Ramesh Nyberg's Real Estate Blog

Hear ye, hear ye...

So, some interesting stuff reflected in the real estate sales data from last month. Let's start with Miami-Dade: Pending sales leveled off slightly, from 1349 to 1338...but we are seeing constistent numbers over 1200 for three months, while the inventory continued to shrink, to 9352 single family homes, almost half of the 17070 number of July 2008.

One interesting stat from the average sale/sold prices--the average asking price climbed for the 10th straight month. In October, we were at $604,000, and the steady rise brought that number to $756,000 last month. I guess people can interpret that differently, but I call it a steady gain in consumer confidence. Higher end homeowners are starting to list more.

Palmetto Bay and Pinecrest both had nice months. The "Village of Parks" had a two-year high of 32 pending sales in August, while inventory dropped for the 4th straight month. Pinecrest knocked down its inventory for the 6th straight month, and had 25 pending sales and a robust 18 closings.

See all the charts by clicking on $ales By the Numbers, to the left.

I've been doing a lot of networking lately. Besides hosting my own networking get together at TGI Friday's a week ago (which went really well) I've attended a Business 2 Business event, and last night, a crowded happy hour at Mike's Irish Tavern in the Crossings, hosted by the West Kendall Business Association. What happens there? If nothing else, you meet very interesting people. I had some nice conversations with an IT Tech guy, Debra Cain, from KeepSake Flowers, and a Hypnotherapist who works with past life regressions, to name a few. Quite a group, right?
Some pointers, if you are heading out to the networking universe: Don't start by sticking your business card in someone's face. Get to know them a little bit, and take an interest in what they do. More often than not, they will ask you for your card. Follow up with them, soon after the event, and offer them something of value, like a link to your blog, etc.
Why am I telling you all this? Well, if you are in business of any kind, whether you mow lawns or advise people on their taxes, networking events are fun ways to grow your business. You're going to eat, and every so often grab a glass of wine after a long day of work, right? So do it with other business people, and see what happens when people start to mingle and talk.

These days, you can't wait for it to come to you, can you?

That was the phrase that Coldwell Banker's Regional Senior VP of Southeast Fla, Charles Richardson, used when addressing our sales meeting this morning. He was referring to the specifics of the market, which you know I track closely here on this website. Richardson noted the dramatic drop in the inventory since August of 2008, the steadily rising closed sales, and other indicators that tell us we are now experiencing that "bottom" everyone has been waiting for.

Richardson wasn't all pie-in-the-sky: he predicts at least one or two more waves of foreclosures, but warns that this time a much larger percentage of them will be in that "executive" price range, $500,000 to $999,000. Short sales, he says, are here to for at least 2-3 years.

Once we reach a 6-8 month supply of inventory (we are at 18 months now), we can start to see prices head start to climb again.
I'll have more on the market in about a week or two, when the September stats come out, but I will share this interesting nugget with you: A recent search I did in one area reflected some encouraging "list-to-sale ratio" numbers. As you might remember, list-to-sale is the difference between asking price and eventual sale price. For single family homes in Miami-Dade, that number has been meandering around 89 to 91% the last few months. Back in early 2006, areas of Pinecrest and Palmetto Bay were averaging 96-99%! Well, this search I did of one section was showing not just brisk sales, but list-to-sale ratios of 94-95%, and a three transactions that went either at or above full price (100%).

Richardson also pulled no punches in telling us that our office is currently #1 in sales in Southeast Florida. Nice to hear. Solid, encouraging information, along with the pastries and bagels, always make Tuesday mornings worthwhile.
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What's your sign? I still see a some "For sale By Owners" out there (those red and white ones stand out like a fire in the night, when I glance down the side streets) ---it's worth repeating this equation: 90% of for sale by owners end up listing with a broker, but they end up doing it 4-6 months into a depreciating market. Result? 8-12% lost value in the home, or more if they tough it out longer. And they did it to save the... what.. 6% broker commission, right?

Next post: Among other things, Palmetto Bay's Franjo Triangle--cool stuff is happening!  

This past week and a half has been a busy time. Two closings yesterday were sandwiched in between trying to find both commercial and residential properties for an equally busy client. My Happy Hour Networking event suddenly had to be adjusted--the place I usually have it is apparently CLOSED. Thanks to Jen, my assistant, we got it moved to TGI Friday's, right nearby in the Falls Shopping Center. Whew! Should be a good one. The travel agent I invite is donating the prize we will have a drawing for, a 2-night resort stay (I'm not sure where, but how do you lose when you win something like that?). On top of that were the normal incoming calls on properties, questions from buyers and sellers waiting for word on offers, etc, AND helping my son get his car to and from the shop.

Altogether, one of those days where you look at your watch and say, "What happened to the day.. it's over!" And so my day ended stuck inside Borders waiting for a fierce lightning storm to die down. There are worse places to be stuck, right? My daughter and I ended the night doing a 3-d puzzle on the kitchen counter. (Despereaux--the puzzle was much more enjoyable than the movie, trust me)

After the networking group, tonight, the NFL kicks off the regular season with a big game, and the Dolphins play their first regular season game Sunday in Atlanta. I also got some good news on the entertainment front--I'll be going to see two of my favorite musicians in October, two days apart: Bela Fleck at Gusman, on the 18th, and the Allman Brothers Band at the Hard Rock on the 20th. So all this hard work brings a little relaxation from time to time!

Buyer inquiries continue to be streaming in.. the actual August sales stats should be in any day, so look for another update here as soon as they are here.