Wanda's Blog From Billings, Montana

The Billings Montana Heights, West of Main Street Real Estate market is less active during the Holiday Season, but is this any different than any other year?  Well, not really if you take into account that we've had the 2nd snowiest November on record, and not much of that snow has melted!

Are there still people out there hunting for homes?  You bet, in fact, 16% of the homes for sale are under contract right now, some are pending and some are contingent. This Activity Index is much more favorable to buyers where an Activity Index above 25% is much more favorable to sellers.  All listings that are active, pending and contingent are considered "unsold" and can still receive another offer should a buyer take a liking to a home that is already under contract.  2nd offers can be accepted by both parties in a "back up position" should the first offer fail to close.

• Pending--accepted contract that has had contingencies removed and is scheduled to close
  
• Contingent--accepted contract that has a few hoops to jump through such as inspection before both parties remove the contingencies and are scheduled to close

Another part of the Real Estate Market News has to do with home prices.  There is always a fluctuation, to some degree during different times of the year, so to look at one month is more like a snapshot of a moving film.  In the past 30 days 14 homes have sold in the Area 1 Heights West of Main part of Billings Montana.

Of those 14 homes that did sell, 

• listed home prices were, on average, $198,328;
• sold home price average for these same 14 homes was $192,221. 
  

In this picture, the actual sold prices were, on average, about 97% of the listed sales prices. 

Of those 14 sold homes, 7 homes had an even larger decrease from their original listing price of anywhere from 85% to 98% with an average of 92% sold price from original listing price.

Interesting point; half of the sold homes from the last 30 days had price reductions, which worked!  The hard thing to figure out is whether or not those sold prices would have been higher if the parties had started out at a lower price to begin with?  Chasing the market down is always a hard way to sell.

The Quilting Realtor

Many Dream Of Living In Montana I'm One of the Lucky One's That Already Do! Wanda Thomas 2wandathomas@gmail.com Call or Text 406-698-8640 for help with all things Montana. Local MLS Search Link

Your Realtor is not your home inspector, period!

So if your Realtor tells you that the roof looks fine and the foundation is strong, it may be a good opinion based on a general intelligent observation, but it is not a substitute for a home inspection.

A home inspector is another opinion, by a "hired gun" that a home buyer or seller pays, regardless of the outcome.  The home inspector is contracted to perform the inspection duty, whether or not they find anything wrong, and, there's almost always something less than perfect.

I don't appreciate home inspectors that freak out about normal things that they find in need of repair.  On the flip side, I do appreciate home inspectors that do a thorough job and educate and recommend repairs if needed.

I've had a few inspectors recommend that people walk away from a house, I don't like this either.  Why?  You cannot assume to know the motivations of either the buyer or the seller to negotiate and remedy a problem, even really big problems.  There is almost always a buyer for a property, at the right price.

While many Realtors are very observant and very educated in property inspection details and how to resolve and negotiate resolutions, Realtors must rely on other professionals for this service.  In Montana our Purchase Contracts are very specific about this:

The Quilting Realtor

Many Dream Of Living In Montana I'm One of the Lucky One's That Already Do! Wanda Thomas 2wandathomas@gmail.com Call or Text 406-698-8640 for help with all things Montana. Local MLS Search Link

How's the Market in Shepherd, Huntley, Worden, Ballantine and Pompey's Pillar this December 2010?  The Shepherd area is leading the pack in sales volume.

Let's look at supply and demand:

• Supply = number of unsold homes on the market, includes active, pending and contingent listings
• Demand = number of homes that sold and closed during the period

Shepherd Montana Homes For Sale and Sold in the past 90 days

37 Unsold homes for sale

15 Sales over the last 90 days

At a rate of 5 sales per month, it would take 7.4 months to sell all of the current inventory

Huntley Montana Homes For Sale and Sold in the past 90 days

7 Unsold homes for sale

2 Sales over the last 90 days

At a rate of .66 sales per month, it would take about 10.6 months to sell all of the current inventory

Worden Montana Homes For Sale and Sold in the past 90 days

8 Unsold homes for sale

1 sale over the last 90 days

At a rate of .33 sales per month, it would take about 24 months to sell all of the current inventory

Ballantine Montana Homes For Sale and Sold in the past 90 days

8 Unsold homes for sale

2 sales over the last 90 days

At a rate of .66 sales per month, it would take about 12 months to sell all of the current inventory

If you total up the area's above and include the one listing in Pompey's Pillar, the picture of the current market and the number of homes sales in the past 30 days would look like this:

The Quilting Realtor

Many Dream Of Living In Montana I'm One of the Lucky One's That Already Do! Wanda Thomas 2wandathomas@gmail.com Call or Text 406-698-8640 for help with all things Montana. Local MLS Search Link

Montana lots and land sales are a hard sell this time of the year, especially since we've had the 2nd snowiest November on record!  It's pretty hard to get excited about looking for land when it's all covered with snow.

Land prices have come down just a bit, but there have been less price reductions in this area of the real estate market than you would think.

Below is a pie chart of the lots and land real estate market current activity.  You won't find any sold's in this graph, since there have been no closings in the last 30 days. 

There are 3 pending sales, which average 16.67 acres at $5,458 per acre. 

There are 84 lots for sale in this area right now, most of these in the Shepherd area consisting of 1 to 5 acre lots in subdivisions. 

I know this area very well, and love to sell bare land.  We have a few more really nice homes in the construction process in this area, so I'm encouraged that we'll see more movement on some of these lots this spring.

The Quilting Realtor

Many Dream Of Living In Montana I'm One of the Lucky One's That Already Do! Wanda Thomas 2wandathomas@gmail.com Call or Text 406-698-8640 for help with all things Montana. Local MLS Search Link