I have had many people ask me how many foreclosures are in our current real estate market. At the present time there are 134 homes that are in foreclosure in the Hilton Head area; 3 in Sea Pines Plantation, one in Forest Beach, 3 in Wexford Plantation, one in Long Cove, one in Palmetto Dunes, one in Folly Field, 7 in Hilton Head Plantation, one in Indigo Run, one in Palmetto Hall, 2 in Windmill Harbour, 9 in off plantation areas and the remaining in Bluffton.
Looking at a breakdown by price:
39 are priced under $100,000
23 are priced between $100,000 and $200,000
12 are priced between $300,000 and $400,000
6 are priced between $400,000 and $500,000
5 are priced between $500,000 and $600,000
3 are priced between $600,000 and $700,000
2 are priced between $700,000 and $800,000
one is priced between $800,000 and $900,000
one is priced between $900,000 and $1 million
3 are priced between $1 million and $1.5 million
2 are priced between $1.5 million and $2 million
one is priced between $2 million and $3 million
one is priced over $3 million (more…)
I was visiting with some clients who were in the process of moving back to upstate New York to be closer to their children. They had been living on Hilton Head for over 20 years. They told me that they had rented a truck and that they had gotten such a great deal; it was only $200 and normally a truck like that would cost $800. I had to think about that for a moment and they went on to say that most people are leaving New York and driving the trucks from there, rather than driving the trucks back there. Because of this, they gave them a very good deal because they needed to get the truck back to New York.
This again is simple supply and demand – as it relates to any commodity.
If you are buying on Hilton Head Island you are in a great position – there is a lot of supply and some great deals available.
That’s right, in this real estate market, nobody is happy – not even the buyers.
I did not realize this until I was talking to a Realtor friend of mine from Chicago today. We, as Realtors, think that purchasers are happy and excited because they are getting some phenomenal deals in this market. But in reality, buyers are still nervous about their purchases as prices continue to fall – they want to know if their new home is going to retain its value.
We all want this real estate market to turn around, so we can all be happy!
One of the Realtors in my office recently had a listing appointment. During this meeting, they went over all the research showing what the house would sell for in today’s market.
A couple days later the owners of the property sent a letter to their Realtor saying why they thought their house was worth approximately 15% more than what the research showed.
I read the letter and it was very well written, but they needed to understand that they don’t determine the price of their home. In a real estate market like today’s, it is important to realize that it is the buyer who determines the sales price. In a seller’s market, the seller often determines the sales price.
In a good real estate market the seller determines the price because there are a lot more buyers than sellers in the market. This makes sense when you think about it like that and it is true with any commodity. It all goes back to Economics 101 – supply vs. demand.
I showed property to someone and we found a great bank foreclosure; it was under priced and it was in a great location. When I talked to the husband the next day, he said that his wife really did not like the floor plan – he said, “momma ain’t gonna buy it just because it is a good deal.”
I guess this really shows that it does not matter what a good deal a property is; if you do not like it, you are not going to buy it. I always try to point out to people that the need to like what they buy because they are going to have to live in it.
I recently had a meeting with a client about a property and they had a lot of questions. I knew everything about the house – who the previous owner was, how many square feet were in the house, when it was built, what it previously sold for, when it sold, etc. My client stopped to asked me how I knew all of these random facts.
When you love selling real estate as much as I do and you have sold real estate for over 30 years, you tend to lots about it.
I started asking my client questions about sports and he knew all of the answers. I asked him how he knew all the answers to my questions and he said that it was because it was something that he was interested in and sports were important to him.
When you choose a Realtor, I believe you should choose someone who loves real estate and it is important to them. I believe you pay for good advice, but you pay even more for bad advice.
There are a lot of people who like to get a real estate license and “dabble” in real estate. Make sure you have someone working on your side who knows the real estate market.
GREAT NEWS! The real estate market has picked up on Hilton Head Island. Even though prices continue to be low, sales are up.
I just ran the numbers to see the number of current pending sales on Hilton Head Island. It is good to see that this many homes are selling in the market today.
I’m also pleased to say that Charter I Realty continues to be the #1 Real Estate Company in sales on Hilton Head with 92 pending sales.
I think it is important to realize that for a market to rebound, you have to have activity and I think the fact that sales are up from last year is a good sign that the market has bottomed out!
If you read my blog yesterday, you know that we were talking about the states with the highest percentage of mortgages with negative equity.
The following are the states with the lowest percentage of mortgages with negative equity; Oklahoma with 6.1%, New York with 6.2%, Montana with 7.4%, Alabama with 7.4% and North Dakota with 8.6%. There were several states that did not report including Louisiana, South Dakota, Maine and West Virginia.
If you will notice, the states with the highest percentage of mortgages with negative equity are ones where massive building occurred and most of the mortgages were obtained between 2003 and 2007.
For the real estate market to turn around we are going to have to see the number of foreclosures reduced. With high numbers of foreclosures, it makes it very hard for regular sellers to compete in the real estate market.
I received several phone calls from clients this morning asking if I had seen 60 Minutes last night. Unfortunately I missed it, but I have actually been doing some research myself looking at the percentage of mortgages that have negative equity – meaning that the owners owe more than the property is worth. There are five states that are in really bad shape with very high percentages of mortgages that have negative equity; Nevada with 65%, Arizona with 47.9%, Florida with 44.7%, Michigan with 37.3% and California with 34.7%.
I find this absolutely unbelievable – this means that in Nevada that 2 out of every 3 people with a mortgage have negative equity. These statistics have a detrimental effect on the real estate market. I feel that it important to realize that one of the first things that needs to be fixed is the real estate market as it has an effect on many other factors in this economy.
If you look at these numbers you will realize that we have not solved the foreclosure problem in the United States and it could definitely get worse before it gets better. For purchasers, there are some great opportunities available.
Stay tuned – tomorrow I will give you the states with the states with the lowest percentage of mortgages with negative equity.
I think it is important to realize that for a market to rebound, you have to have activity and I think the fact that sales are up from last year is a good sign that the market has bottomed out!