Wanda's Blog From Billings, Montana

Since the Real Estate Market is often a matter of opinion in conversation, sometimes it's just a good idea to get a handle on the real picture.  Below you'll find an Inventory Supply Chart.  What the heck does that mean?  Let's review.

The number of homes that sell, in a specific time period, compared to the number of homes available for sale, in that same time period, can help us understand the pace or speed of sales.  When you look at the green bars below, the number on top of them reflects the time it would take to sell all of the unsold properties.  You'll see that really high green bar for last October, that was a really slow month of closings.  Then right next to that bar, we had more closings for the month of November.

This graph reflects the Real Estate Market Activity for the Shepherd, Worden, Huntley, Pompey's Pillar, or Area 10 in the MLS for the Billings Montana area.  With some of the inventory rising, we may get some pretty good listings for ready buyers. 

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

I have some clients who are interested in the Billings Heights Real Estate Market Activity, so while doing my search I thought it would be some helpful information to share.

The market areas I searched in Billings Montana for this report include area 1, West of Main Street and area 2, East of Main Street.

• 196 unsold homes on the market
• 22 of these homes have accepted contracts that are pending to close
• 25 of these homes have accepted contracts that are contingent on the successful outcome of contract details such as home inspections and other investigations

The Activity Index for today in the Billings Heights is about 23%.  Which is a pretty healthy number.  Of the homes that are currently under contract, the average number of days these homes were listed before they secured an accepted buy/sell was 93 days.  That's a longer time period than we usually have, which is more like 65 to 75 days.

Keep in mind that only about 43% of all homes that are listed successfully close (which means ownership is transferred).  Heading into winter, we often see a bit of hesitation in the number of sales, depending on our weather.

Our prices for this group of unsold homes looks like this for average:

• $193,758 the average price of all unsold listings
• $186,532 the average price of these homes that are pending
• $171,112 the average price of these homes that are contingent

The selection of homes at this time of the year and in this market is diminished.  This is evidenced by the Activity Index being greater than 20% (favors sellers due to decrease in unsold inventory).

Those homes that have closed in the same Billings Heights areas 1 and 2 over the past 90 days showed the following:

• $181,609 was the average sold price
• 97% was the average list price/sold price
• 89 was the average number of days on the market before a successful offer was agreed to
• 2.22 was the average number of bathrooms
• 4 was the average number of bedrooms
• 2,232 was the average square feet of the properties sold

On a more personal note, this dang wind is driving me crazy, I can't get warm!  For a couple of days now I've tried not to go outside, and the sun is shining!  My plastic trash cans were flying around the neighborhood, along with those of my neighbors, thank goodness they were emptied this morning.

PS  We could use some snow.

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

We've sold 17 homes in the past 90 days, and that's not too shabby!  The price range for the home sales seems to be under $200,000 with only 4 selling over this price.

This is the slowest sales summer in the past 5 years, pretty much in step with the rest of the country (even though living east of Billings is always a bright spot to me!)

Just take this little bit of info to help you see what buyer's are doing;

The average listed price of homes with and without acreage in the Shepherd, Huntley, Worden, Ballantine and Pompey's Pillar area right now is $241,890.  But the average sales price for the same area in the past 90 days was $156,722, that's quite a bit different then last year. 

For 2010 during the same period the average list price was $237,381 and the average sales price was $228,133! 

The average number of days on the market for the sold homes almost doubled from 2010 to 2011 from 50 days to 93 days.

What's the reason for this change?  Here in Montana, when we feel a little pressure on our paychecks, or at least when we worry there might be more pressure on our paychecks, we hunker down and sit tight!

This is really a buyer's market right now, only we are missing some good well priced listings!  Homes that are well priced and in good condition will sell in 45 days or less.  Overpriced homes continue to lag without any movement, very frustrating for home sellers who were hoping for more in an environment that will only give them less.

Sometimes I feel like the grim reaper when I educate people on the current market conditions.  My advice?  The reasons people move are the same as they've always been, looking for a neighborhood, location (location, location), schools, work, family changes, move up, move down, moving over.  Making money on a home in this environment depends on whether you own the home or the bank does, and what the spread is. 

Paying down a mortgage is still a really good investment, but it may take years before we have growth in prices at a rate of 3% or more.

