Typically, my Chattanooga real estate market reports look something like what you'll find at the other end of that link back there.
I have to admit, they are almost agony to put together. It's just that boring. Don't get me wrong, I'm as wonky as the next real estate geek, but there's not much of a challenge other than trying to make them interesting. So this month I decided to shake things up a bit and try something a little different. I moseyed on over to the Chattanooga MLS and ran some serious spreadsheets.
Unless you've been living under the proverbial rock, there's not much doubt that we're in a housing 'crisis.' I keep hearing over and over again about how the median home price is falling like one of those crazy BASE jumpers. And I've often thought "Hmmm, wonder if the median price is falling because actual prices are falling or because higher priced homes aren't selling as quickly?" I mean, if you looked at the price of the SAME house, is that falling? Or is that declining median price telling us more about WHICH houses are selling than it is about the price of any given home? How can you adjust so that you know you are comparing apples? How many times can I use the word 'price' in a single paragraph? These are the things I ponder in the middle of the night.
So I ran the numbers for all of the Novembers from 2005 through 2010. And here's what I came up with for your geeked out pleasure: 
Total number of sales
Median Price
Average Price
Average Days on Market (DOM)
Average Price per square foot
Average Age of Home
Average Square Footage
What do these numbers tell me? At least according to my interpretation...
Prices haven't really fallen so much but the number of sales is drastically lower and the average time spent on the market is a lot higher. So you might be getting a similar price for your home when you sell it, but expect it to be a lot harder to get that sale.
There's been some fluctuations in pricing & $/sq ft but nothing really earthshaking.
The stimulus worked, even if only temporarily. November 2009 was the original deadline for the $8,000 first time buyer tax credit (it did end up being extended but it's pretty likely that the buyers that closed that month didn't know that was going to happen when they signed on the dotted line). It isn't surprising that DOM, median price & average price are all a whole lot better for 2009 than they were for either 2008 or 2010. I think it also explains why the gap between median & average price was so much smaller for that month. First time buyers (read: people looking at lower priced homes) made up a much greater proportion of sales for Nov 2009 than they ordinarily would.
So, to sum up, the sky isn't falling in Chattanooga. There's no need for panic. But if you really, really need to sell your house, you're going to have to bite the bullet and price it very competitively to get it sold in a reasonable amount of time.
All of the images in this post are taken from 302 Red Oak Dr, Red Bank, TN. Click the link for more information on purchasing this home.
If you want to download the raw data that I took this from, you can click on the links and get an Excel file for each year. All of the data is for Hamilton County as a whole and only includes single family homes (with condos) sold through the Greater Chattanooga MLS. Everything you see in this post is reliable but not guaranteed.
Chattanooga Home Sales November 2005
Chattanooga Home Sales November 2006
Chattanooga Home Sales November 2007
Chattanooga Home Sales November 2008
Chattanooga Home Sales November 2009
Chattanooga Home Sales November 2010 .
Originally posted at Chattanooga Real Estate News
Now that it isn't like Dante's inferno quite so hot anymore, it's fall planting time. I for one, really like The Barn Nursery's tag line: Go play in the yard!
It's hard to miss 'The Barn' if you live in Chattanooga. Just in case you've never noticed, it's that big old mess o' plants just off I-24 at the 4th Ave exit. Makes for a nice view from the interstate if you're stuck in traffic going up the Ridge Cut.
Anyhoo...I mosey'd on over there a couple of days ago and picked up some pansies to go in my window boxes and some other stuff to replace the container plants that I gave up on the heat killed a few weeks ago. That big ol' sea of flowers was just too pretty so I took a couple of shots.
Enjoy the pictures, then make it a point to enjoy this gorgeous weather and go play in the yard!
Everything you see here is reliable but not guaranteed. Here's another report, this one for our neighbors to the north, Soddy Daisy. These numbers cover all of the 37379 ZIP code as reported to the Chattanooga MLS.
