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Agent "A" or Agent "B"???

 
Steven Keefe, Broker/Owner 
Coldwell Banker Sky Ridge Realty 

www.mountainmoves.com
steve@mountainupdate.com
909.744.7690

Below, you have the production for two well known agents in the Lake Arrowhead market for the last 12 months.  The fact that the agents work the Lake Arrowhead market is not significant as there are Agent "A's" and Agent "B's" in any real estate market.  As the Broker for the leading real estate firm on the mountain, I track performance of not only my team but our competitors also.  One of these two agents is doing a pretty good job... the other one isn't.

	Agent "A"	Agent "B"
Listings Taken	36	32
Active Listings	18	10
Under Contract	4	0
Sold Listings	9	4
Withdrawn	1	2
Expired	4	16

Both agents had similar amounts of listings that they took over the last 12 months.  However, the results each agent realized were dramatically different.... can you see who did better?  The good news for those sellers working with Agent "A" is that their agent had very few listings expire or withdrawn.  Expired and withdrawn listings represent a sellers choice to not continue to work with that agent.  When tracking Realtor performance, if an agent has a high number of expired listings, that is a key indicator that they often have a great sales pitch, and can get people to list with them, but they fail miserably in the results category. 

Agent "B" took 32 listings last year, 18 of which ended badly with the seller choosing to not continue the relationship.  They were sold upfront by a great pitch, but Agent "B" didn't deliver.

 Unfortunately, many sellers don't have access to the information they need when making a decision on who to work with to help them sell their real estate.  Often the person that appears to be the right person to work with actually is Agent "B"....

 Don't get stuck working with Agent "B".  Contact me directly and I will direct you to an Agent "A".  My cell phone number is 909.744.7690 or email me at steve@cbskyridge.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Will "Low Balling" work in Lake Arrowhead?

 
Steven Keefe, Broker/Owner 
Coldwell Banker Sky Ridge Realty 

www.mountainmoves.com
steve@mountainupdate.com
909.744.7690

The following matrix shows all single family home sales in Lake Arrowhead reported as sold to the Rim Association of Realtors for the calendar year 2011, it breaks down by price range the 3 types of sales.... Standard sales, Short Sales and REO sales or bank owned properties.  What it reveals is that 65% of the properties in Lake Arrowhead last year were standard, non-distressed sales.  16% of the sales the seller negotiated a settlement on the mortgage (short sale) and, 19% of the sales came as a result of foreclosure.  Lake Arrowhead has a lower percentage of distressed sales than any other community from Crestline to Green Valley Lake.

	Standard	Short	Bank Owned
Price Range	Sales	Sales	Sales
0- $299k	81	24	54
$300k-$499k	64	21	7
$500k-$999k	39	5	1
$1Mil+	28	1	0
Total Sales	212	51	62
% of Market	65%	16%	19%

The next matrix shows at what percentage of asking to sales price the homes sold for in each price range and for each type of sale.  Homes in Lake Arrowhead over the last 12 months sold for on average of 94% to 96% of asking price.  What this means is that for the homes that sold, buyers were able to negotiate between 4% and 6% off of the asking price.  Buyers often think that it is normal that they will be able to come in and cut a "fat hog."  What the data demonstrates is that in fact when a seller has it priced correctly, a discount of very little off the asking price is necessary to make a deal. 

Standard Sales
	List Price to
Price Range	Sale Price Ratio
0- $299k	94%
$300k-$499k	96%
$500k-$999k	95%
$1Mil+	92%
Standard Sale Average	95%
Short Sales
	List Price to
Price Range	Sale Price Ratio
0- $299k	98%
$300k-$499k	95%
$500k-$999k	88%
$1Mil+	84%
Short Sale Average	96%
Bank Owned Sales
	List Price to
Price Range	Sale Price  Ratio
0- $299k	94%
$300k-$499k	92%
$500k-$999k	99%
$1Mil+
Bank Owned Average	94%

For sellers the key is making sure that you are value priced, or you are not going to even get offers.  In the past, a seller could hold his price knowing that they would take a much lower offer and it would work.  In the current market, this strategy doesn't work.  The data shows that only the homes that are priced 4% to 5% above what they will actually sell for are the ones that will get offers and sell. 

