Housing Trends

Not All Home Remodeling Projects Are Created Equal

March 11, 2012 by admin

Remodeling Magazine has released it’s 2010 vs 2011 Cost vs Value index that evaluates the cost of 35 popular home remodeling projects against the projected value at resale. To no surprise not all home remodeling projects are created equal, and not all home remodeling projects return is the same at resale.

An oft hear comment by sellers could not be further from the truth:

I put in over $50,000 in improvements, I want to get it all back

The four highest value add improvements cited are:

– Steel Exterior Door Replacement – 102.1%

– Garage Door Replacement – 83.9%

– Minor Kitchen Remodel – 72.8%

– Wood Deck Addition – 72.8%

The four projects that yielded the lowest return:

– Home Office Remodel – 45.8%

– Backup Power Generator – 48.5%

– Sunroom Addition – 48.6%

– Bathroom Addition – 53.3%

Check out the return for the 35 projects in the Middle Atlantic region.

When choosing a remodeling project for your home there are two important things to remember. Keep the project in line with other homes in your neighborhood. If you want to recoup the highest amount of your project investment do not over improve for your area. Secondly, regardless of the home improvements you make, do not expect to get your investment back dollar for dollar at resale.

Wallingford Real Estate – Wallingford, PA 19086

Completed Foreclosures Drop Nationwide In 2011

February 9, 2012 by admin

National real estate news, while many times more dire than our local situation, does have a bearing on the psyche and mindset of local of buyers and sellers. Positive real estate news on at a national level is seldom heard these days. A large decrease in the number of nationwide foreclosures reported yesterday may signal that the worst of the foreclosure mess is behind us.

830,000 completed foreclosures for the year 2011 were reported this week by CoreLogic, a leading real estate information provider. This represents a 24% drop in completed foreclosures from the 1.1 million reported in 2010. While this is a positive trend, the report cited that there are still 1.4 million homes in foreclosure nationwide – a number that represents 3.4% of all homes with a mortgage. Approximately one third of all homeowners own their homes outright with no mortgage.

Specifically Florida has the dubious distinction of leading the county with the highest foreclosure inventory of 11.9% – Wyoming is at the bottom of the pack with a 0.7% foreclosure inventory. Pennsylvania has a 2.6% foreclosure inventory. Figures are as of December 2011.

Nationwide there have been 3.2 million completed foreclosures since the “financial crisis” started in September 2008.

In the local Wallingford PA market 9 of 136 homes, representing 6.6% of sales reported for the year 2011 in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), were completed Bank Owned Foreclosures. In 2010 the percentage was slightly lower at 6.4% – 8 out of 125 reported sales.

The foreclosure problem affects all homeowners, simply due to the fact that completed foreclosures can sell for as much as 12% to 17% less than a comparable non-foreclosure sale.

The foreclosure crisis is not going away anytime soon, but any positive news regarding this critical segment of the market is a good sign, even if it is at a national level.

Wallingford Real Estate – Wallingford, PA 19086

Wallingford PA Home Profile – Traits Of Homes Sold In 2011

January 3, 2012 by admin

We welcomed 136 new Wallingford PA homeowners to our community this year during 2011. This represents an increase in 10 sales when compared to 2010. Overall these 136 new owners paid an average price of $301,741, a 6.6% decrease compared to 2010.

What constitutes an “average” home sold in Wallingford during the past year?

88% of the homes sold during 2011 were single detached family homes -115, townhomes accounted for 12 sales – 7%, and there were 8 condominium transactions – 5%.

Single family homes sold for an average price 0f $320,034, and sellers had to endure 148 days on the market before going under contract. Townhouse buyers paid an average of $254,233, and condominium buyers paid an average of $118,250. Sellers paid out an average Seller Assist of $3,357 in 44% of local transactions, one seller had the net selling price reduced by a $19,350 assist.

Wallingford homes sold in 2011 have reached middle age – the average age was 51.5 years old. Single homes had 3.66 bedrooms, 1.95 full bathrooms, and .73 half baths.

On the price spectrum, one new homeowner paid $38,000 on the low end of the scale, while the high price topped out at $872,500.

Colonials were all the rage accounting for 81 single homes sold, followed by 19 Cape Cods, and 13 ranchers. On one of the first cold nights of winter 91 homes have a fireplace, 21 have two, and 4 even have 3 fireplaces. For primary heating 71 homes have gas heat, and 48 utilize oil heat for warmth.

