chelsea@maddenre.com │ (603) 828-2490
chelsea@maddenre.com │ (603) 828-2490
chelsea@maddenre.com │ (603) 828-2490
CHELSEA CONLEY│SEACOAST NH
Landscaping / Hardscaping
- Anchor Landscape
- J.L Young Landscapes
* good timeline and budget
- Pearls Landscape (603) 817-0923 Chris Pearl
- Millennium Granite Stone (207) 646-8368
- McDermott Design Design (603) 531-8001
Scott
Moving
Anchor Landscape
Updated: Mar 4, 2022
An above average
"Pizza Home"
In real estate, you know it would be wise to get information on the "current real estate market" in your area. Easier said than done. There is a lot of ways to get information, but how you digest the information is important. Here are a few different ways you can look at market trends in your town.
You can look up real estate articles from a local news source
You can ask your real estate agent for marketing data
You can also ask your real estate agent for help reading this data...
"Home sales" data is almost always collected after the fact. It is known as "lagging data" because it is somewhat old by the time we read about it. You are looking at homes online today, but you are comparing prices with homes that were available six or more weeks ago,
Other things that affect the market price include:
The number of similar homes for sale at a current time period
The number of buyers looking for a home in a similar price range
Seasonality! More data is collected in the late spring and summer months in most states, because more homes are being sold during those time periods.
Homes are put on the market for sale (the listing price) but they don't really reflect a home's market value. Your real estate agent can help you figure out what the best data to use, which takes into consideration ALL of the above information. Great! Now.. you have the data and you are looking at the average price and the median price
The first question when looking at a specific home is:
"How do you know a home is worth the money?"
The words "average" and "median" are often used incorrectly and interchangeably when reporting data and can lead to picking whatever number is skewed in the interpreter's favor.
Zillow likes to use the word typical, whatever that means...
The Average also known as the "mean" of a certain set of numbers is
the total of all the numbers / divided by the number of items in a "set."
The Median of a certain set of numbers is
exactly half of the numbers are lower and half of the numbers are higher.
Quarter 2 Data for NH Rockingham County
Residential Real Estate Report (April, May, June)
TOTAL:
Single Family Homes Sold: 933
Condos Sold: 472
Mobile Homes Sold: 57
Greenland, NH
Average: If you add up all the prices in the "closed price" column from the chart above, and divide by 7 (the number of homes) you get the average price of $736,214
Median: If you place all of the "closed price" homes in order from most expensive to least expensive, and find the MIDDLE number - that is your median price. $789,000
Great! Which one is better?
Best to use both numbers.
Check to determine how close together these two numbers are. The distance between Average and Median numbers will help you recognize any outliers in your "average." If you eliminate the outlier prices, or Square Footage - any set of numbers, you can see a more accurate picture.
The issue with using only an "average sale price" is the influence of higher-priced homes. If one or more properties were sold at an extraordinarily high or low price, the average is skewed higher or lower as a result. The use of only the average price becomes unreliable out of context.
The median sale price, then, represents the figure at which half of the properties are higher, and half are lower. According to Redfin "The U.S. Census Bureau lists national median and average sale prices for the past several decades, and the Federal Housing Finance Administration uses these and other figures to
create the House Price Index."
Updated: Mar 3, 2022
Delayed Showings -
Sometimes a home can go under agreement before showings are permitted. Delayed Showings can sometimes appear as a huge disadvantage to buyers who have a tight timeline to purchase a property. A common scenario is with Condo Units, and most commonly after a similar condo and layout were recently on the market. Buyers who may have lost an offer on the previous condo need no reason to see one again. They simply resubmit an offer to the Condo with a delayed showing.
This is Crazy?! How can buyers be allowed to place offers on properties, but not be allowed to go inside them?
While in competitive markets this can seem like a huge disadvantage - For the most -part, it’s about being prepared.
As a buyer, you don’t want to spend your precious time dwelling on what decisions the other side makes, or doesn't make.
You want to spend your time game planning and making important decisions. This way you could have an offer ready to submit and your agent can send it over before you even leave the showing on Friday.
Important questions beyond going to physically see the property include:
Looking up the taxes, and talking to the town hall.
Looking at any neighborhood covenants and looking for things unaligned with your lifestlye:
Can you keep your RV in the driveway?
Can you build a pool?
Some of these covenants/rules are from the 1970s or later, and may or may not be enforced. The neighborhood dictates the leniency with certain rules that technically "Run with the land" - do not expire. For more on Delayed Showings and NEREN's Clear Cooperation Policies - read on.
Clear Cooperation Policy NEREN Rule 2.10
NEREN MLS (New England Real Estate Network) rule 2.10 requires all residential properties be submitted to the MLS within 48 hours of an executed agreement (the listing contract.)
NAR (National Association of Realtors) announced in November 2018, the "Clear Cooperation Policy" which states the above.
NEREN RULES Section 2.10
"Availability of Listings: Listing brokers shall not misrepresent the availability of access to show or inspect the listed property. Beginning no more than 48 hours after initial listing input, the listing shall be available to be shown to all buyers/lessees for so long as the listing remains in an Active or Active Under Contract status..."
A summary of these policies states:
If you market a property in any way: You have to list it.
If you have to list it within 48 hours: You have to show it. UNLESS you "Delay the Showings"
The good news is, you don't have to wait patiently...tirelessly in Buyer’s Purgatory.
Here are some more tips and tricks to help you win the deal in a competitive seller's market.
