So how long IS it taking to sell a Palos Verdes home?

Most agents are trained to give you what the “average days on market” are but that really is a misleading statistic. What you REALLY need to know as a seller is how many days of unsold inventory are there on the market?

Ask the real estate agent you’re planning to interview for the very serious job of selling your home this question, “Assuming no other listings came on the market, how many days would it take the market to absorb existing supplies?” See if their eyes glaze over … if they do, find another agent … because not only do you want to get an understanding of what you’re up against when planning your next transition from your current home in Palos Verdes, but you also want to know the statistical probability, given what the current absorption number is, for selling in the next 30 days, 60 days, 90 days etc.

For example, did you know that right now, there are 224 days of unsold inventory for Palos Verdes real estate? That’s a lot of days, but better than the 293 days for the same time period last year.

Given this 224 days of unsold inventory then, here are your chances of selling. These are calculations based on a standard deviation analysis of the absorption rate

What are my chances of selling in…

So now that you know the realities of the market and if you’re a seller and you absolutely have to have, not a 19.30% chance of selling in 90 days but at least an 80% chance of selling … what do you think has to happen? Would love to read your comments!

To view the latest suppy/demand trends please go here: Palos Verdes Real Estate Transaction Report

Existing Homes Sales Rise, but at a cost

Existing-home sales rose in January, marking three gains in the past four months, while inventories continued to improve, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

Total existing-home sales1, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, increased 4.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.57 million in January from a downwardly revised 4.38 million-unit pace in December and are 0.7 percent above a spike to 4.54 million in January 2011.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said strong gains in contract activity in recent months show buyers are responding to very favorable market conditions. “The uptrend in home sales is in line with all of the underlying fundamentals – pent-up household formation, record-low mortgage interest rates, bargain home prices, sustained job creation and rising rents.”

To read the full story, go here: http://www.realtor.org/press_room/news_releases/2012/02/ehs_jan

What the story underplays however is that there was a cost to the rise in home sales and before you conclude I’m just a “Negative Nancy”, there may just be a silver lining to all of this. The cost is clear as evidenced by these charts. Home sales rose because prices have been dropping and as a result of lower prices, demand increased. Economists call this “elasticity of demand” and it appears that the real estate market is highly elastic as small changes in prices caused huge changes in demand. The National Association of Realtors reported that while prices are down in the “West” about 1.8%, home sales rose 8.8%

You’ve heard me often say that real estate is all local and you would be right to say “so what” to what’s happening on a national or even regional basis. Keep reading below to see the charts on price and home sale volume for the South Bay.

Meanwhile, thank you for reading your latest newsletter and when you come across someone looking to buy or sell real estate here in Palos Verdes or around the South Bay, take out your cell phone and text or call me!

At Your Service,

George Fotion
www.homeispalosverdes.com
310.36.6467
george.fotion@homeispalosverdes.com

Palos Verdes Foreclosure Report

2-15-2012

Do you know what the latest trends are? Are foreclosures up or down? What are the banks doing? What are investors doing? How do you find foreclosure opportunities? Are bank owned homes a good deal anymore? If they’re not, where are the deals and how do you find them? Click on the image below to learn more.