Bucks County Market trends

I finally saw an article in the local press, yesterday (Feb 26th) that accurately described our local market.  Here is a link to the entire article, which appeared on the front page of the Philadelphia Inquirer. (http://www.philly.com/inquirer/real_estate/Houses_still_find_eager_buyers.html)  Basically, the article said that there are still situations in our current real estate market, where houses attract more than one buyer.  Essentially, it comes down to price.  If a house is priced appropriately, it will get shown, and it will sell.  According to the article, for all of 2007, the median price of houses sold in Bucks County, was down 0.3%, in 2007, which represents a pretty insignificant drop.  Even in terms of units, for the entire county, Bucks was off 4.4% for the previous year.  Again, if you read all of the national articles, you would presume that Bucks County is experiencing a real estate depression.  That is simply not the case.

Looking at the statistics locally, from January, some of our local markets, are actually ahead of last year.  Lower Makefield Township is up by more than 15%, and is Newtown Township.  Solebury and Buckingham Township are down.  Inventory has increased in virtually of our markets, in January, from December.  However, if you compare inventory this January, with last January, most markets are actually showing less inventory than a year ago.  Again, this varies on a township by township basis.  Sales discounts still continue to average around 5% or so, from the asking price. 

What all of the statistics mean from a local perspective, is that the market in Bucks County is nowhere nearly as weak as it is in some parts of the country.  Although it is still a buyers market, homes that are priced correctly can and do sell, and they can sell for pretty close to the asking price.  I recently had a listing in Yardley Boro, that was priced right, showed well, and sold the second day on the market, for virtually the asking price.  (http://101nmainstreet.com/)

Bucks County Real Estate, to open house, or not?

I came across a very interesting article in one of our local newspapers, last week, regarding open houses.  http://www.nj.com/starledger/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-13/120253533995340.xml&coll=1#continue

The article focused on a 72 year old resident of a New Jersey town, who spends about half the year in Florida, and claims that he and his wife have been visiting open houses for decades.  They say in the article, rather proudly, that they never go with any intent to buy anything, they are just nosy and curious.  So, the question is, although realtor open houses are a long time staple of the industry, do they work?

I was very fortunate, early in my real estate career, to have met a motivational speaker/trainer, by the name of Mike Ferry, who was extremely opposed to open houses.  I have continued to follow that training, for the most part.  As the article referenced above points out, very few buyers actually ever buy the house they came to the open house, to see.  More often than not,  I have found that visitors to open houses are nosy, and the least motivated buyers.  What most realtors don't tell their seller clients, is that realtors do open houses, to find clients.  That's great, except it doesn't do the job that the seller has hired us to do, which is to sell their house.  I have always felt that an open house was perhaps the most passive marketing strategy available to a realtor.  You don't have any way of qualifying the buyer, or to find out if they are serious about buying a house, or not.

With statistics showing that more than 90% of actual buyers in my market place, find that the Internet is the most important place for them to find the house they ultimately buy, along with information from their realtor, to me, those places are the most productive way to market properties. 

I don't mean to ruffle any feathers, for those realtors that do focus on doing open houses, but if you are a seller, and ask those realtors for an honest and open assessment of why they are holding open houses, Sunday after Sunday, most will admit that they are using the sellers house as a tool to attract clients, in the hope of selling them something else.  Again, this is a very personal perspective, and I know that there are many, successful agents, who might not agree with me, but it is an interesting conversation to have.  I have found that the overwhelming majority of my clients, when told that I am not a big believer in the open house strategy, are relieved, and tell me that they hated the idea of doing open houses, anyway. 

As always, your comments are welcome.

Yardley Pa weekends

I could write pages and pages about all the wonderful ways to spend weekends in Bucks County, and specifically, ways to enjoy the Yardley area , which is where I live.  One of the things that makes this area so fantastic, besides the area itself, is where we are, relative to great cities like Philadelphia and New York. To make this point, I will describe, what I consider to be, an almost perfect weekend, and from this, you will get an idea about some of the things we love to do.

Friday evening, my wife and I, had dinner at a wonderful bar/restaurant in Philadelphia, called GiGi. http://www.gigiphilly.com/ The food was wonderful, and since we dinning with our middle daughter, Lauren, and her friend, the company was wonderful as well.  Following dinner, we enjoyed a show at a small theater, called the Painted Bride. http://www.paintedbride.org/ The Painted Bride is an old theater, and is located in Old City, at 2nd & Vine. 

The reason this relates to Yardley, and Bucks County is that, center city Philadelphia, is only about a 30 minute drive from Yardley.  Philadelphia is very manageable, and is a great city.

On Saturday, after working for part of the day, my wife and I took the train into New York.  For those who don't know, New York City is only about an hour on the train, from either Trenton or Hamilton, which is only 15 or 20 minutes from Yardley.

Saturday night in New York, we went to hear an amazing singer-songwriter, Kristin Hoffmann http://www.kristinhoffmann.com/ at a club in the Village. http://www.caffevivaldi.com/ Kristin plays the piano and guitar, and her voice is incredibly beautiful.  Music is definitely one of my passions, and it was an amazing experience to be able to enjoy such a great performance, especially in such a cool environment.  Almost all of what Kristin sang, was her own music, but she sang a Sam Cooke song, "A change is gonna come", which is just a great song, and she also did a wonderful version of Amazing Grace. 

On Sunday, we enjoyed brunch at Marseilles http://www.marseillenyc.com/index.php and saw the play, "39 Steps", on Broadway. http://roundabouttheatre.org/39steps/index.htm

It was a great weekend, and again, relevant to Bucks County, because all of these wonderful opportunities, are within an easy drive or train, from our home.

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Super Bowl Sunday in Bucks County

The big day has finally arrived.  It is Super Bowl Sunday!  Here in Bucks County, I have to say, it does not feel like an early February, Super Bowl day.  The temperature is in the 50's, and the local golf courses are doing an incredible business, considering it is mid-winter.  http://www.makefieldhighlands.com/layout9.asp?id=133&page=1869

I think the biggest challenge for our Philadelphia area, is who to root for.  Bucks County is right on the edge of the Philadelphia metropolitan area, but also close enough to New York, that there are many avid New York supporters.  For most sports, I am a Philly sports phanatic.  I root for the Sixers in basketball, and the Eagles in football.  My rooting interest in baseball is somewhat odd, considering where we live.  I have been a Chicago White Sox fan, since I was about 7 years old.  As a topic for another post, I do remember the White Sox days of Nellie Fox and Luis Aparicio. 

The challenge for today, though, being an Eagles fan, is to try and figure out who to root for in the Super Bowl.  Personally, I am rooting for the Giants.  I did not come to this position easily.  If you root for the Eagles, it is almost sacreligious, to root for the New York Giants.  The only thing worse, would be to root for Dallas.  I view this process as choosing the lesser of two evils.  I have had enough of the New England Patriots, Tom Brady and their coach.  I am sure part of that is jealousy, since it has been decades since Philadelphia has won anything.  I admire how the Giants have reached this spot, considering where they started from.  The problem is, I will have to deal with listening to the gloating New York fans, who call into Philly sports talk radio. http://www.610wip.com/

The Philly-NewYork thing, really makes for an interesing rivalry.  Both cities have incredibly passionate, supportive fans.  However, for today, I am a Giants fan.  I will deal with the consequences should they win.  In the meantime, my kids might ask me to sit on the other side of the room from them.  They are of the mindset, that you can't be a true Philadelphia fan, and cheer for the Giants.  It should all be fun!

Enjoy the day.