Teresa Cox King, Gulf Shores Beaches to Bayside Daphne

Straight Talk to Sellers Needing to Sell Their Homes

One of the last things sellers want to do when getting ready to list their home is to spend money on the home unnecessarily. After all, their main goal is to net all the money they can on the sale of the home. Why pay for something for a home they are trying to 'get rid of'?

Most sellers think a home inspection is something a buyer will order once they have an accepted offer to purchase the home. Yes, most buyers will order and pay for a home inspection, but they will also walk away from your home if the inspection uncovers health and safety issues that could have been prevented or repaired before the buyer saw it at its worst.

What? I thought the buyer wanted MY home!

We are seeing this more and more in the Baldwin County Alabama real estate market. Homes for sale are receiving offers that sellers are accepting, home inspections are conducted, and a few buyers are walking away.

Why not just ask the seller to repair the problems?

With so many properties on the market similar to yours, a buyer may not want to deal with problems and damage caused by a leaking roof, mold in the attic, and other such concerns. They may feel you have had ample time to make any needed repairs, and yet you haven't. Of course, you've noticed how your roof has looked pretty rough and has aged since Hurricane Katrina howled through and loosened the shingles. Sure, the patch job held for a while, but come on, that was almost four years ago. And secretly, you've been hoping no one would notice.

There are other homes available in Baldwin County without these concerns and appear to be better maintained which translates to a buyer as a better overall value.

If a buyer can spend $350 to inspect your home and then just walk away, wouldn't it be better in this market for you to spend the $350, make needed repairs, and present a more hassle-free home to compete against the others?

A home inspector typically returns a list of two or three dozen items that need attention in most homes. It would be in a seller's best interest to be the first and sometimes ONLY person to see that initial report, repair the small picky items, and head off health and safety nightmares that cause buyers to walk away with the check for your house still in their hands.

If you would like to view all homes on the market in Daphne, Fairhope, Spanish Fort, Foley, Gulf Shores, Orange Beach and the surrounding communities, visit www.ByTheBay.info and for a list of foreclosed homes, and condos visit www.BaldwinForeclosedHomes.com

Oops, Uh-Oh, Oh Geez, I made a boo boo with our local MLS information. Clearly stated as a no no in the MLS Rules and Regulations, I've been entering sales data on my Active Rain blog for given local communities. My error, I should have read more carefully, but what I gathered from the rule had to do with market share of an office, not with my purpose and intention of informing the public with local sales trends in order to make wise buying or selling decisions. Clearly, no office information was ever posted.

My apologies to the countless customers and clients who will no longer be able to find local sales data for Baldwin County posted here. Those areas included Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Foley, Daphne, Fairhope, Spanish Fort and the surrounding communities.

Home Buyers and Sellers: Your agent holds the data of local, publicly recorded real estate sales information. We are unfortunately not allowed to post the needed information by address and sales price. I tried......

Just wanted to update followers who have counted on this information in the past, but now I am off to finalize two closings this week on my listings. Call me if you need to list your home to get it sold, and of course, I CAN discuss those neighboring sold prices with you in person, I just can't post it here to make it easier for you.

Two Separate Boards of Realtors?

If you've ever searched for homes and real estate in the Mobile and Baldwin County areas of Alabama, you probably did not realize that we have two separate Multiple Listing Services (MLS) that are NOT connected. We have the Mobile MLS System and the Baldwin County MLS System, and each has its own Board of Realtor Association. Most agents are not members of both, because of the additional cost to the agents. I believe that to best serve clients, a membership in both Associations is needed, so I choose to be a member of both boards.

Why is it Important for Your Realtor to Belong to Both Boards and MLS's?

Both MLS Systems have listings for both counties by cities. The MLS listings are also uploaded to numerous participating websites that broadcast the listings worldwide for maximum exposure. When a buyer is searching for properties from either MLS, many homes and listings are not represented and cannot be found even though they are for sale. A seller's best interest is not being served, if a buyer cannot easily locate the property for sale when a local agent subscribes to only one MLS.

Both MLS Listings Combined

MLS Access to Both Mobile and Baldwin Counties

To simplify the search process, I have set up the above website that finally does what our two MLS systems do not. This link combines BOTH MLS systems into one easy to navigate website for a customer's ease of use. Feel free to email this link to friends and family who happen to be in the market to either buy or sell property in Mobile or Baldwin Counties.

Whether you are looking for homes in Fairhope or Foley, Daphne or Dauphin Island, Summerdale or Satsuma, Silverhill or Saraland, Mobile or Magnolia Springs, Bayou la Batre or Bay Minette and all towns in between, you'll find them represented.

For additional information on buying or selling property in coastal Alabama, visit www.ByTheBay.info

I was recently asked to provide information to a potential seller about what today’s buyer is willing to pay for homes in the Lake Forest area of Daphne, Alabama. I thought after my research that I would post this timely information as others may benefit from it, and it does apply to all areas and subdivisions in Baldwin County as well.

As you have probably noticed in your neighborhood, many nice homes are sitting on the market and are not selling. Why is that? Because buyers are not willing to pay top dollar in this market we are now in. You may be wondering what is selling, what buyers are looking for today, and what prices homes will bring.

Today, there are 139 homes for sale in the MLS in Lake Forest alone, with 9 of these pending. In addition, there are a few dozen for sale by owner homes in the subdivision. Many other homes have expired from the MLS without selling.

From these numbers, you can see that competition is very tough for sellers to attract the few buyers that are out there. What this translates to is that PRICE is what will sell a home in this market. The lowest priced homes for the size are selling, and buyers can afford to be choosey with so many to look at.

Pretty much the lowest price house, in the best shape is getting offers, while other very nice homes just sit on the market and aren’t getting any offers.

These statistics are sobering: In just over three months, only 16 homes out of over 180 homes up for sale have sold in Lake Forest in Daphne. If no other homes entered the market for sale, it would take THREE YEARS to reduce the inventory of available homes at this rate.

From this you can see that PRICE is indeed what it will take to sell a home today. So, if you are taking the approach of , "Let's price it high because we can always come down", you may just have three years to see if your idea will work to attract your buyer.