North Conway, NH

What's the big deal?

Why all the hype about a new mobile phone app for searching Ossipee NH real estate, North Conway Real Estate or any property for sale in NH, VT, most of Maine and MA?

Just picture yourself on a nice summer day, on a boat, enjoying Ossipee Lake, with it's awesome views of the White Mountains, just north past North Conway NH and Cranmore Mt.. You see a beautiful stretch of white sand beach with cottages spaced along Lake Ossipee's waterfront. From out on the lake you can see what looks like a real estate for sale sign in front of one of the camps... You pull your boat in a little closer but you just can't quite see the phone number to call the real estate agent, and who knows, you probably won't reach a live person anyhow.

Ossipee Lake waterfront home scenario 1: At this point you probably figure it's a $400,000 property so why bother anyhow. Plenty of fun things to do on Ossipee Lake today anyhow so you move on with your day.

Ossipee Lake waterfront home scenario 2: As you are about to say, "Forget it", your brilliant wife says, "Hey, I just found that place on my phone! It is Unit 9 at 80 Weetamoe Shores in Ossipee NH and it is a bank owned piece of real estate! The price is $234,900 and it includes exclusive use of it's own strip of private waterfront on their Ossipee Lake beach and a slip on the association's boat dock with association fees of less than $230/month! It says here that it backs up to the Indian Mound Golf Course in Ossipee." So, being the skeptic you say, "Sounds like it's priced to0 high if it's a foreclosed property on Ossipee Lake!" And then she says, "Well... the SOLD DATA I am reading for neighboring properties, on my phone, shows that the unit at the far end of the association just recently sold for $ . So maybe it's worth making an offer..."

This could be you! Or maybe it's a condo in North Conway NH, or perhaps you like Bartlett as a real estate investment area with benefits...

The point is, you don't have to call an agent or stop to pick up the flyer. By downloading the free app to your phone by texting "NEHOMES" to 87778 or going to my site at http://www.billbarbin.com and entering your phone number in the form on the right margin of my screen, you can have access to all the mls data for the NH and VT MLS through NNEREN (and parts of ME and Northern MA) and all of Maine MLS through MREIS (coming in the next few weeks) and all of MA through MLS-PIN! Just about anywhere in New England (hence "NEHOMES") you will be able to find real time MLS real estate for sale and sold data (where allowed) on your phone. You can search by town, address, zip code or even use the gps on your phone to show you what is for sale near you right at that moment!

Text NEHOMES to 87778 for Ossipee NH real Estate search mobile app badger realty bill barbin

Supply and demand is a relatively simple concept. It applies to Ossipee NH watefront as well as mountain views in North Conway NH. Like any other industry driven by supply and demand, we need to look ahead to see where the supply is trending. As an example, let's assume I own a hardware store in town. I have done $1 million in retail sales each and every year for the last ten years. What should I anticipate for sales over the next twelve months? $2 million is about right.

What if I found out that Home Depot in building a new store in Ossipee NH, directly across the street?

Should I expect a different answer? Yes.

What does this have to do with real estate in Ossipee NH or North Conway NH or anywhere in between?

That "Home Depot" has been being built and is ready to open. It is called ‘shadow inventory'.

Shadow inventory is made up of the homes not yet for sale in the North Conway to Ossipee (Carroll County) area, and the area, but are in these categories:

* Houses that have not come to market because the homeowners didn't put their homes up for sale in the last few years hoping that by waiting they will get a higher price.

* Homes that have already been reposed by the banks (REOs) but not yet on the market.

* Homes that are in already in the foreclosure process but have not yet been reposed by the banks.

* Homes that are 90+ days behind on their mortgage payments (less than one percent will ever catch up. 99% will become a distressed sale).

What number are we talking about?

Pent-up Selling Demand

Zillow just recently released a survey on the category of ‘pent-up selling demand'. They asked: “If you saw signs of a real estate market reversal in the next 12 months, how likely would you be to put your home up for sale?”

