Although I run statistics frequently, I hadn’t actually compared different parts of the region as far as distressed property sales. Curious, I went to our Northwest Multiple Listing Service to run some quick stats. No, it’s definitely not just my imagination: short sales and bank-owned properties are far more prevalent in my business areas of the south King County and Pierce County areas. 

So here are the facts as of this morning, May 18, 2010 of the residential properties that I work most frequently (single family, condominiums, and manufactured homes): 

In King County, there are currently 15349 unsold properties. (Some of these do have offers of one sort or another.) Of those unsold properties, 971 are noted as being Bank-Owned, while another 4207 are noted as requiring Short Sale or some other third-party approval before the sale can close. Okay, that computes to about 33.7% of unsold properties being either bank-owned or short sale nature. 

In Pierce County, there are currently 6755 unsold properties. Of those, 741 are bank owned and 2178 are short sales. That’s approximately 43.2%. 

Now, to get even more specific, I live and focus my business (although not exclusively) in Auburn, a smaller community that spans the King and Pierce County lines. In the Auburn area, there are 463 unsold listings, 68 bank-owned and 228 short sale properties. YIKES! That’s 63.9% of all listings in my area!

So here’s the point: If you plan to buy or sell a property in the south King County or Pierce County areas where properties are so affordable, be sure that you’re working with an experience Short Sale or Foreclosure Agent. 

The first two months of sales data in the greater Auburn, Washington tell the story perfectly — Want or Need to Sell Your Home Fast? — Drop The Price! Or at least price it within the range of those houses that are actually selling:

Granted, this little chart only shows three months of home sale activity in the greater Auburn area, but it clearly reflects that homes sell faster when they are nearer the lower end of the pricing spectrum.

Here you can see that the average home listing price is above $300,000, but the average price for home sales that actually closed (i.e., made it all the way to the exchange of keys!) was in the low-mid $200,000 range. It’s further telling that homes in those upper dollar amounts for Auburn, stay on the market longer than those than ultimately are priced in the lower $200′s — 100+ days compared to 58 days and 82 days.

It’s important to remember that “Solds” are a result of homes that went Pending 30-60 days prior.

So ……

Compare the number of days for houses that went pending in December to those that closed in February. For houses that sold in December, one would need to compare the days on market for those that went pending in October or November.

And I’m thinking that the closed prices in March will be higher too! Look at the pending $$ for February! (Yeah, I know, I get excited about these things ……………..)

Just so you know … Days on Market is the number of days the property was Active; i.e., available for sale and not under any sort of a purchase contract. Sometimes, especially where short sales are involved, a property may go in and out of Active status, however once a contract is fully signed by both the Buyer and the Seller, the property is “Pending” and the time during which the bank considers the sale does not affect the Days on Market.

Obviously the bulk of closed sales was for single family homes. So who sold these houses and why?

41% of the closed sales were from Short Sales and Bank-Owned homes. The good news: Almost 60% of closed residential sales were from private sellers!! YES, you CAN sell your house!

Information for these charts and graphs was manually compiled (by me) from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service and is for properties with Auburn addresses. Data for your individual neighborhood will be different and you’ll want to know exactly what’s going on around your own home when you consider selling.

Please remember that I specialize in Houses & Condos, buyers and sellers, and especially short sales! Interviewing for a progressive, knowledgeable, tenacious agent to buy or sell? Don’t hesitate to give me a call.

Graphs bring that information down in a visual, manageable method, making it a bit easier to figure out what’s really going on.

The graphs here are for the Auburn, Algona & Pacific areas of King County, known by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service as Area 310. At the time we look at your home’s individual value, however, this information will be localized even further, helping everyone involved understand what the appropriate market price for your home really is. It’s tough to make educated decisions without the hard facts backing them up.

This first graph illustrates the average price for homes on the market (active) vs the average price for those homes where the sale was completed (closed) in the same month. Here one can see that there was a spike in sold prices in July, with a drop in August.

This next chart shows the average sales price for homes in Area 310 (not just Auburn –gotta fix that chart title) .. by month since the start of 2005. So …. if you purchased your home in August 2005, it’s easy to see that your home’s value may be slightly less than that $$ amount in August 2009.

Next: The number of new listings coming on the market each month since 2005. Good for helping decide when the right time to list might be.

And look how the number of closed sales went month by month for the same period. (still gotta change these titles — this is for Auburn, Pacific & Algona, not just Auburn Addresses!). Remember that sales typically receive a mutually accepted offer 30-45 days prior to closing. Look at August — there’s that July housing shopping in action!

I like this next chart! Look how far the inventory has fallen. Either houses are selling, or listings are being cancelled or expired. There are certainly fewer of them! It’s really important to remember here, however, that this little chart only compares one month’s of active listings to one month’s of closed sales — That’s a bit limited in scope, but gives you an idea.

These are just a few of the statistics I use to help you work on your own home’s value. Don’t hesitate to give me a call or an e-mail if you want to examine your own situation!