I hear sellers say all the time.  I don't want to reduce my price.... someone will make me an offer.... the fact is Mr. Seller they won't.

Serious sellers list their property with a company that gets results.  That company is Coldwell Banker Sky Ridge Realty.  If you are a homeowner needing the assistance of a professional nationally recognized firm don't hesitate to contact me at the office..

Coldwell Banker Sky Ridge Realty sells more homes than anyone on the mountain.  In these tough economic times sellers need every advantage possible to obtain the best results.  Coldwell Banker Sky Ridge Realty offers those advantages.

How good is Coldwell Banker Sky Ridge Realty... Not all Real Estate Firms Were Created Equal

 
Steven Keefe, Broker/Owner 
Coldwell Banker Sky Ridge Realty 

www.mountainmoves.com
steve@mountainupdate.com
909.744.7690

Often I field a question from a member of the public asking how good our team really is.  One of the measurements I use to compare how we are doing against our competitors is our list to sell ratio.  When someone lists their home with a real estate brokerage, their primary objective is to sell the property.  Some brokerages have a higher success rate than others.  Coldwell Banker Sky Ridge Realty not surprisingly has the highest success rate of any other mountain brokerage.  Not only do we list more homes than any other firm.  A higher percentage of the homes we list actually sell. 

The following chart shows the number of single family homes that the top 8 firms on the mountain listed according to the Rim Associaion of Realtors for the last 24 months.  The second column represents how many of those listings either sold or are currently in escrow.  The last column represents the firms "success" ratio.  For example, Coldwell Banker Sky RIdge Realty listed 1078 listings during that time period with 601 of those listings resulting in a sale.  This represents a 56% success ratio.  The higher the ratio, the stronger the company. 

	Listings	Sold or	Success
Firm	Taken	In Escrow	Ratio
Coldwell Banker Sky Ridge Realty	1078	601	56%
Capre	491	191	39%
Remax Lakeside	234	102	44%
Prudential California	169	92	54%
Mountain Country Realty	84	30	36%
Lynne B. Wilson and Associates	123	29	24%
Keller Williams Lake Arrowhead	54	19	35%
Prime Properties	69	26	38%

Serious sellers list their property with a company that gets results.  That company is Coldwell Banker Sky Ridge Realty.  If you are a homeowner needing the assistance of a professional nationally recognized firm don't hesitate to contact Coldwell Banker Sky Ridge Realty.

Coldwell Banker Sky Ridge Realty sells more homes than anyone on the mountain.  In these tough economic times sellers need every advantage possible to obtain the best results.  Coldwell Banker Sky Ridge Realty offers those advantages.

 

Upside Down on your Mortgage?

 
Steven Keefe, Broker/Owner 
Coldwell Banker Sky Ridge Realty 

www.mountainmoves.com
steve@mountainupdate.com
909.336.2131

The fact that they owe more on their home than it is currently worth is a harsh reality for many homeowners today.  I talk everyday with consumers who either bought at the peak fo the market and have lost 30-40 percent in equity over the last few years, or they took advantage of those great mortgage deals a few years back using their home as a massive ATM machine only to find out that the equity they once had has vanished. 

Faced with this dilemma the choices are pretty simple... you borrowed the money, you did the deal so stick it out and someday, the market will come back around.  You might consider what is being fashionably relabled from foreclosure to "strategic default" where the borrower may or may not be in financial trouble decides to let it go as a "business decision".  The third option is to attempt to negotiate a shortsale where the lender will accept a lower payoff in lieu of foreclosing on the subject property.

Today I will be talking about short sales and who can legally assist you in negotiating with the bank a less than full payoff.  In the State of California, an individual who legally can assist you with a short sale must either be an Attorney, or a licensed real estate professional.  Any other person or third party who acts in a capacity of representation to the bank is in violation of California State Law.  Accountants, Title Professionals, Escrow Professionals and some mortgage professionals are jumping on the band wagon and providing services in direct violation of the law.  Be careful, there are a lot of scary people out there pretending to be something they are not which eventually come back to bite you.