The actual numbers from responses:

* 5.3 million home owners would be ‘very likely' to put their home up for sale

* 6.1 million would be ‘likely'

* 10.6 would be ‘somewhat likely'

*Note* In 2009, 5.2 million homes were sold.

Types of distressed properties

Several organizations have attempted to quantify the other category (delinquencies, homes in the foreclosure process and REOs).

Here are their findings:

* The Mortgage Bankers' Association believes that there are 4.3 million homes in this category.

* Barclay's Capital puts the number at 4.7 million.

* Capital Economics puts it at 5.5 million.

* Morgan Stanley, from a recent study, claims 8 million.

All Shadow Inventory

If we take the lowest number in each category, there could be an additional 9.4 (5.3 + 4.1) million homes entering the market.

Vs. the 5.2 million properties sold in 2009.

What does this mean to you?

The price of homes for sale will be dropping every day. This does not mean that buyers should wait. Interest rates have pretty much nowhere to go but up and could quickly offset a 5% lower sale price. Sellers are the most affected because they will see their values dropping every day their home sits on the market. This further underscores the risk associated with picking the wrong broker. The real estate agent you know from the golf course or the breakfast counter may not be the guy or gal that can put your property in front of millions of consumers and develops a following by providing useful information such as this to add value to relationships before consumers become customers or clients.

People are always asking, "How are the foreclosures in the area? They must really be driving down the prices!". My answer is pretty straightforward: "The number of bank owned homes for sale in North Conway, or Bartlett or Jackson is not large enough to cause serious damage to home values in general, but the volume of bank owned properties in NH, ME and VT over-all, has an impact on the value of second homes." What I try to point out is that values in most of the United States are depressed, but regionally we did not experience the same level of boom that the most notable foreclosure states saw. Our prices are down but home sellers really aren't taking a bath just yet. The stats from RealtyTrac prove this out as well. NH has weathered the storm better than alot of other states.

BTW- I will insert a link to my NH Real Estate Search engine at the bottom of this blog for anyone that is looking for real estate in NH. I can help with property anywhere in NH, from my home area of North Conway NH, where I can help with the entire home purchase or home sale process to the far reaches of the state, where I have connections with most of the best real estate brokers in the business.

Back on point: North Conway NH homes are affected by the national trend and some of the local neighborhoods in North Conway or Bartlett and even moreso Ossipee, are affected more than others. Real estate is a localized asset. I would say that I have seen the most bank owned real estate in the last 18 months in Ossipee NH. I have not seen any Ossipee Lake bank owned or foreclosed homes...yet, but I think, statistics will show that Ossipee NH real estate has been the hardest hit, with some property types seeing a drop of 20% in value in the last year alone. However, due to the localized nature of property, the lakefront and waterfront or even water access properties in Ossipee have not had the same drop in value. Ossipee (sometimes mis-spelled Ossippee NH) Lake real estate has probably suffered no more than a 5% reduction in value. When this amount is compared to the 20% down payment needed from most vacation property owners that finance their real estate purchase, you can see why these are not the first properties in a town like Ossippee, whoops, Ossipee Nh to feel the pinch.

To me, the bottom line is that this is the time to sell unless you are ready to hold on for another year or two or three for prices to be back to where they are today, and that's a BIG maybe. The Boston Globe even reported on the trend in vacation home sales recently as going down. "Your property is losing value every day and will continue to do so into 2011." So right now, waiting to put it on the market is basically chasing the tiger down the hill. If you own North ConwayReal Estate, Ossipee NH real estate, TamworthNH real estate, Albany NH real estate, Bartlett NH real estate, or Jackson NH real estate and think you may want to sell in the next few years, decide soon because the bottom is still moving under your feet.

Please use this link to go to my NH real esate website at Bill Barbin and this is the direct link to my NH MLS real estate search function site at NH Real Estate

The boys are enjoying the wonders of Florida nature, both flora and fauna. (At Least That's What We Are Telling The Teachers.)