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Juliet Johnson - Web Based Marketing Specialist

Stagers ~ Would you get more business if you targeted *older* agents & home-owners

There is a fascinating project underway, courtesy of Deluxe (yea, the check people), where 9 small businesses were selected to receive a marketing revamp, $5,000 marketing dollars, marketing consultant and some coaching from SCORE.

web 2-0 for stagers

ProjectRev is a "vital read" for anyone intrigued by marketing... and of particular interest to home stagers. Why? Coz there's one in it!

Felicia Frazier is a creative soul, who was downsized out of Limited 2 and is now a home stager in Ohio. The biggest surprise about running her own business?

“That I actually had to go out and get the business!” Frazier laughed.

“And the hardest part of that is knowing where to go, determining who that key customer I need to target is. What I learned from Project Rev was that I needed to be going after an older market. I was focusing on late twenties and mid-thirties, and I needed to be targeting homeowners in their late forties and up, along with Realtors.”

This has consumed me this morning!

1. Yes, "asking for the business" is the hardest and least liked aspect of a stager's life.

2. We have all long been confused as to who the target customer is - the realtor or the home-owner. After all, the home-owner pays you, yet more often than not it is the realtor that gets you the work.

3. Then this aging statement -- 'I needed to be targeting homeowners in their late forties and up, along with Realtors.”

Do any of you agree with this?

I put it up on my Facebook page and Michael Fortuna, a man I think of immeasurable discernment, wrote

""IMHO: I get more hands-on business from 50-65, but more vacants from 30-50..."

WOW! Really? I never noticed or thought to look at it this way. My clients were always just folks who wanted to sell their home. They seemed to be all over the place. Looking back I can't think of a through line among them! Except that many became friends along the way.

I'd love to hear your opinions on this ~

July's Numbers Suggest Myrtle Beach Real Estate Market has "bottomed out"!

Myrtle Beach Home Sales May have Bottomed Out, according to statistics from the CCAR (Coastal Carolina Association of Realtors)

"Myrtle Beach" encompasses the entire Grand Strand area

 

Newly interpreted statistics for July suggest that Myrtle Beach real estate is seeing less price erosion but a slow down on volume.  For while we are still up, 24.1% year to date, in volume for July we are 5.3% lower this year over last year - 2009.

 Myrtle Beach Homes For Sale in July


Pricing, for single family homes, seems to have stabilized and in some cases even rebounded some over the summer months.  We all knew this without the statistical reports because at new construction sites, the signs showing base prices have mostly moved upwards, in some cases by as much as 10%. 

 Historical Data on price

Condo sales, however, are down for the 3rd month in a row.  Pricing is thought to have “bottomed out” on the basis of median sales remaining at $120,000.  So we’re selling fewer of them, yet, finally, at similar prices.  Since 40% of condo sales are distressed sales, this might suggest that the banks are standing firm on what they’ll accept.  A responsible position for the banks to take, in my opinion.  Someone had to step in and stop continually declining prices.

 Distressed Home Sales in Myrtle Beach

Inventory levels in both homes and condos remains unchanged.

inventory of Homes for sale in myrtle beach,sc

Myrtle Beach - from 48th to 79th - what's selling!

Prices are not exactly coming down; it's just that cheaper stuff is selling!

Every day, someone asks me if the market is picking up. 
What's going on?  What's happening with prices?

I try to explain what I see:  the market is definitely coming back.  There is a lot more activity, but, it's still in the lower end of the marketplace.
  Where in a neighborhood 8 homes sold over the last year, only 2 have sold in the last 6 months, and what did trade was those that were listed lower.

myrtle beach home sales

In this neighborhood here in "midtown" of Myrtle Beach - where there are some modest homes, some very swanky places and all of them are within 1 mile of the beach, within walking distance to the shops, etc. - here what has sold is homes in the upper $200s where within the last 12 months, the average sales price was $50,000 higher. 

While this might suggest prices are falling 11%, it is simply more likely that those homes in the lower price points are the ones that are selling right now.


Another trend we're seeing is a narrowing gap between what a home is listed for vs. what it sells for.  Where 12 months ago, sellers were negotiating on their list price; now -- their list price is cut to the bone, just to get buyers to LOOK at the property.  Therefore, there is much less room to negotiate.
  Sadly, buyers aren't on the same page here....yet.

The Dunes Club - the statistics and the story they tell of homes sold in this exclusive Myrtle Beach Community.

The Dunes Club
Established, exclusive, elegant and yet, a warm family neighborhood.

There are currently 13 homes on the market for sale at the moment in the Dunes Club.  This is an unusually high number for them, given that only 2 have traded in the last 6 months, and only 5 over the last year!!

Home Sales in the Dunes Club, Myrtle Beach

In the last 12 months, 5 homes have sold, ranging in price (original price listed) $445,000 - $649,000.  The average selling price was $414,480, with each home averaging a closed price within 7% of asking.  The average days on market were 128 (range: 32 - 228).

Dunes Club home sales in Myrtle Beach



The majority of homes sold in the Dunes Club, including the 2 that are pending tend to be 4 bedroom properties.   [Those pending transactions, by the way, have an average price of $362,500, with an average of 206 Days on Market!]

Myrtle Beach Real Estate - the Mid-Year Report

Myrtle Beach Homes For Sale

The Mid-Year Report - 2010

Good news, apparently.


"Market Analyst Tom Maeser says single family home sales have gone up 29%, and condo sales have gone up 19%." Largely, because we have a lot of 2nd home buyers in on the Grand Strand.

“We’re running 45% cash sales, so these are people that don’t need financing. They have been helping to make the Grand Strand market not too bad, we’re actually seeing a lot of activity,“ said Maeser.

He says 66% of the Grand Strand market is made up of investor properties with owners who can pay out of pocket."

But don't get too excited, the Banks are thwarting any real growth in the marketplace.

“Because these government regulations are getting tighter, it’s impacting purchasers here. So it’s hard to get a loan, and hard to get a building to qualify for mortgage,“ [Maeser] said.

So, as one considers short lived success on the Grand Strand, what do the numbers look like, neighborhood to neighborhood?

http://carolinarealproperty.com

ARE we doing any better? compared to the same 6 month period last year?


The black tube is the 2010 total solds which compared to 2009's orange tube shows that gains were only made in Carolina Forest and Surfside.

Sales outpace inventory/supply in Myrtle Beach, Carolina Forest, Surfside and Murrells Inlet - which should help reduce our absorbtion rates.
The pending numbers look gloomy to me, but that could just be that closing periods have narrowed , which would make sense if most of our current sales are CASH. Those deals can close in 28 days or less!

Bargain hunters? Why not take a look at Garden City and Surfside - look how much they've got to move!