Meals are prepared in a kitchen ranges fueled by natural gas in 40% of homes, but electric cooking was in the majority of homes – 57%. Dishes are washed with hot water heated by gas in 75 homes, and with oil in 18 homes.

Central air cooled 107 homes with an average of 2,124 square feet. The largest home had 5,738 square feet of interior space, while the smallest came in at 635.

68% of new Wallingford homeowners have a garage in their new abode and should be avoiding cleaning snow off of at least one car, 4 homes sold have a 3 car garage. Basements will likely be full of moving boxes in 121 of the homes sold – 89%.

The foreclosure crisis did not avoid the area. Data from the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) indicates that 9 homes sold in Wallingford PA last year were Bank Owned properties – just slightly over six percent – coming in at 6.6%.

Alas our new neighbors would have inherited an average 2011 tax bill of $7,826 – so much for being average. One lucky buyer is paying a budget busting tax bill of $23,508!

Take a look at all 136 Wallingford homes or Wallingford towhouses/condos that sold last year.

Wallingford Real Estate – Wallingford, PA 19086

National 2011 New Home Sales On Track For Record Low

November 29, 2011 by admin

In a healthly market approximately 750,00 new homes would be sold nationwide. At the current annualized rate new home sales for 2011 are predicted to top out at just 307,000 units. Economists are already claiming that 2011 will be the worst year on record for new single family homes, and the demand for new housing has been descibed as “miniscule”.

Only 3 states have not set record lows for new housing permits, and the inventory of new homes for sale is at a 6.3 month supply – approximately 163,000. Average new home prices in October were $243,000 – the lowest since August 2003.

Nationally home prices are at levels last seen in 2003. The Phoenix metropolitan area is almost back to January 200 price levels, along with other hard hit areass such as Atlanta and Las Vegas area where prices have slipped even further.

Nationally sales of existing single family homes may avoid a record low due to the fact that a third of existing homes are being sold at “distressed” prices. Distressed sales contribute to housing sale units but have a negative effect on home prices overall.

Third quarter data puts the number of homeowners who are “underwater” at 22.1%, making 10.7 million homes vunerable to foreclosure.

Wallingford Real Estate – Wallingford, PA 19086

National Housing Outlook Looking Slightly Brighter

November 21, 2011 by admin

For the first time in a long time, housing figures are coming in better than expected. The National Association of Home Builders’ sentiment index jumped three points this month to 20, its highest reading in over a year. Last week, the Commerce Department said building permits and construction of single-family homes rose in October. The Federal Reserve’s fourth-quarter loan survey showed a pickup in demand for mortgage loans.

Mission accomplished? Not quite. Construction is picking up but remains at historically depressed levels, and broader sales activity is still anemic. Indeed, the National Association of Realtors’ existing-home sales report, out Monday, is likely to show a second straight monthly decline in October to a seasonally adjusted annualized pace of about 4.8 million units. That would mean the sales rate has dropped by more than 10% so far this year.

Meanwhile, the foreclosure supply is ticking back up. After declining for three straight quarters, the percentage of loans on which foreclosure action has started rose in the third quarter, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s latest survey showed. This was partly due to remediation programs and the sunset of earlier foreclosure halts, the group said. The continued trickle of distressed properties is likely to keep downward pressure on home prices.

Not all foreclosures are created equal, however, and regional disparities are becoming more pronounced. In states with nonjudicial foreclosures, like California, properties are seized and resold more quickly than in judicial states like Florida, where court hearings can delay this for months, if not years. California’s market, having fallen hard and fast early on, is now starting to recover. Florida, which also fell sharply, remains among the weakest.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch economists expect the foreclosure process to speed up in nonjudicial states next year, with liquidations peaking in 2013. This is partly why they expect home prices to drop another 8% on average nationwide over the next 18 months before bottoming. This assumes a healthy pickup in sales; if customers shy away because of economic angst or tighter lending criteria, a rebound will take longer to materialize.

Still, six years after existing-home sales peaked, the market is at least edging toward a bottom. The biblical notion that seven years of famine follows seven years of feast may have something to it.

Wallingford Real Estate – Wallingford, PA 19086

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S. Clark Kendus