dothanhomesearch.com

By: Charles Woodall
Managing Broker

http://www.dothanhomesearch.com

National home sales numbers are due out today, and the media is back on its doom and gloom song. This morning, one channel after another was harping on how the real estate market has tanked, debating each other on whether the bottom has been reached yet.

Let me let the fine folks of Dothan and the surrounding area in on a secret. When you look at the big picture, THERE IS NO HOUSING SLUMP IN OUR AREA. Period. No matter which figure related to home sales you look at, the Dothan real estate market is at or near the same levels as last year. And by the way, 2006 was the third consecutive record year for home sales in our market.

I have talked about the exact numbers in previous posts on this web site, so I won?t go into detail again. If you look strictly at the number of homes sold, the numbers for 2007 year-to-date are identical to same period in 2006. If you look at median price, you?ll see an increase of 2.25% this year over last. That is a strong increase even in a booming market!

Sure, there has been a significant increase in homes on the market and a slight increase in days on the market in 2007, but there are still plenty of buyers in the market and interest rates are very affordable. Unless something changes in the Dothan economy, don?t look for a measurable decline in homes for sale any time soon.

When you hear these stories on a national level, just remember that real estate is local, and there is every reason to be excited about the Dothan real estate market!

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By: Charles Woodall
Managing Broker

http://www.dothanhomesearch.com

I came across this video about Dothan recently on YouTube. While it is a Chamber of Commerce type production, it does a good job of highlighting the many things Dothan has to offer. Take a look and let me know what you think!

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By: Charles Woodall
Managing Broker

http://www.dothanhomesearch.com

In the market update for June, I talked about the number of homes on the market in the Dothan area being up about 50% in the past twelve months. When you look further back, the number has nearly doubled in less than 24 months. Average time on the market has increased during this period by about three weeks, up to 121 days.

It is interesting to expand on the averages a bit and look at how the increased inventory is effecting marketing time in certain price ranges. I’ll pick four price ranges and compare the market time for 2007 year-to-date against the same time period in 2006. Keep in mind that our median price in the Dothan real estate market for 2007 year-to-date is around $135,500, and the numbers I am using are final sales price numbers, not listing price.

Here are the price ranges we will be analyzing:

–  $60,000 to $90,000
–  $110,000 to $135,000
–  $150,000 to $180,000
–  $250,000 and $300,000

$60,000 to $90,000

Units sold, Jan - June, 2006 - 116 with average days on market (DOM) of 96 days
Units sold, Jan - June, 2007 - 99, average DOM of 104 days

$110,000 to $135,000

Units sold, Jan - June 2006 - 123, average DOM of 101 days
Units sold, Jan - June 2007 - 97, average DOM of 105 days

$150,000 to $180,000

Units sold, Jan - June 2006 - 100, average DOM of 112 days
Units sold, Jan - June 2007 - 102, average DOM of 127 days

$250,000 to $300,000

Units sold, Jan - June 2006 - 36, average DOM of 96 days
Units sold, Jan - June 2007 - 43, average DOM of 146 days

What conclusions can we draw from this data? While the number of homes sold in the lower price ranges (below median) has dropped, the average days on the market has stayed about the same. In other words, if you have a home for sale in this price range, chances are you won’t see any longer marketing time compared to what your neighbor had back last year. In the upper price ranges (above median), the opposite seems to be the case. Sales numbers for 2007 are actually above last year, but the market time has increased significantly. So if your home is listed at a price over $250,000, be ready for it to take a little longer to sell.

If you would like an analysis similar to this for a specific price range, just let me know. I would be happy to put something together.

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By: Charles Woodall
Managing Broker

http://www.dothanhomesearch.com

The year is half way over, and that gives us a good opportunity to analyze the market and compare it to previous years. It is worth noting that 2004, 2005, and 2006 were successive record years for real estate sales in Dothan. Let’s first look at the numbers, then discuss what they mean. Click on the thumbnail on the right to see the stats.

There are several conclusions that can reasonably be drawn from this data when comparing 2007 to 2006 year-to-date.

1 -  Inventory (homes on the market for sale) is way up. June 2007 inventory is up 50% over June 2006
2 -  Average market time has increased by three weeks, from 101 days to 122 days
3 -  Overall sales are virtually the same in both units and total volume in the first half of 2007 compared to the same period in 2006.

For home sellers, the good news is statistics show that there are just about as many buyers as there were in 2006, which was a record year for home sales in Dothan. The bad news; you have more competition for those buyers than at any time in the past five years. Our best advice is to not live in the past. Even though your neighbor had multiple full price offers within a couple of weeks of listing his home a year and a half ago, the odds are you aren’t going to be so lucky.

