Similar to the Boring but Invaluable Statistics for Auburn posted yesterday, Maple Valley, WA where my office resides and located about 15 minutes northeast of Auburn, has it’s own set of Tedius but Crucial Statistics.
Tedious but Crucial Statistic #1: As with much of the area, home prices have fallen a bit in Maple Valley for the last few years. However, encouraging is that since February, prices have actually risen slightly:
February
March April May June July |
$ 287,729
$ 271,727 $ 271,158 $ 305,186 $ 308,423 $ 311,281 |
Moving quickly on to Tedious but Crucial Statistic #2: Assuming no additional homes are listed for sale in Maple Valley, and looking at only a single month, it appears that it will take approximately nine months to sell every home currently on the market.
So … assuming that a house is priced right, how long does it take to get an offer? Enter Tedious but Crucial Statistic #3, which shows that it takes 93 days! Want to lower that number? Be aggressive with pricing right from the start. Most homes have had at least one price reduction, if not several before 93 days has passed!
So how did the Home Buyer tax credit affect Maple Valley? Take a look at Tedious but Crucial Statistic #4: In order to qualify, buyers had to be in contract by the end of April. Yep, there’s a spike there!
Tedious but Crucial Statistic #5 doesn’t yet show the must close by end of September qualifier, but note that the original close by date was the end of April. Hmmm, that date wasn’t important to Maple Valley buyers!
Tedious but Crucial Statistics such as these are important when either selling … or buying … a home. For help evaluating your marketing options, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Now that it’s near the end of August, watch for September statistics, coming soon to a blog near you!
When looking at effective pricing, you may want to consider home prices for similar houses in about the May 2005 timeframe: