Navigate this real estate market carefully with an experienced professional

By Willie Gold, Associate Broker of GMAC Real Estate Fredericksburg

I subscribe to several stock investment services, one of which is Morningstar ETF Investor. A recent email I received from them had the caption: Bear Market or Bull Market Invest Successfully in Both. The author, David Silva, began the short treatise by writing; “In today’s turbulent market, should you be buying, selling, or sitting it out? …. You can’t help but wonder if you ought to be doing something.” I saw that and thought, ‘wow, how well does that comment apply to the real estate market today’.

Then, about the same time, I received another email, this one from TransUnion. TransUnion is a company I do broker professional opinions (BPO’s) for. A BPO is a quasi-appraisal, without all the detail typically found in an appraisal one might need for a bank loan. The company looks for someone, such as myself, that is a licensed real estate broker with lots of experience. (I have 35 years experience as a Texas licensed real estate broker. )

The company was cautioning their vendors, such as me, that “as we navigate through this challenging market (my emphasis), our collective ability to provide quality service is paramount to our success” (some paraphrasing involved). Again, very appropriate for today’s real market.

Challenging market? Should I Buy? Should I Sell? These concerns certainly come to mind as we ‘navigate through the murky real estate waters today’. My thoughts? Navigate carefully by seeking out an experienced, knowledgeable real estate professional. We here at GMAC Real Estate Fredericksburg pride ourselves on just that. Greg Oehler, our broker, and I together have many years’ experience in real estate. Both of us navigated through the disastrous times of the 1980s when the country experienced many similar difficulties in real estate, with the rampant foreclosures, falling prices, and slow sales that we see today.

So, what should I do, buy, sell, hold? Consider the following:

a) If you don’t have to really sell at this time, hold off for awhile, let the market settle down, it will, it always does.

b) Need to Sell? Most important in today’s market is that the property is priced right. Don’t hope for—or expect—a miracle buyer that will step up and buy when the home or property is way overpriced. Buyers will be ‘navigating carefully’ too and will be doing lots of value comparing, assuming they have a knowledgeable Realtor to guide them.

c) Need to buy? Work with a knowledgeable Realtor, one who knows the market and will work for you, not just for the commission. There will be some good buys out there if you know how to find them.

So, let us at GMAC Real Estate Fredericksburg put our resources to work for you. We are ready, willing and able.

Willie can be reached by cell at (830) 992-0481, at the office at (830) 997-6123, or by email.

To read more articles like this, visit The Burg at www.TheBurgBlog.net

Fredericksburg residential real estate market update: First Quarter, 2008

By Greg Oehler, Broker/Owner of GMAC Real Estate Fredericksburg

This post is from GMAC Real Estate Fredericksburg's real estate blog The Burg. To read more Fredericksburg real estate news, analysis & insight, visit The Burg online.

I like seeing where I am! In the Fredericksburg residential market, I took a reading of all our residential activity during the 1st quarter of 2008. To see where we are, please refer to the sales and listing information from the Multiple Listing Service below:

29 Residential Properties SOLD in Fredericksburg 1/1/2008 to 3/31/2008
	Low	High	Average	Median	Total
List Price	$110,000	$435,000	$258,973	$274,500	$7,510,210
Selling Price	$110,000	$400,000	$242,085	$230,000	$7,020,460
List/Sold (%)	76.60%	103.77%	93.82%	95.41%	--
Price/SqFt ($)	$71.71	$159.82	$121.09	$123.74	--
Days on Market	37	483	178	159	--

68 Residential Properties LISTED in Fredericksburg 1/1/2008 to 3/31/2008
	Low	High	Average	Median	Total
List Price	$127,000	$995,000	$333,346	$295,000	$22,667,495

For the quarter, Average Days on Market of 178 days looks healthy. I like to see it at or below 180 days, that usually signifies a healthier market. New Listings during the quarter were almost 2.5 times the number of Sales. But looking at the month of March, 2008, alone, the average Days on Market number was significantly longer. (See my post Fredericksburg real estate market highlights for March)

Now, let us go back a year and compare. Look at the first quarter of 2007 information below:

40 Residential Properties SOLD in Fredericksburg 1/1/2007 to 3/31/2007
	Low	High	Average	Median	Total
List Price	$112,000	$2,975,000	$333,234	$219,000	$13,329,340
Selling Price	$109,900	$2,800,000	$320,986	$218,000	$12,839,440
List/Sold (%)	79.65%	100.00%	96.39%	97.29%	--
Price/SqFt ($)	$84.27	$617.15	$150.47	$133.50	--
Days on Market	26	430	132	109	--

12 Residential Properties LISTED in Fredericksburg 1/1/2007 to 3/31/2007
	Low	High	Average	Median	Total
List Price	$168,000	$2,875,000	$783,292	$464,250	$9,399,500

What a huge difference a year can make! As you can see by comparing 2008 to 2007, the ratio of newly listed properties to sales is quite different. In 2007, there were 40 sales and only 12 new residential listings during the quarter. In 2008, there were 29 sales and 68 listings. This is good news for Buyers! Sellers are more motivated to fix up properties and have them looking their best in order to be more competitive.

I like to know this information before I advise someone making a purchase decision. At GMAC Real Estate Fredericksburg, we analyze the market data to help you make a more-informed purchase decision. We may not have every answer, but we can certainly limit your surprises. Please let us know if we can help!


Greg can be reached by cell at (830) 456-3622, at the office at (830) 997-6123, or by email.


To read more articles like this, visit The Burg at www.TheBurgBlog.net

A look at the Fredericksburg residential real estate market in March

By Greg Oehler, Broker/Owner of GMAC Real Estate Fredericksburg

This post is from GMAC Real Estate Fredericksburg's real estate blog The Burg. To read more Fredericksburg real estate news, analysis & insight, visit The Burg online.



I like to study the residential real estate market in Fredericksburg—it is always changing. Here is what I found on the Fredericksburg real estate market for March.

13 Residential Listings SOLD in March
	Low	High	Average	Median	Total
List Price	$69,900	$839,000	$304,901	$219,000	$3,963,710
Selling Price	$60,000	$775,000	$282,735	$222,560	$3,675,560
List/Sold Ratio (%)	76.60%	101.63%	92.60%	93.94%	--
Price/SqFt ($)	$43.10	$221.62	$139.73	$130.68	--
Days on Market	58	608	274	289	--

In this market, there are more NEW LISTINGS than Sales. I found that 45 new residential listings hit the market in March with the following highlights:

	Low	High	Average	Median
List Price	$127,000	$3,295,000	$506,407	$349,000

To be fair, you cannot use one month alone (such as March) to give you the complete picture of where the market is headed. You need a longer period of time, say 6 months or more, to be more accurate and descriptive, but March provided some interesting statistics:

• The Average Sales Price per home was still pretty high at $282,735.
• The Average List Price to Sales Price ratio is 92.6% indicating that negotiations are occurring. The typical ratio is about 95-96%.
• The Average Days on Market of 274 days is higher than I like to see. Typically, 180 days or less indicates a healthier supply/demand ratio.
• The Average List Price of the new listings, $506,407, is influenced by 3 or 4 multi-million dollar listings that hit the market in March. Of the 45 new residential listings, 13 were under $250,000 and 24 were under $350,000.

Keep checking our blog for more market updates. While these numbers taken like a snapshot in March are high, there are some “shiny pennies” out there just waiting for the right buyers. Please let us know what you would like and if it is there, we will find it for you!



Greg can be reached by cell at (830) 456-3622, at the office at (830) 997-6123, or by email.


To read more articles like this, visit The Burg at www.TheBurgBlog.net