Coloring by Numbers- Green is the new Black

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I was speaking with a  friend today who sells real estate on the other side of my state. I’m a ”numbers” girl- I really like seeing the statistics that reflect real life and give us insight into it. We were batting numbers around a little, and this piqued my curiosity. I decided to do a little number-hunting today.

1. Some estimates are that by year’s end, 25-30% of all homes on market will be bank-owned. This will have an impact on the market’s recovery in general, and specific implications for both sellers and buyers- but it is important to remember that the market in general does not necessarily describe your market specifically.

2. “It is estimated that more than 90% of real estate searches now start online and most of them start from one of the major search engines.” (source: http://www.yaerd.org/real-estate-marketing/real-estate-marketing.html) I have heard quotes ranging from 85% and up, so this appears pretty spot-on. I asked my oldest daughter why she thought this was, and she said that her generation uses the Internet for research, and in addition, nearly everyone is wired at work and they bring what they are researching to the office. Food for thought if you are selling your home on your own.

3. Speaking about For-Sale-By-Owner homes: everyone that you speak with- agent and homeowner- pulls up statistics that are very hard to trace, and I think that makes it difficult if you are trying to decide whether to sell your home on your own or use a Realtor. However, numbers of FSBOs are going to approach 25% of the market in many areas. This article from the ForSaleByOwner site appeared pretty unbiased, pointing out the pros and cons of the process.

4. People are using their cellphone to access information about listings. 15-20% of search inquiries start from mobile browsers.  For the seller, this has enormous implications- whether you are choosing to market on your own, or trying to decide on an agent.  I picked up this nugget at the Inman Connect NYC conference, and it is really hammering home to me the importance of use of technology in advertising. Once you get people there if the photos suck or the home isn’t described properly you’ve lost the audience- but you have to be where people are looking. Even with open houses we track numbers, and most come from the Internet, with signs being the second biggest draw.

5. This probably belongs in a post of its own. You hear all the time about homes being picked up for pennies on the dollar. I wanted to see if this was happening with homes listed around here on the MLS. I searched Lowell, MA; Fitchburg, MA; and Leominster, MA. I wanted to know what the sale price average to list price average was in the lowest segment of the market- this would include properties that were bank-owned and similarly distressed.

All single and multifamily homes sold on MLS in past 6 months- average (mean):

• Lowell (under $200,000)          Sale price $139,525 List $146,812           Sale/List =  app. 93%                                             
• Leominster (under $150,000)     Sale price $91,373   List  $100,925         Sale/List = app. 90%
• Fitchburg (under $100,000)        Sale price $78,683   List $89,363             Sale/List= app. 88%

I guess you can draw your own implications from this. I have had investors, time and again, ask me to put in offers for about 50% of list. I have also never seen anything close to that succeed around here; some REO agents are instructed not to put those offers in.

Numbers. They interest me, and help me to make good decisions. They help to describe trends, tell you when your kids are sick, make neat patterns, and can even help you buy or sell a house. And with all the information available today, buying a house is more in your control than it has ever been before.

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