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

Under $200,000!  That just goes along with affordability and availability in our region. Billings Montana is an attractive place to live, and one of the most affordable home markets in the country.

About 93 homes per month are selling under the $200,000 compared to about 44 homes per month over $200,000.

It's a Price War and A Beauty Contest out there right now.  Buyers have a keen eye for value, they have more information and pictures than they ever had to help them make their decisions. 

We still have trouble selling homes that are overpriced, in fact, less than 35% of all the homes listed actually sell right now, compared to a more normal market of about 50%.

Well Priced Home + Attractive Features = SOLD!

Have a look at the price ranges to see what activity there is.

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

I'm so glad the snow is melting!  Maybe rural property sales will start picking up as well. 

I've taken a look at the entire market area around Billings Montana at properties over 10 acres, just to get a feel for what's happening out there.  Over the last year, we've sold 82 of these properties, which if you divide that by 12 months, you get a monthly moving average of about 6.8 residential rural properties over 10 acres sold per month. 

Our winter months have been pretty slow however, so get ready for the spring thaw!  Right now we have about 10 properties under contract out of 163 active listings.  That's a pretty poor showing for activity, only about 6%.  We need to be closer to 15%- 20% under contract to get this spring going.

I always think that winter is a less active time, especially for rural properties.  It's hard to visualize what's happening under snow, and vision is key to a home sale.

I'll be out and about checking out rural properties over the next couple of months, I'm always on the look out for good properties to sell.  For specific home price data, see below graph.

The above data reviews the last 12 months from today March 21, 2011.  Of the 82 rural homes that sold the average prices are as follows:

Average List Price:  $294,546

Average Sold Price:  $279,310

The average number of days the sold homes were listed before they sold:  126

The average size of the sold homes:  2,363 square feet

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

The West End of Billings Montana has seen a slower than average amount of buyer activity, but really not too slow considering we're just about to reach the middle of January.

The area measured in today's graph is Area 8, most of which is South of Grand Avenue and West of the downtown area. 

20 homes have sold in the last 30 days, with an average size of about 2,000 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 1 bath.  The average sold price was $180,825 and the average number of days it took to sell those homes was 41 days!

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

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

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

How's the housing market in Billings Montana?  Our local market news continues to intrigue every homeowner, whether they plan to sell their home, buy a new home or just comfort themselves about their current home value.

I've had 3 people in my friends and family group who have talked to me about refinancing their current mortgage.  I just think these rates hovering around 4% are so remarkable, getting a payment to work for a homeowner is pretty attractive right now.

If a home sale is in the future, people want to know, what's the home selling market news like in Billings Montana? 

Let's have a look at one of the factors that tells the most current story.  It's called the Activity Index.  What it measures is the number of homes that have received an accepted offer compared to the total number of homes that are listed for sale but have not sold in our local Billings Association of Realtors MLS.  I use the most local listings for this search, areas 1 through 10 in our search criteria which includes all of Billings, Lockwood, Briarwood, Ironwood, Laurel, Park City, Huntley, Worden, Shepherd and the Billings Heights for this number.

Here is a picture graph of how to interpret the numbers, I use this when I help people make decisions about home selling and pricing their homes to sell, it just gives them a good feel for the current market.

Right now our Activity Index for Billings Montana is 17.6%, if you look at the graph, you can see that this number reflects a balanced number, or consumption for the current inventory.

What you don't see in this index, is that the total inventory is rather high, and in fact, it would take roughly just more than 9 months to clear the current number of unsold homes from the Billings Montana housing market, if the pace and the trend were to continue.

A more balanced inventory would be more like 5 to 7 months (so we're over) and going into the winter months the pace could slow just a bit, or at least it usually does.

A few other numbers that may surprise but also interest you include:

• Over the last 90 days, on average, 127 homes sold per month
• Over the last 90 days, on average, it took 73 days for those homes to sell (does not include the unsold)
• The average list price of the sold's is $211,780
• The average sold price of those listings that did sell was $206,277
• The monthly payment of principal and interest (does not include insurance, mortgage insurance, taxes) for the average sold home priced at $206,277 at a 30 year fixed rate of 3.875% would be approximately $969.99

These numbers are pretty incredible to me.  Let me know if you want to check into qualifying for a new home!

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