If you are facing short sale and it is done incorrectly, the circumstances can be devastating.  Make sure that anyone you engage knows what they are doing.  Ask them if they are your negotiator, if they are not, move on to someone who will be your negotiator.  Short sales are not meerly processed, you need an active negotiator constantly maintaining contact and getting updates.

Banks are finally coming around and standardizing much of the process in dealing with short sales, but you still need someone in your corner who will go to bat for you with the bank to push the deal through.

I am always available to you via email at steve@cbskyridge.com or at my office 909.336.2131  Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions you may have regarding the process.

High End Homes Still Facing the Pressure

 
Steven Keefe, Broker/Owner 
Coldwell Banker Sky Ridge Realty 

www.mountainmoves.com
steve@mountainupdate.com
909.336.2131

As reported this morning in the Wall Street Journal, the high end real estate market may still be in for some challenges.

Although the cheapest homes on the market aren't likely to get much cheaper, more expensive homes may still have further to fall. 

Standard and Poor's/Case-Shiller home-price index is projecting that home prices are off 7.7% from the same time last year.  This figure represents the smallest year-over-year decline since November of 2007. 

Despite recent signs of recovery and appreciation at the lower end of the market, properties priced over $500,000 have shown no signs of recovery.  It has been reported that the worst of the subprime mortgage defaults has likely passed, which is aiding the recovery at the low end.  There will still be a significant amount of bank owned sales, but not likely the same pace that the market has experienced over the last 24 months. 

Lower inventory levels at the low end will create demand while adequate supply and in some instances over supply at the high end coupled with challenges financing these types of properties will work against sellers attempting to obtain top dollar for their home.  There has been significant positive in the national media regarding a recovery.  My advice to sellers who are serious about selling their home is to consult with their real estate professional about what is going on locally.  Often the national forcast is behind times and inaccurate.

Agent Asks What Should I Tell the Seller

Steven Keefe, Broker/Owner
Coldwell Banker Sky Ridge Realty 
Arrowhead Home Loans, Inc.
www.mountainmoves.com
steve@mountainupdate.com
909.336.2131

Today I received an email from one of my agents who had a seller who was confused about current market conditions and how to price his property.  What follows is the email I sent him.

Dear Agent,

 

Thanks for copying me on the correspondence from Mr. Seller, I would direct him to www.mountainupdate.com for some statistical information on our market.  The following would be my comments after looking closely at his particular property.  As we discussed the comparable sales to this property provide for an indicated value of mid to high 600's.  Unfortunately, like with other areas of So. Cal, Lake Arrowhead has not experienced appreciation, in fact in nearly every instance properties purchased in the past 2 years are selling for considerably less than what the owners paid for them. 

 

The properties that are moving quickly are the distressed and bank owned (foreclosure) properties.  Mr. Seller missed the mark regarding pricing.  Sellers that want to move their property need to list the property as close to their bottom line as they can bear.  Padding the price will only prolong the agony.  Properties that are selling are going out on average 97% of asking price because they have been priced correctly.  There is too much inventory available for sellers to choose from in this range, financing is extremely tight over 500k, and there are too many motivated sellers in the market for a buyer to even look at an overpriced property.

 

Timing is more a function of pricing than anything.  If something is priced 100k over the market, it isn't going to sell now, and it isn't going to sell in 2 years at that price.  What we know is that properties that ask a lot, and reduce over time almost always trail the market and eventually sell for less than they would have if thew were not overpriced to begin with. 

 

This may seem harsh, but the reality is that Mr. Seller must strongly consider pricing the property to sell, or just wait.  It will do more harm than good to list the property above the market. 