All active homes for sale: 212
Pending or contingent listings (under contract): 24
Residential listings closed (sold) during the past month: 18
Number of months to sell current actives at last month's sales pace: 11.8
Active homes for sale: 30
Pending or contingent listings: 8
Residential listings closed last month: 7
Number of months to sell current actives at last month's sales pace: 4.3
Active homes for sale: 94
Pending or contingent listings: 8
Residential listings closed during the last month: 5
Number of months to sell current actives at last month's sales pace: 18.8
Active homes for sale: 46
Pending or contingent listings: 6
Residential listings closed during the last month: 5
Number of months to sell current actives at last month's sales pace: 9.2
Homes for sale: 42
Pending or contingent listings: 2
Residential listings closed during the last month: 1
Number of months to sell current actives at last month's sales pace: 42
Ouch! What a difference a month makes. Last month's Soddy Daisy real estate report was looking pretty darn good. This month, it's looking pretty painful. The $100-200k range makes up the bulk of this market and it saw only 5 little bitty closings last month. Ironically, the $200-400k range is looking better than a lot of places. It had the same number of sales (5) as the lower price point, but with half the inventory. As with some of the other smaller areas that I do these reports on, you have to consider the fact that just a couple of sales up or down causes some pretty wild fluctuations in the absorption rate (# of months to sell current homes for sale at last month's pace) and I think that's really what we're seeing here. I'm just not sure if the anomaly was last month, or this one...
Click to see current Soddy Daisy homes for sale.
Everything you see here is reliable but not guaranteed. These reports are almost as boring as the titles imply. This one covers ZIP code 37363 as reported to the Chattanooga MLS.
All Ooltewah Homes for Sale: 425
Pending or contingent listings (under contract): 63
Residential listings closed (sold) during the past month: 43
Number of months to sell current actives at last month's sales pace: 9.88
Homes for sale: 143
Pending or contingent listings: 23
Residential listings closed during the last month: 16
Number of months to sell current actives at last month's sales pace: 8.94
Homes for sale currently: 223
Pending or contingent listings: 34
Residential listings closed during the last month: 24
Number of months to sell current actives at last month's sales pace: 9.29
Homes for sale currently: 59
Pending or contingent listings: 6
Residential listings closed during the last month: 3
Number of months to sell current actives at last month's sales pace: 19.67
The absorption rate (# of months to sell current homes for sale at last month's pace) went up significantly for the lower end of the market and down by quite a bit for the upper end of the market compared to last month's Ooltewah real estate report. Even though I'd like to see if go down all the way around, I'm calling that very good news, especially considering that most of the Ooltewah homes for sale tend to lean toward the upper end. We even had a few closings in the over $400k range. Woohoo to that!
Check out Ooltewah homes for sale to see what's out there just waiting to be loved right now.
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My job isn't to sell you a house. It's to help you buy the house that works best for you and your family.
My real estate career began in 1984 when my dad started paying me 50¢ each to enter listings in the MLS on those newfangled things they called computers. While I no longer work for 50¢ at a time -usually- and even though I did wander in the "what am I going to do with my life" wilderness for a while, I never lost my love for real estate.
I bought my first house in 1995 at the tender age of 22 (don't even think about doing the math) and spent several months remodeling it before moving in. From that experience I learned that: 1. things always take longer than you think and b.you should never sand your wood floors perpendicular to the grain.
And so began my love affair with buying and selling and sanding. I've bought and renovated several houses - some of them old, some of them just ugly. Along the way I've learned lots about what you want, what you don't want and what you should run screaming from. I'm even getting better at figuring out how long it's going to take to fix stuff (although it's still much more art than science).
I'm licensed to sell real estate in Tennessee & Georgia. I specialize in buyer's representation & I prefer helping people find the perfect historic wreck home although I'm happy to help with just about anything that will pay the bills. I like to sleep well at night so you can trust me to give you an honest opinion about the value and condition of what you are looking to buy or sell. I have, however, been known to keep my opinions to myself when a client exclaims rapturously over the berber carpet, hunter green color scheme and eagle themed wall mural.
Since my office is the listing office for HUD in southeast TN, I also know a little more than the average bear about guiding a client through buying a HUD house.
Contact me for more information about buying or selling in Chattanooga as well as the rest of Hamilton County: Ooltewah, Collegdale, East Ridge, Lookout Mountain, Signal Mountain, Soddy Daisy, Hixson & Middle Valley or northwest Georgia: Fort Oglethorpe, Rossville, Ringgold, Chickamauga & Lafayette.
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Julia, I just wanted to thank you for all of your help in getting a house for Heath. I know you will say you were just doing your job, but I feel like you went beyond of what was required for that. We really appreciate everything you did. Thanks again, Roland A
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