Savannah GA real estate market: are you finding the same thing?

I will be cutting back on my contributions here because of time constraints, but I wanted to offer what I have found in the Savannah, GA real estate market and see if others are experiencing the same thing.

Looking at the first six months of 2006, 2007 and 2008, I used new home sales for each year from west Chatham and Effingham counties—where most of the new construction is taking place.

This year there have been 186 homes sold with an average sales price per square foot of $110.75 with an average sales price of $222,363, 145 days on the market and a 98% sales price to listing price.

In 2007 there were 350 homes sold with an average sales price per square foot of $119.05 with an average sales price of $220,410, 130 days on the market and a 100% sales price to listing price.

In 2006 there were 421 homes sold with an average sales price per square foot of $114.63 with an average sales price of $212,633, 131 days on the market and a 100% sales price to list price.

The biggest changes have been the number of homes sold and sales price per sq ft. Buyers are getting much more for their money, but fewer buyers are buying.

I then looked at resales in midtown Savannah to see how resales compare with read more

Posted by Mike Farmer on Jul 01, 2008 under Market Trends, Regional

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Good Rule of Thumb in Real Estate: Be Prepared

If I am showing homes to a buyer and have plenty of notice—this is usually with out-of-town home buyers—I preview the homes I haven’t already seen. This has saved me from many embarrassing situations.

Working with buyers entails knowing the area and having an idea of what the house is about, but more importantly, you discover all the quirks about getting into the home, surprise dogs, surprise odors, surprise messes, and so forth.

At times I have gotten busy and didn’t preview and invariably there were surprises—wrong showing instructions being one, alarms not noted in the listing info being another—one time it was four Great Danes in the master bedroom. I thought the buyer was going to have a heart attack.

Stumbling on these surprises with the home buyer is not a good idea, because it causes the buyer to start having doubts. When you preview and take notes and you inform the buyer ahead of time of what to expect, it makes you look prepared, which you should be.

It takes time but a quick run through the route and getting a good idea of what to expect is a read more

Posted by Mike Farmer on Jun 02, 2008 under Best Practices, Guest Bloggers

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New Agents Working With Buyers: It Takes A Commitment

Working with buyers is difficult. It’s no wonder most real estate agents would rather list homes and avoid spending a lot of time dealing with buyers. Home buyers are demanding, fickle, sometimes emotional, sometimes unrealistic, but always there waiting for an agent to help them.

Even though many home buyers think they want to do it alone, I’ve found most eventually ask a Realtor for help. They may not want a contractual relationship with a buyer agent, but they want assistance.

Many have gone from listing agent to listing agent and they are tired of looking for homes that way, so the buyer is in between, they don’t want to sign a buyer agent agreement but they want guidance.

If you decide to work with home buyers you will have to capture them soon and you will have to impress them with service. Most buyers don’t know what they can get from a real estate agent until they get it—then they like it.

Buyers now are going online and making a request to an agent with a website, or going through a company like HomeGain that offers help—they want listings or information about a listing or area—they are sticking their toes in the water, to see what the response will be.

If the response is immediate and it offers help, then the buyer will likely go further. read more

Posted by Mike Farmer on May 12, 2008 under Buying or Selling a Home

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Why the Internet Buyer is the Best Client

Since internet buyers (IB) do most of their home searching and researching BEFORE calling an agent, they are more efficient buyers who won’t take up a lot of your time and resources.

Realtor studies show they are also more satisfied with their agents and overwhelmingly say they would use the same agent in the future.

The Efficient Buyer Saves Resources

Here are some interesting comparisons:

• IB spend 2.2 weeks, on average, with their agent before buying, while the non-internet buyer (so called traditional buyer) spent 7.1 weeks with their agents.
• IB previewed 6.7 homes while the traditional buyer previewed a whopping 15.4
• 81% of IB stay with the first agent they choose to contact

In addition: read more

Posted by Joseph G. Ferrara, Esq. on Apr 24, 2008 under Market Trends, Guest Bloggers

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