 

Naturally, there may be somebody out there that will contradict what I am saying here.  It is unfortunate, that some Brokers are of the mind that they will list a property at any price, maybe a miracle will happen, or maybe they will grind the seller over time down on the price. Brokers that subscribe to that theory or practice don't admit it to a seller, but they will admit it to you and I.  They are so desperate for a listing that they will say almost anything.  Their results show it.  Refer Mr. Seller to www.mountainupdate.com to see for himself what our competitors who promise higher sales prices actually do.  The results speak for themselves, Jim, you me and our team have more sales than all other companies in our marketplace combined.  In fact some of the companies that I hear people speak so highly of sell almost nothing. 

 

This is very difficult market, and it will be so at least through this next year.  Sellers deserve to and need to have accurate, professional information to act on.  Sometimes it isn't pretty, but if someone wants to sell and net the highest proceeds possible, they need to be in tune with the market and they have to work with a Broker who is willing to tell them the truth.

 

Steve Keefe

Broker/Owner

Coldwell Banker Sky Ridge Realty

Where Do Buyers Come From?

Steven Keefe, Broker/Owner
Coldwell Banker Sky Ridge Realty
Arrowhead Home Loans, Inc.
www.mountainmoves.com
steve@mountainupdate.com
909.336.2131

 

In January, I did a study of our closed transactions, I looked at September, October, November and December to see where the buyers we represented came from.  I recently decided to look at January, February, March and April 2009 to compare with what I found in the previous study.  The following chart shows the percentage data.  What this data tells me is that nearly 1/2 of the buyers that work with Coldwell Banker Sky Ridge Realty to buy homes found us through some relationship with the company or the agent.  It is well documented that the single biggest strength of our organization is the wide reaching network that has been created by over 25 years of market leadership. 

Other notable sources are our Kiosk location in Lake Arrowhead Village, Open House, and on the World Wide Web, the most notable increase was the internet numbers increased from 16% to 22%.

Source	Last Year	This Year
Sphere of Influence	45%	46%
Internet	16%	22%
Kiosk	11%	8%
Open House	9%	6%
Sign Call	6%	6%
Agent Referral	5%	4%
Walk In	3%	5%
Homes Magazine	3%	2%
Relocation Source	2%	1%
Total	100%	100%

Where Do Buyers Come From?

Steven Keefe, Broker/Owner
Coldwell Banker Sky Ridge Realty
Arrowhead Home Loans, Inc.
www.mountainmoves.com
steve@mountainupdate.com
909.336.2131

I did a recent study of our closed transactions, I looked at September, October, November and December to see where the buyers we represented came from.  The following chart shows the percentage data.  What this data tells me is that nearly 1/2 of the buyers that work with Coldwell Banker Sky Ridge Realty to buy homes found us through some relationship with the company or the agent.  It is well documented that the single biggest strength of our organization is the wide reaching network that has been created by over 25 years of market leadership.

Other notable sources are our Kiosk location in Lake Arrowhead Village, Open House, and on the World Wide Web, we are able to source Realtor.com as most effective internet tool.

Source	%
Personal Referral	25%
Past Client/SOI	20%
Realtor.com	14%
Kiosk	11%
Open House	9%
Sign Call	6%
Agent Referral	5%
Walk In	3%
Homes Magazine	3%
Personal Website	2%
Relocation Source	2%
Total	100%

Lake Arrowhead Real Estate- Deed in Lieu

Steven Keefe, Broker/Owner
Coldwell Banker Sky Ridge Realty 
Arrowhead Home Loans, Inc.
www.mountainmoves.com
steve@mountainupdate.com
909.336.2131

Click on the following link to go to video I have done that explains what a "Deed in Lieu" is and how it differs from the standard foreclosure process:

http://www.viddler.com/explore/lakearrowhead/videos/3/

Thanks for watching!

Steve

5 Recommendations for Sellers in the current Market

Steven Keefe, Broker/Owner
Coldwell Banker Sky Ridge Realty
Arrowhead Home Loans, Inc.
www.mountainmoves.com
steve@mountainupdate.com
909.336.2131

Click on the following link to go to video I have done that makes 5 recommendations to sellers wanting to sell their property in the current market:

http://www.viddler.com/explore/lakearrowhead/videos/2/

Thanks for watching!

Steve