned for home sellers who are serious about doing all they can to get their home sold. Selling your home will still take realistic pricing, maximum exposure, and attention to detail in order to make your home stand out from the crowd, but each of these three items (the three basic building blocks of successful home selling) work in conjunction with each other to produce results, even in the current San Antonio real estate market.

photo courtesy of woodleywonderworks

While the summer heats up, San Antonio home prices are moving upward. The San Antonio real estate market can be looked at by zip code for more in-depth coverage, but the overall median home price has moved up slowly over the past two months. However, inventory is also on the rise, which typically doesn’t help any upward swing in pricing. San Antonio is still strongly in a buyer’s market, so if you’re thinking of selling your San Antonio home you should still be pricing your home right and doing everything you can to make sure your home stands out among the crowd.

San Antonio 78250 has overall been a good real estate market to be in. Slow but steady gains in median price have actually allowed the area to gain value over the past year with only a slight loss in that period that has quickly recovered and gone beyond. As an area, it is convenient to many popular parts of town, making an ideal place to live for many residents, and with its relatively low home-entry price, many residents look to it when considering their first homes.

Inventory levels do look a bit concerning as they have risen sharply and I can attest to the rise in levels personally, as I used to live in this part of town and have seen many more for sale signs than I had in the past. My experience living in San Antonio 78250 tells me that a lot of the sales are related to price more than anything else. Most of the residents I met in the area had been there for quite some time and bought their homes when they were relatively cheap. In selling today, most are looking to cash out and “move up.” There are also a decent amount of real estate investors in this area with rental homes and as we’ve seen in other areas, there are many looking to get out of the landlord business as the economy takes its toll on their bottom line.

San Antonio 78249 has gone through declines in median price, much like other areas of San Antonio, but as you can see from the chart, the ride has been relatively smooth. Avoiding the sharp ups and down of some other zip codes, the market is proceeding in a clam fashion, whether prices are on an upward climb or heading south. Watching inventory in this segment of the market will be key to determining future pricing.

Once again, inventory in San Antonio 78249 has followed a much smoother path than other local real estate markets. The bad news is that inventory levels have almost hit 2009 levels once again. I chalk some of the inventory climb to the problems in Hills of Rivermist, as many home owners have wanted out of that neighborhood since January when the problems began. Having said that, Rivermist is not the only area of San Antonio 78249 with homes for sale. If inventory levels continue to climb, look for prices to decline once again.

Median prices in San Antonio 78248 is on the rise since earlier this year and I chalk it up to two things occurring. One, inventory levels were growing and growing leading into this year and two, prices finally became realistic. While looking at homes in this area with a client, we saw many home owners hanging onto prices that were too high at the time for homes that had lingering on the market for much too long. In real estate, the days on market (DOM) can speak volumes about a home (although these days, I feel it carries less weight) and greatly affect a buyer’s perception of pricing. As sellers brought their prices in line with the market, the homes began to sell (see the dip in inventory starting around September 2009). As inventories started to get lower and more buyers began to get back into the market in order to take advantage of the first time home buyer tax credit, prices began to rise once again (supply and demand).

As an established area of San Antonio, 78245 should continue to perform relatively well in our markets. With its mix of home prices and styles, there is a lot to offer in the neighborhoods of the area. The downward dip recently in inventory is a bit concerning though, as we may have reached critical mass with sales in 78245, which would lead inventory upward and median prices downward. We’ll have to keep an eye on the summer months to see what buyers are willing to do.

Although the median price chart for San Antonio 78245 looks like a wild ride, the fluctuations in price are not as wild as they seem. Currently, the median price for a home in 78245 is $129,950, which is about $3,000 off of prices levels a year ago. If builders in the area can stabilize their sales to a regular pace (with the miscellaneous incentives they\\’ve been offering over the past year), their inventories will decline to a point where they can begin building at a more normalized pace (many builders built a slew of homes leading into the end of the first time home buyer tax credit, but not nearly at the levels they were building previously.

Inventory levels is San Antonio 78245 have been similar to other San Antonio real estate markets with a rise through the year, followed by a brief decline during the rush towards the first time home buyer tax credit deadline. This area has been interesting to watch as it has remained a favorite of investors up until recently, as many are selling homes to get out of the landlord business. There were also more than a few foreclosures and short sales in this area, as military members were lured into large, cheap, and often risky loans by builders offering insane incentives as the land rush in this area go up to full steam.

There’s been a slight uptick in median home prices in San Antonio 78230, but so far, it’s not a major shift in pricing.  I expect prices to fluctuate a bit over the summer as people enter and leave the real estate market, however, I don’t see any signs of significant fluctuations at this point in time. These prices have dipped from their highs towards the end of 2009 (when the first time home buyer tax credit was originally set to expire) and it will take some large moves in inventory and buyer confidence to push prices back to those levels.

Housing inventory levels (the number of homes for sale in the given market), as you can see, are on the rise since March 2010. This often spells a downward trend for home prices in the long run as the availability of homes increases the competition in the neighborhood. One of the issues I’ve noticed in the San Antonio 78230 market is that sellers tend to hang onto their higher prices, despite downward pressure from the real estate market. I’ve also seen a lot of homes enter, exit, and rejoin the market over time (sometimes multiple times) and some of the increases could be caused by this somewhat localized trend.