It’s Back, Bigger and Better
June 26th, 2008 - Categories: Dothan Area events
By: Charles Woodall
Managing Broker
http://www.dothanhomesearch.com
The Kiwanis Club of Dothan is again sponsoring the Family 4th Celebration on Friday, July 4th. Gates open at 10 am, and the day cumulates with a fireworks show followed by a concert featuring the group “Fairlane”. Over all, twenty groups will be in concert that day on three different stages. Other activities include a huge Kids Zone fun area, car and motorcycle shows, a motorcycle stunt show, and hot air balloon rides!
The first event last year exceeded all expectations in attendance, which created a few problems, including parking and trash pickup. Those problems will be fixed for the second addition of the event. Both the north and south parking lots at the National Peanut Festival Fairgrounds will be open, and Dothan Police will be directing traffic this year. Also, there is a concert scheduled for after the fireworks, which will hopefully prevent the mad rush to leave that was experienced last year.
If you are going to be in Dothan on July 4th, this is a must attend event. The fireworks show itself is worth the nominal charge ($5 in advance, $8 at the gate). Remember, all kids under 12 are admitted free, and bring your lawn chairs and blankets!
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Dothan Real Estate Market - June Inventory Report
June 25th, 2008 - Categories: Dothan area Real Estate Market information, Inside the numbers
By: Charles Woodall
Managing Broker
http://www.dothanhomesearch.com
Inventory is still inching upward. We are up to 975 homes on the market as of the first of June (the number is down a bit today). There has never been a time in the Dothan area where buyers have had more to choose from than they do right now.
Inventory
The number of homes for sale in the Dothan area is knocking on 1000. A good neutral market would be around 600. We got as low as 450 in 2005. It is amazing to see how this market has turned in under three years. I don’t expect us to hit the 1000 homes mark, but it could happen. As I posted last week, sales have remained steady, so inventory should do the same.
Absorption rate
The absorption rate for June is down again to 8.97 months, which is the lowest since last summer. For those of you just joining us, this means that there is about a nine month supply of homes on the market, based on current inventory and sales figures from the past three months. The trend is definitely downward, and that is a good sign that the Dothan real estate market is healthy.
Inventory and absorption rates can vary between different areas around Dothan. If you would like to see these numbers for a particular area, drop us an email or leave a comment below with your request!
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Monday Mortgage Update
June 23rd, 2008 - Categories: Financing
By: Steve Russell
Mortgage Professional
http://www.themortgageman.wordpress.com
This week’s financial forecast is uncertain. The FOMC, the Federal Open Market Committee also known as “The FED”, meets this week for 2 days beginning tomorrow and concluding with their economic recommendations to be released at 2:15 ET on Wednesday. The markets are expecting the FED to stop its rate decreases amidst increasing inflationary pressures and the weak dollar.
The interesting and uncomfortable position policy makers are in (firmly lodged between a rock and a hard place) requires them to choose between loosening rates to try and stimulate economic activity, and tightening rates to help increase the value of the dollar and therefore decreasing the overall cost of oil (since the price of oil on the open market is based on the US Dollar).
Most analysts are expecting the FED to hold the course with no rate increase or decrease, and I tend to agree with them. With no other significant economic reports due out in the next few days, I don’t expect mortgage bond traders to get too aggressive buying or selling. I would expect the mortgage rates to remain relatively flat, at least until the results of the meeting after lunch on Wednesday. Enjoy your week, and check back for the economic news that affects you in the real estate industry.
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Steve Russell is a Mortgage Banker with Primary Residential Mortgage. Contact Steve with mortgage related questions at 888-257-8383, or visit his website at themortgageman.wordpress.com
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Dothan Home Search is pleased to welcome Steve Russell
June 23rd, 2008 - Categories: Financing, General Commentary
By: Charles Woodall
Managing Broker
http://www.dothanhomesearch.com
I am pleased to welcome Steve Russell, Mortgage Banker with Primary Residential Mortgage, to Dothan Home Search as our resident mortgage expert. Steve writes on his own blog, themortgageman.wordpress.com, and we are excited to have him here sharing his mortgage market insights with home buyers and sellers in the Dothan area.
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Weekend Links
June 21st, 2008 - Categories: Dothan Area Schools, Real Estate News
By: Charles Woodall
Managing Broker
http://www.dothanhomesearch.com
Here are a few links to some interesting news from the week. Have a great weekend!
Birmingham Business Journal - New home starts hit 17-year low - Similar stats here in Dothan from earlier this week, although not quite so drastic
Dothan Eagle - Permitting process set to begin for reservoir - The long discussed drinking water reservoir along the Little Choctawhatchee River is moving to the permitting stage.
Birmingham News - City of Birmingham to sue mortgage companies - This isn’t the first lawsuit in the country, but I think it is the first in Alabama where a city is suing mortgage companies over the mess left behind by high numbers of foreclosed properties.
Dothan Eagle - Houston County Board of Education buys land for Rehobeth School - continuing a policy of buying land adjacent to county schools whenever it becomes available, anticipating future growth
Dothan Eagle - Two new magnet schools proposed in Dothan - The Dothan City Board of Education will be discussing a proposal to create school clusters and two new magnet schools
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June Dothan Planning Commission Meeting
June 19th, 2008 - Categories: Dothan area Real Estate Market information, Dothan area information
By: Judy Spears
Broker Associate, CRS, ABR, GRI, CNHS
http://www.judyspears.com
There were only a few new items in front of the Dothan Planning Commission at this month’s meeting. Development plans for a new Quality Inn near Southeast Alabama Medical Center and the re-approval of plans for Highland Hills Apartments, to be located at the intersection of Flowers Chapel Road and Brannon Stand Road. The plans for Highland Hills were approved a year ago, but since the project has yet to be started, plans had to be re-approved before they expired.
