Bucks County Real Estate trends

In an interesting article this morning, the Bucks County Courier Times,  finally acknowledged what I have been discussing with buyers and sellers for all of 2007, which is that, although we in Bucks County are experiencing a difficult market for sellers, things are nowhere nearly as bad here, as they are in many parts of the country.  As the article states (http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/111-01282008-1478346.html) "Bucks County fared better than the region and the nation, in home sales last year. "  For all of Bucks County, according to market statistics, the number of home sales declined by about 4%, for all of 2007, from 2006.  To put that in perspective, nationally, home sales dropped 13%, between 2006 and 2007.

Even within Bucks County, individual Townships and Boro's, did not necessarily perform exactly the same as the county as a whole.  For example, according to our MLS statistics, Lower Makefield Township actually had an increase in the number of units that sold in 2007, as compared with 2006.  (439 units closed in 2006, 460 closed in 2007)  Upper Makefield actually saw a 12% drop in the number of sold units from 2006 to 2007. (125 sold in 2006, while 110 sold in 2007)

Interestingly enough, despite the tough market conditions, inventory of homes actually declined in virtually all of the Bucks County markets, from November 2007, to December 2007.  This was the case in Lower Makefield, Morrisville, Newtown, Soleburry, Buckingham and Northampton.   What this all means, is that in terms of months of inventory, several markets are actually trending towards a more balanced condition.  For example, Lower Makefield had approximately 5 months of inventor, Newtown Township had 6 months of inventory, as did Northampton Township.  Upper Makefield and Solebury remained solidly in a, buyers market, scenario.  Upper Makefield and Solebury, each have approximately 14 months of inventory.

What all of this means to buyers and sellers in Bucks County, is that it is a mistake to presume that nothing is selling.  Buyers are making offers every day, and sellers are accepting offers every day.  Interest rates have dropped to almost historic low levels, and there are still lots of choices for buyers.  Buyers are actually seeing an average of 5% discount from the list price.  As always, price is critically important.  Overpriced listings will stay on the market and get stale.  Listings that are priced correctly, given the current market conditions, do get shown, and will attract offers. 

For those reading this post, who are in Bucks County in Pennsylvania, or Mercer County, in New Jersey, I have a program that allows a consumer to track from their own computer, sales activity in their neighborhood, and the program will actually show how long homes stay on the market, and it will also track discounts from list price.  In addition to that, it will track pricing trend lines, so you can really see what prices are doing, in  your specific neighborhood.  If you are interested in that, just drop me an e-mail, and I will set it up for you.

New year's post

Since this is my first post of the new year, I wanted to wish everyone a very happy, healthy, peaceful and prosperous, new year.  In whatever way, or whatever holiday you celebrated, I hope that you had a chance to spend time with your family and loved ones. 

I always love the holiday's because, although real estate activity tends to slow down, I have the opportunity to spend more time with my wife, Jane, and our children.  We have 3 children, and are fortunate that we are so much a part of their lives.  Our oldest daughter, Rachel, is a practicing psychologist with offices in Yardley, and Lawrenceville.  She is also on the staff of Einstein Medical Center, in Philadelphia.  Our middle child, Lauren, owns a Coldstone Creamery Ice Cream store, just outside of Princeton, and our youngest, Michael, who graduated from the University of Maryland a couple of years ago, is tending bar in Philadelphia, while he figures out what he wants to do with the next chapter of his life. 

Every year, at our annual family new year celebration, we go around the room and ask every participant to express what they were thankful about from the past year, and to also say what they are passionate about for the upcoming year.  In my case, I feel incredibly fortunate to have such a great family.  We are close to all of our kids, and their significant others.  We have fun together, and most importantly, we are all healthy!  On a personal note, one of my goals for 2007, was to start to learn how to play the guitar.  I love music, and it is something that I have wanted to do for years.  As each year passed, I got a year older, but still could not play the guitar.  About 6 months ago, I finally started to take lessons. I absolutely love it, and practice virtually every day.  Who knows, maybe by the end of this year, I will be ready for public consumption.

Besides my family, music, and basketball (which I play about 3 times a week) I am very passionate and committed to giving back to the community that has been so good to us.  I am still involved with the Trenton Public Education Foundation.  I am working on an exciting project that I was introduced to by a wonderful teacher at Trenton High, who is offering a program to students, called, "From snapshots to the workplace: using industry standard software to engage students in a career focused course."  The Trenton school district is a very poor district, and unfortunately, their computers are so old and outdated, that they actually will not run current industry standard software.  I am working, through a foundation that my daughter is involved with, on getting new Mac computer systems into the school, so that the teacher can offer this exciting opportunity to her students.  I passionately believe that many of the worlds problems can be solved through education and economic opportunity.  I believe that people who are educated and have an economic future, don't generally blow themselves up, or shoot their neighbors.

Another charity that I am happy to have supported, is CARE. (http://www.Care.org)  This outstanding organization helps disadvantaged women all over the globe.  A wonderful group of women, called, "The Web Women's Giving Circle", (http://www.realtown.com/caremoregivingcircle/blog) re-introduced me to this outstanding charity. 

So I realize that this post included nothing specific about real estate.  In future posts, I intend to offer some very interesting observations from the National Association of Realtor's (NAR) profile of home buyers and sellers, which I just received for 2007.  I will also update everyone, statistically, with what is happening in our local market. 

As I end for now, I just wanted to thank again, all of the buyers and sellers who have honored me by trusting me with their real estate business.  All the best to everyone, in 2008!