Realtors expect slump to improve

Northwest Valley Realtors say that even in the home sale slump, the best way to sell a house is to price it reasonably.

“Being a buyer’s market, people are fishing,” said Norm Brenna, Sun City General Sales Manager for Ken Meade. “A lot of people have a price in the back of their mind because they know how much their neighbor’s house sold for, but you shouldn’t go with that price. What will happen is that home will sit for six, eight or 10 months until the next agent comes along with a better price, then it will sell.”

Currently there are 55,922 homes for sale in the Valley. There are 816 listings in Sun City, 495 in Sun City West and 2,317 in Surprise, which includes homes for sale in Sun City Grand.

While those numbers are high, they are much lower than the more than 61,000 homes for sale about 10 months ago. Realtors expect the slow down to improve by mid-2008.

“Overall, prices have been coming down,” said Ken Dawson, a broker with Re/Max Integrity in Sun City West. “If the market analysis is $230,000, they are selling at $220,000. It just takes the right person to come in.”

One problem with slow homes sales is that people aren’t able to get rid of their current house, so they aren’t making offers on new ones.

“People can’t buy a new home because they can’t sell their existing one and they don’t want two or three mortgages,” Dawson said, adding that another problem is interest rates have also gone up.

Brenna said if there were four similar homes, and each was priced on a sliding scale down from $200,000 to 192,000, it’s likely the homes in the mid-range would sell first.

“I would want to be in the middle of the range or lower if I was selling,” Brenna said. “The ideal thing is for the agent to get back to the client every 30 days to see where the house is sitting. It’s gotta be priced right to sell in this market.”

Pat Summers, branch manager for Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Sun City and Surprise, said sales are related to where a house is located.

“Everything related to selling property has to do with location,” Summers said. “If they have a property next to a railroad track, the price has to be adjusted. The houses that are selling are the one’s being priced reasonably.”

The Internet also is changing the face of how homes are sold. Summers estimates as many as 90 percent of people that become customers research neighborhoods and homes on the Internet before picking an agent to work with.

“People are a lot more savvy about what properties are worth,” Summers said. “Properties with lots of pictures and virtual tours sell faster. Due to the internet, people have a much clearer idea of what they want when they come to us. The Internet is the key to the future and a main part of the business now.”

Setting your price

• Abandon your point of view. Buyers don’t care how much you paid for the home, your family memories, the time and money you’ve invested in upgrades or how large of a down payment you need for your next house.

• Ask three real estate agents to do a comparative market analysis. This shows prices of comparable sold homes, houses currently on the market and those that were on the market but didn’t sell.

• Do your own market research. Go to open houses in your area and try to compare your home in terms of location, size and condition.

• Consider market conditions such as price trends and how long it takes a house to sell in your area. What are interest rates doing?

• Offer incentives, such as lease option or down payment assistance.

Source: Realtor.com