St George, Utah
This is the very best weblog you can visit to find information about real estate and what's happening in Southern Utah. We post here often about present conditions of the real estate market in Washington County and how you can benefit as either a buyer or seller. Visit our website to search the Washington County MLS anytime without having to register your name at www.BassoGroup.com
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May. 4, 2009
How bad is the market in the Greater St George area? Well, there is good news and bad news. The good news is that there are 2367 single family homes on the market compared with 2646 homes on the market last year, which represents a 10% decrease in inventory. The bad news, at least for sellers, is that the average sales price this year is $291,155 compared with $360,286 last year. That is a 19% drop in average price. There are currently 340 homes “under contract” which is 5% more homes expected to close than there were last year at this time.
The condo/townhome market isn’t faring as well as single family homes. There are currently 19% less homes “under contract” than the previous year and the number of sales is down 41%. The average sales price of a condo/townhome last year was $189,922 and this year that price has dropped a whopping 34% to $124,797.
While these figures are not good news for sellers, they are great for buyers. Not only are home prices much, much lower than they were a year ago, there are lots of other incentives for buyers.
First time homebuyers are eligible to receive a $10,000 assistance grant from the City of St George to be used to help with down payments and closing costs for home purchases in the City of St George. The State of Utah is also offering an incentive for home buyers who are purchasing a brand new home in Utah by offering them a $6000 incentive to help with their closing costs. The Federal Government is giving first time homebuyers an $8000 tax credit that they don’t have to pay back!
Coupled with the very low interest rates that are currently available; there hasn’t been a better time in Southern Utah to purchase a home, whether you are a first time buyer or making a purchase of a second or investment home.
Dec. 6, 2008
If you are in need of a trusted and competent "home related" service located in Southern Utah, and you don't know who to call then you need to book mark this new website http://www.SouthernUtahHomeServices.com. Many of the businesses listed on the site has a link to their own business website for additional information.
When you call one of the home service businesses who are affiliated with "Southern Utah's Home Services" you can be assured of excellent service, dependability, guaranteed performance, honesty, and competitive prices.
Why take a chance on calling someone from a phone book or newspaper ad that you don't know when you can call one of our proven professionals and be assured of excellent service.
Each of the businesses in this group are licensed and insured. Keep checking back on this site as we are adding more members on a regular basis.
Dec. 4, 2008
Categorized in: Tips for Buyers
The 12 reasons to buy a home during the holidays:
1. Loan programs and limits are constantly changing. Current programs and limits, such as FHA, may not be available in 2009 after changes in our government take place.
2. There are less buyers shopping for a home during the holidays, therefore you may be in a stronger negotiating position.
3. With fewer buyers on the market during the holidays, there may be fewer multiple offer situations, especially in REO and Short Sale properties.
4. The transaction load is lighter for many lenders at this time of year, so your file may be handled quicker, more efficiently, and more accurately. This holds true for Title and Escrow.
5. It’s nice to get a feel for a home when it’s decorated for the holidays.
6. You may have more vacation or free time during the holidays instead of having to ask for time off work to look at homes, complete paperwork, attend signings, etc.
7. You can show your visiting friends and family your prospective new home.
8. With fewer buyers on the market, it may be easier to schedule inspections, etc. allowing you to shorten your contingency period in exchange for more favorable terms.
9. You’ll be enjoying your new home in the spring instead of waiting to move in.
10. January is typically the best time of year to buy decorating items or home improvement items as the retail industry doesn’t want a huge slump after the boom in holiday shopping.
11. If you have kids, they can transfer to their new school at the start of the new semester and avoid “getting behind”.
12. What could be a better gift for the family than a new home for the holidays?
Are you ready to buy? Call the Basso Group today to set up an appointment to get started.
Nov. 12, 2008
THIS IS NOT A SPIELBERG MOVIE SET, THIS COULD BE YOUR BACKYARD!!
Homes with this backdrop have never been more affordable!
435-680-5178 Search the Southern Utah MLS
Nov. 7, 2008
WHAT IS A SHORT SALE?
A short sale is when a lender agrees to accept less from a homeowner than the amount that is owed on the mortgage. The property may have more than one loan, in which case both lenders must agree to a short sale.
HOW DO I DETERMINE THE LIST PRICE?