As a buyer, you want to prepare ahead of time. USE YOUR RESOURCES. Your agent.
Your agent can help you gather pertinent documents to a home, direct you to the experts -
keep a record of what you have discovered (just ask your agent)
it is never too early to read up on:
- Town Hall Documents
- The Listing Packet
- Property Disclosures from the Seller
- Neighborhood Research
- Local Building Codes
** Practice Writing Offers
Armed with this information, you can get a birds-eye view of the home you are getting ready to buy. Offers from buyers can appear at any time, delayed showings or not.
If this is your first time purchasing a home, practice practice practice.
Sit down with your agent and go over different offer styles. Right now there are 3...4.. maybe 6 different ways I can think to present the same offer.
It is specific to the motivations of the sellers, and what you need as a buyer. Practice is great for both parties, buyers, and agents - and will give you both confidence to act fast.
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MARKET UPDATE April 2020
The New Hampshire real estate market is monumental in many aspects. A new report from the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority said one-third of buyers this year have come from out of state, mostly from Massachusetts.
Winter in Southern New Hampshire is notorious for quick sales, and quick closings.
COVID-19 aside, winter can be a great time to sell a home!
Reasons for fast closing:
Family Properties
Probate Sales
Sellers with a motive to move
That condo in Florida or South Carolina that just came available.
New covid regulations lessened travel, migrated city workers, and enticed investors who lean away from unpredictable money markets, jumping into real estate with cash.
Sometimes even getting to a showing can feel like a lottery win.
Thinking about waiving the building inspection contingency?
Finding problems before a home inspection just takes a little bit of elbow grease, creative thinking and a friend who loves to Google. When it comes to your next home purchase, a great agent will go to work with you.
More often than not, the homes on the market right now have some pretty intense deadlines.
REAL-LIFE EXAMPLES FROM THIS PAST WEEK:
The biggest trick is to not get discouraged. Be prepared and do your due diligence. Drive by the house, talk with neighbors if you can. Take a trip to town hall for more paperwork.
We as agents are here to help you get to work.
One of my favorite things about real estate is the paper trails we can follow. Work done on a home can be well documented. Town Hall Records are great for finding information. You would be surprised to see what we can find in 24 hours.
A delayed showing is an agreement, between the sellers and their listing agent, to list a home without showing the home right away. Generally speaking, delayed showings (also known as 'deferred showings') are typically set up to start anywhere from 3 to 7 days after the home is listed on MLS.
A “Coming Soon” approach.
Delayed showings work dynamically. They could be a sales tactic, or they can be a necessity. One angle is to build momentum for the sale of a home. Restricting viewings to 1-2 days over the weekend. Delayed Showings paired with strict "offer deadlines" the same day, can create major urgency for buyers.
They can also give a seller more time to prepare for a showing. If a seller still lives in the home, they can schedule a time to leave for showings and Open Houses.
For Example:
RULES for delayed showings. NEREN RULE 2.10
A listing agent may tell you they simply cannot show the home early. This is true. If you see “Delayed Showing" on a listing. All clients, agents, and unrepresented persons need to respect that date listed. Violations of a delayed showing can be up to $2,000 or more in fines.
The rules only seem to specify the date, not the time. If a showing says 1 pm, it can be shown at 10 am without penalty.
In January 2021, sellers are accepting offers “sight-unseen” before the delayed showing.
Plans change. Listings get edited for morning showings. You and your agent need to be ready for abrupt changes in the showing schedule.
BE READY:
Make note of delayed showings. Try to find out the "why?" If there is no obvious reason, it may be designed to support a quick and expensive sale.
I recently encountered this with a client, and it was a bummer.
I share this story as a reminder NOT to get hung up on things you cannot control, but to educate yourself and other buyers. Be prepared for fast change.
Monday Morning:
A condo appeared on the MLS - This checked all the boxes for my client.
123 Easy Street: “Delayed showings.”
Showings to begin at the Open House on Friday.
I quickly emailed the listing agent to ask about the property.
As above mentioned, to anticipate any changes.
The listing agent emailed back to say:
we will have to wait until the open house,
per their agreement with their sellers.
I asked If we should schedule an appointment earlier that day...
I tried to ask a different way. See if I could get some insight…
No Chance. Friday Open House it is.
Tuesday Morning:
I got a short email from the Seller’s Agent I spoke to earlier.
“Emailing to let you know the Open House is canceled, my seller accepted an offer."
How can this happen? Why didn't my buyers get a chance to make an offer?"
It appears unbelievable, but you don’t want to get hung up.
(1) You can take the risk and write an offer to submit. Agents can present back-up offers to sellers quickly. If anything changes in the contract, you would be early in line to get a call.
(2) You can keep in touch. Perhaps that is a big risk to take. No harm in staying in communication with your agent, letting them know you want updates on the house. They should be happy to do that for you.
Later Discoveries on the Condo example, because I’m kinda a snoop...
Turns out, the condo RIGHT next door had sold a month earlier. I could make an *educated guess* that someone with a back-up offer for Condo #1 - went and put an early offer on this condo the day it went to market.
At the end of the day, it is always the seller’s decision. Sometimes you will never know why your offer got rejected. -OR - why you weren’t even allowed to submit an offer. Harsh.
Remember: It’s not always a “shoulda, woulda coulda.”
Sometimes a sketchy sale can mean a sketchy house.
A kind of warning that you should stray away from.
With the guidance of your agent, you can start to notice the difference.