By far the most discussion was over a rezoning request for a property located at the corner of Kent Drive and Ross Clark Circle. For all intents and purposes, the property is unusable as a residence because of traffic and noise. However, residential zoning is across the street and next door, making rezoning the property to office usage something the Planning Commission was unwilling to do. There was a call for a new zoning for transitional properties such as this by the commission.
Other items approved were the recommendation for rezoning of 9.4 acres between South Oates Street and Hodgesville Road to B-2 district, and 52 acres on the east side of the 2500 block of Ross Clark Circle to B-2 district.
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Dothan Home Search goes to the Carnival!
June 18th, 2008 - Categories: Real Estate News
By: Charles Woodall
Managing Broker
http://www.dothanhomesearch.com
The latest edition of the Consumer Focused Carnival of Real Estate is up at searchlightcrusade.net, and I am pleased as punch that our post relating five ways to generate a low ball offer was chosen for the Host’s Choice Award!
For those of you that do not know, a blog carnival brings together links to posts from the many blogs talking about a related in topic, which in this case is real estate. We are particularly proud to be chosen for work that is focused on consumers!
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Dothan real estate market - June Sales report
June 15th, 2008 - Categories: Buying a home in the Dothan area, Dothan area Real Estate Market information, Selling a home in the Dothan area
By: Charles Woodall
Managing Broker
http://www.dothanhomesearch.com
May was a strong month for home sales around the Dothan area. The number of homes sold was up around 20% over April, and with 122 homes sold, May of 2008 almost equaled the 124 sold in May, 2007.
The number of pending home sales has been fairly stable since the first of the year, and has closely followed last years numbers. There were a little over 80 homes listed as pending as June began. Again, we look at pending home sales as a good measure of activity to come in the next 30 to 60 days.
Despite a couple of bumps, the number of homes sold has closely followed totals from last year, albeit about 15% lower overall. We hit a big slowdown in mid-summer last year, and it remains to be seen whether the same will happen this year, since summer is getting cranked up.
I’ll have a report on inventory and absorption rates later in the week.
If you are reading this and wondering if it is a good time to buy or sell a home in Dothan, then we need to talk. Pick up the phone and call me at the office, 334–793–6990, or on my cell, 334–596–0808. I’m not going to give you a hard sell or anything like that, we will just talk about your situation and try to figure out what is best for you right now. Sound fair?
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Weekend Links
June 14th, 2008 - Categories: Dothan Area Schools, Dothan area Real Estate Market information
By: Charles Woodall
Managing Broker
http://www.dothanhomesearch.com
Here are some links for selective reading this weekend. We’ve got a Dothan real estate market report coming next week, so stay tuned for that.
Happy Father’s Day to all you father’s out there!
Changes are being proposed by the Dothan City School Board that will rearrange some Dothan school districts.
Here’s something I bet you didn’t know Alabama ranked high for: Legislators that blog
Gulf Shores condos up for auction starting at 50% of asking price!
Improvements to the Ross Clark Circle seem to be back on track. It’s about time.
Last years sales tax increase is keeping city coffers in the black. With all the money being spent, it’s a good thing.
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Five ways to generate a low ball offer
June 11th, 2008 - Categories: Dothan area Real Estate Market information, Selling a home in the Dothan area
By: Charles Woodall
Managing Broker
http://www.dothanhomesearch.com
You’ll read advice on a lot of real estate related sites on things you need to do to get top dollar for your home. I’m here today to speak to those sellers that are not really interested in getting the most they can get (for whatever reason), so here are some tips you can follow to help insure that you get a low offer.
1. Don’t look at your competition
If you are not concerned with your bottom line, then don’t worry about what other homes in your neighborhood are selling for or what condition they are in. In the majority of neighborhoods, there are several homes for sale, and most of these have fairly similar amenities compared to yours. Buyers WILL see them all and WILL base their offer accordingly, looking at overall condition and updates and upgrades. Since you aren’t looking at your competition and adjusting these things accordingly, buyers ARE going to offer you less.
2. Put off routine maintanence
Don’t worry about fixing those rotten door casings, changing out your air filters, or replacing your worn roof. Time is money, and your looking for low offers anyway.
3. Use comparable sales from the past 12 months
These are the comparables that appraisers use, right? Yes, appraisers will use comps from the past six months because they have to, but appraisal values do not adjust as quickly as real market value. So if you want a low offer, price your home slightly above the recently appraised value. To get a true picture of the current market, you’d need to go back to 2003 or 2004 for pricing comparables.
4. Show signs of desperation
Are you justifying your above market asking price with the rationalization that “I can always reduce it later”? There is really no better tool you can use to get a low ball offer than start chasing the market, or reducing your price regularly to get to the price you should have originally listed. Repeated price changes mean one thing to buyers; “they’ll come down some more”. And what if you list too high and don’t come down? That would go under a post title of how not to receive any offers at all.
Are you putting something to the effect that you are a “motivated seller” in your marketing efforts? That is another great way to generate a low ball offer.
5. Hire a timid agent
This one is probably the easiest to accomplish. Be sure to hire an agent that will list at whatever price you want and will not give you lip about doing this and doing that to make your house more attractive. Your best choice is a good friend or a licensed family member that does real estate part-time, just to have something to do.
Here’s the facts sellers. There are entirely too many choices out there right now for buyers, so generating a low ball offer is not as hard as it was in the sellers market of 2004-2005. Employ each of these to help insure an offer that is at least 10% below market value, or likely 15% or more below your list price.
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