The best way to determine the list price is to enlist the help of an experienced Realtor® who can prepare a Comparative Market Analysys. This analysis, or CMA, will include comparable properties that have recently sold, are currently on the market, or have not sold because the price was too high for the market. The list price may be less than the underlying loans against the property, and it should be listed at a price that will attract buyers. An experienced real estate agent will be able to tell you what homes like yours have been selling for, and what price will attract the most buyers.
HOW DO YOU GET YOUR LENDER TO AGREE TO A SHORT SALE?
Homeowners who are considering a short sale need to provide their lenders with a hardship letter explaining why the seller cannot afford to continue to stay in the home. They will also need to provide the lender with bank statements, tax returns, profit and loss statement, list of assets, list of debts, etc.
The lender will also require that you have your home listed through your local Multiple Listing Service. They will not allow you to try to sell your home by owner. They want the property to be exposed to the greatest number of buyers, which includes the MLS. Some lenders won't agree to a short sale until there is an accepted offer on the property.
HOW LONG DOES THIS PROCESS TAKE?
Short sales, unfortunately, can take months to complete. From the time the property is listed to getting an offer, to getting the offer accepted by the lender can take from 2 to 6 months. It is dependent on a number of details; one of the major reasons that short sales take so long is that the Realtors® involved are not experienced in transacting short sales and haven't taken care of the necessary paperwork. Another reason is that there are so many short sales taking place that the lenders can't keep up with the demand. We have heard of offers that were submitted to the lenders becoming "lost" and the agents having to re-submit their offers and start over.
WHAT IF THE LENDER REJECTS THE SHORT SALE?
If the lender rejects the short sale, there are a few alternatives the homeowner can take. They can find out through their Realtor® why the lender rejected the short sale and re-submit the paperwork to the lenders specifications, they can choose foreclosure, or they can request a deed in lieu of foreclosure from the lender. These are issues that the homeowner can discuss with their real estate agent.
WHAT HAPPENS TO MY CREDIT WITH A SHORT SALE?
A homeowner in default is technically "in collection". These events are reported to all three bureaus as "Score Factor Code #22". The real difference between short sale and foreclosure on the homeowners credit is that the homeowner who has sold their home through a short sale is eligible to purchase another home in two years as opposed to 5 years for a foreclosure. Both foreclosure and short sale will stay on the homeowners credit report for 10 years.
If you would like additional information on short sales, or if you know of someone who could use the counsel of experienced real estate agents, please call of email us.
Nov. 6, 2008
There is good news and bad news in our local real estate market. The good news is that there are some sales. But the bad news is that there aren’t too many and the prices are lower than they were just this past Summer. In October, there were 190 total sales in the County (including residential, land, lots, commercial and multifamily) and the average sales price was $213,746. In June of this year the average sales price was $290,741.
There are currently about 6319 active listings in the MLS, this includes single family, condo/townhome, lots, land, multifamily, and commercial. With only 190 total sales last month, that leaves us with 33.26 months worth of inventory, up from June with 25.63 months of inventory.
Single family home sales in Washington County have dropped 18% this year to date, compared with the same time period last year.
As can be expected, new home sales have dropped considerably from last year, a whooping 85% overall.
If you would like to know what is going on in your neighborhood, or a statistic that we didn’t address here, please feel free to call us. We would love to chat with you about our market.
Sep. 28, 2008
I am going to give you the year-to-date statistics this month to give you an idea of where we are at in comparison with last year.
Last year at this time there were 1513 single family homes that had sold at an average sales price of $343,137, this year there have been 1173 sales of single family homes at an average sales price of $313,877, which represents a 22% decrease in the number of homes sold this year.
The most dramatic change in our market this year in comparison to last year is in new construction . Last year there were 43 sales of new homes and this year the number has dropped to just 7 new homes sold for an 83% decrease in the sale of new homes from last year at this time. While this isn’t great news for all of the businesses that depend on construction, it is great news for sellers who have been competing with new homes to sell their homes for the past several years.
Subdivided lots, which were selling like hot-cakes in 2005/06, have slowed down considerably this year. There was a 56% decrease in the number of lots sold this year over last year and the prices have dropped 25% overall.
Aug. 1, 2008
The Spectrum reported on July 27 that the number of foreclosures in St George area had jumped 446% since last year. They said that that one in every 87 households in the St George area has received a foreclosure notice. How does this compare with other areas of the country?
The 2nd quarter of 2008 saw one in every 43 Nevadans receiving a foreclosure notice, the highest foreclosure rate in the country and 4 times the national average.