If you are looking to buy a home soon, or are currently looking, the good news is there are more choices in most price ranges than there has been at any time in the last four or five years. The bad news (or maybe not so good news is better) is there are still a lot of buyers looking, so the houses that are priced right are still selling fairly quickly.

The best thing you can do whether you are buying or selling is to work with a real estate professional that is in the market everyday and knows what is going on.

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By: Charles Woodall
Managing Broker

http://www.dothanhomesearch.com

This is an open letter to home sellers or potential home sellers in the Dothan area.

Dear Mr. and/or Ms. Home Seller,

I have been studying the 2006 National Association of REALTORS Profile of Homebuyers and Sellers and have some information for you. While trying to determine from said profile where is the best place to spend our marketing and advertising funds to find a buyer for your home, it occured to me that you may not be aware of what forms of advertising work toward this goal and what doesn’t.

First, a little background on the survey. Each year, the National Association of REALTORS surveys consumers who have bought a home over the previous 12 month period. The questionnaire includes items that relate to home selling as well, so consumers who have bought and sold answer questions related to both transactions. The results are tabulated and shared with professional REALTORS to help them better serve their clients and customers.

One of the biggest shifts in the real estate industry in recent years has to do with where a buyer ‘finds’ the home they end up purchasing. I think you would agree that the answer to this question should be the bottom line as to where an agent or company should be spending their money to find a buyer for your property. After all, you are hiring us to do a job, and do it as quickly as possible, so do you want us spending time and money on advertising that most likely is not going to result in a buyer for your home?

The top three ways a buyer found the home they purchased and the percentage that used this method were:

1)   From a real estate agent - 36%
2)   From the Internet - 24%
3)   Yard sign - 15%

As you can see, a total of 75% of all homebuyers found the home they bought through one of these methods. I know you are wondering where advertising such as the real estate section of the newspaper and the different real estate magazines falls on this list. Well, a grand total of 6% of buyers found their home using this type of advertising. More buyers found their new home by talking with a friend or relative (8%) than these forms of advertising. Open houses did not even make the list.

So if advertising in the newspaper and holding an open house is not going to sell your home, why do we do use them? Excellent question, and there are a couple of answers. First, to a certain extent it makes our phone ring, which allows us to talk with buyers, which gives us the opportunity to work with them to find a home, which gives us a chance to promote your home to these buyers. Second, we do these things because we have done a poor job of educating you on the very statistics I have listed above.

Rest assured Mr. and Mrs. Seller that we will do everything in our power to sell your property. After all, we don’t get paid until we do. And we will continue to use the newspaper and real estate magazines because they make the phone ring. Just remember, it is the ad and the subsequent phone call or website visit that will more than likely generate a buyer for your home, not the fact that the information on your home is in the ad itself. It is the effort we as your agent put into capturing buyers and showcasing your home on the Internet that will ultimately sell your home.

{A special thanks to Maureen Francis and her real estate blog covering Oakland County, Michigan for the idea for this category. Maureen has a lot of good information on not only real estate in her area, but the overall market as well.}

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By: Charles Woodall
Managing Broker

http://www.dothanhomesearch.com

My wife and I love to occasionally load up the kids and take off to any interesting place we can find within a short drive of Dothan. Our area has an abundance of unique sights, some well known and some not so well known. In this series of posts, I will explore some of the places we have visited on one of our day trips.

Providence Canyon State Park, Georgia

Location - Stewart County, Georgia, near Lumpkin, north of Eufaula, Alabama

Drive time from Dothan - an hour and a half to two hours one way. We left Dothan around 10 a.m. and were home a little after 4 p.m.

Cost - $3 to park your vehicle for the day

Amenities - Souvenir shop and drink machine, plus plenty of picnic tables and a playground. That is about it, but what more do you need?

Best advice - wear comfortable shoes, but definitely not your best shoes. Even with the dry weather we have had, there was plenty of wet clay and mud to walk through.

Website - Georgia State Parks - Providence Canyon

Georgia calls it their “Little Grand Canyon”, with good reason. Caused by erosion over the past 100 or so years, some of the canyons reach 150 feet deep. There are great views from the rim at the picnic areas, and you can walk down to the canyon floor to see the view from below. The Canyon Loop Trail is around three miles long, and there are a couple of creek beds along the trail that you follow to go into each of the nine different canyons. We spent a couple of hours walking around, and saw most everything. The walk back up the path from the canyon floor to the Interpretive Center is about the only strenuous part of the hike, and it wasn’t that bad, even for our two year old. There is also a seven mile back-country trail for the backpackers and camp sites for those that want to stay for more than the day.

If you like nature and want your children to be appreciative of it, then this is a must see. Add a few dollars to your trip budget and reward the kids with a Frosty at Wendy’s in Eufaula on your way back to Dothan. We have never been above a little bribery to encourage good behavior!

Enjoy the pictures below.

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