In California the rate of foreclosures is one in every 65 households, the nation’s 2nd highest foreclosure rate. Foreclosure activity in California increased 19% from the previous quarter and was nearly three time the level reported in the second quarter of 2007, according to Realtytrac.
With one in every 70 households receiving foreclosure notices, Arizona is the 3rd highest state foreclosure rate in the 2nd quarter.
Not far behind, Florida is the nation’s 4th highest state foreclosure rate in the 2nd quarter with one in every 78 households receiving a foreclosure notice during the quarter; more than twice the national average.
The top metro areas in foreclosures per household in the 2nd quarter of 2008 are:
1. Stockton CA, 1 in 25 households.
2. Riverside CA, 1 in 32 households.
3. Las Vegas NV, 1 in 35 households.
4. Bakersfield CA, 1 in 41 households.
5. Sacramento CA, 1 in 49 households.
While this downturn in the market is weighing heavily on those who are negatively affected, that is, those who are losing their homes, and those who need to sell their homes but are not in a distressed situation, it is a great time to buy a home if you are a first time buyer, a move up buyer, or an investor. The prices have softened since the boom in 2005/06 and the interest rates are the lowest they have been in years, plus Bush just signed a new housing stimulus bill which will give first time home buyers a $7500 tax credit.
The people who will be on the golf course bragging about all of the money they made in real estate five years from now, will be the ones who are taking advantage of the current market conditions across the country.
Is the end of the housing slump in sight? Some say that they expect the slump to last for a decade or more, and some are predicting that the end is right around the corner. The only thing that we know for sure is that there are buyers who want to buy, and sellers who want to sell, but the rules for the purchase and sale of real estate have changed. Lending practices have changed dramatically in the past few months. Buyers are being carefully scrutinized by Lenders and will need to be qualified in order to purchase a home, and sellers will need to be realistic about pricing their properties at current market value in order to attract buyers from making offers on their “distressed” competition.
So, are things really bad in the St George area real estate market? It really depends on which side you are on.
Aug. 1, 2008
There were a total of 240 properties sold in the Washington County MLS in June , which include homes, lots, commercial, and raw land. This represents 30 less property sales than the total in May which was 270. As of the end of June 2008, there was 26.3 months of inventory on the market.
Single family home sales totaled 158 in June 2008 compared with 198 sales in 2007. That is a 20% decrease in the number of single family homes sold. The price of the median home sold in June 2008 was $269,500 compared with $295,000 one year ago, which is an 8.6% reduction.
The number of building permits pulled so far this year are down dramatically compared with those pulled just one year ago. The average number of permits being pulled monthly this year are 54 compared with an average of 146 that were pulled monthly in the first 6 months last year. In 2005 there were a total of 3479 building permits pulled. If we continue building at the same rate, there will be a total of 648 new builds this year.
May. 8, 2008
I just received some interesting statistics from a real estate friend in Pueblo CO in regards to the 10 worst real estate markets in the country, and of course, I had to compare them with our own real estate market. Here is the news:
10. Denver sold about 2.9% of their inventory in April, Median price $230,100.
9. San Diego sold 2.7%, Medial price $523,000.
8. Baltimore sold 2.5%, Median price $261,000.
7. Chicago sold 2.3%, Median price $261,000.
6. Washington DC sold 2.2%, Median price $400,000.
5. Los Angeles sold 2%, Median price $509,700.
4. Tampa sold .8%, Median price $201,600.
3. Phoenix sold .6%, Median price $241,700.
2. Orlando sold .6%, Median price $240,000.
1. Miami sold .2%, Median price $240,000.
So, how do measure up in St George? Our sales were 3.4% of the total inventory in April and our average price was $247,389, which is almost a 16% drop from the average price of $286,065 in March. Our total inventory at the end of April was 6383 properties (including all residential, lots, commercial and multi-family) and there were 216 sales giving us 29.55 months of inventory.
We have a lot of "distressed" properties on the market that are either in foreclosure or are being "short saled". These properties are selling at below market prices which is making it a little tough to sell properties that are not "distressed". I like to remind sellers that buyers are looking for the best "deals" in this kind of market and to be patient while trying to get their homes sold.
The good news for property owners in the Washington County area is that the average sold price of a single family home has increased in the last 10 years by a whopping 261%. In 1997 the average sold price of a single family was $131,627 and the average sold price of a single family home in 2007 was $343,699. The largest increase in this 10 year period occurred between 2004 and 2005 when the average sold price of a single family home jumped 33%.
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