July 2010 San Antonio Realty Market Report
July 13, 2010 | Leave a Comment
The second week in July is typically San Antonio’s realty market yearly high point. Many pending sales will close within the next 30 days. Uncommitted buyers with school age children must rush to find the right home in order to be able to close on their purchase or at least be under a binding contract before school starts.
This year, many factors are converging to make San Antonio’s realty market exciting, interesting, and somewhat confusing.
Although the local economy is strong and population growth is high, home values in many neighborhoods have depreciated. Home sellers have lowered their list prices accordingly, but buyer response has been tepid and the inventory of homes for sale is growing at an unusually fast pace. Also, builders are offering enticing incentives in an effort to move their new home inventory more quickly.
Despite the fact that mortgage rates are the lowest since the 1950’s and there is an ample supply of very reasonably priced homes to pick from, Realtors® report their current home buyer traffic has fallen well below expectations. Some are concerned that the end of the Federal home buyer tax credit programs may have signaled a long term lull in demand caused by faltering buyer confidence in the national economy.
It is difficult to reach conclusions as to the long term market trends, but in the short term, it’s clear San Antonio’s home market remains extremely favorable for buyers. As for sellers, the advantage will go to the seller most willing to reduce his or her price expectations and to expend the money, time, and effort to improve the property’s condition and appearance.
For those who love the stats, here are the key indicators for San Antonio’s single family detached home listings as of 11 July, 2010.
There are 12,948 active listings compared to 12,033 one year ago. The inventory is rising fast. That’s a good sign for home buyers.
The average sales price for the most recent closings is $190,497, compared to last year’s $189,785. The absence of any significant sales price appreciation is another good sign for buyers.
Average cumulative-days-on-the-market (CDOM) for the most recent sales is 121 compared to 137 last year. During 2009, CDOM figures were unacceptably high, but dropped fast during the Federal Tax credit home buying frenzy. It remains to be seen if cumulative market time will improve further, but a slight upward trend is possible. Nonetheless, for the time being, CDOM data is positive for San Antonio home sellers, specifically, and for San Antonio’s realty market, generally.
Industry analysts see these data as reflecting a housing market strongly favoring buyers over sellers.
That’s all for our 11 July 2010 San Antonio realty market report. We encourage reader comments and recommendations about how to make our reports more informative and useful.
We’re Stephanie and Randy Kelley, Realtors® of Keller Williams Legacy, San Antonio, Texas. If you have questions, need San Antonio realty or mortgage loan advice or assistance, or just want to chat a bit about the wonderful Alamo City, please call us at (210) 863-2661 or (210) 867-8743, or E-mail us at swkrealtor@aol.com or kelleybus@aol.com. Our SanAntonioHomeQuest.com Realty Solutions Team is always ready to help you with your home buying or selling needs.
Active Option Defined For San Antonio Homes For Sale
July 7, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Active option means a buyer has successfully negotiated a contract to buy the property and, for a small fee, has purchased the unrestricted right to back out of the contract within a negotiated number of days, usually 10 days in this market. If the buyer exercises the option to walk away, the property will go back on the market as an active listing. During the option period, the buyer will have the property inspected by a licensed residential property inspector (if he or she so chooses), takes steps to finalize loan arrangements, and contemplates going through, or not going through, with the purchase.
The seller may continue to allow showings during the active option period in hopes of garnering a back up offer.
We’re Stephanie and Randy Kelley, Realtors® of Keller Williams Legacy, San Antonio, Texas. If you have questions, need San Antonio realty or mortgage loan advice or assistance, or just want to chat a bit about our wonderful Alamo City, please call us at (210) 863-2661 or (210) 867-8743, or E-mail us at swkrealtor@aol.com or kelleybus@aol.com. Our SanAntonioHomeQuest.com Realty Solutions Team is always ready to help you with your home buying or selling needs.
Labels: Homes For Sale San Antonio, Homes San Antonio, PCS San Antonio, San Antonio Army PCS, San Antonio Physician Loan, San Antonio Real Estate, San Antonio Realty, San Antonio Realty Market Report
San Antonio Gated Community Security
July 5, 2010 | Leave a Comment
The safety of San Antonio gated communities may be a myth. The police department advises gated community homeowners to be especially vigilant because thieves and no-good-doers scope out and work the communities just because they know the residents have a false sense of security. Gated communities are notorious for being targets for auto vandalism and burglaries. Some San Antonio gated communities tend to have a rash of incidents about every three years.
We’re Stephanie and Randy Kelley, Realtors® of Keller Williams Legacy, San Antonio, Texas. If you have questions, need San Antonio realty or mortgage loan advice or assistance, or just want to chat a bit about our wonderful Alamo City, please call us at (210) 863-2661 or (210) 867-8743, or E-mail us at swkrealtor@aol.com or kelleybus@aol.com. Our SanAntonioHomeQuest.com Realty Solutions Team is always ready to help you with your home buying or selling needs.
Labels: Homes For Sale San Antonio, PCS San Antonio, San Antonio Army PCS, San Antonio Physician Loan, San Antonio Real Estate, San Antonio Realty, San Antonio Realty Market Report
Buying a New Vs. Resale San Antonio Home
July 4, 2010 | Leave a Comment
If you are considering buying a home near a San Antonio military base, it’s always worthwhile to look at the new home builders’ products. A newly built home’s appeal is so great that a very high percentage of San Antonio home buyers purchase new versus resale homes.
It’s easy to see why. Each year, the builders seem to have ever more enticing features built into their products. The homes are new and unspoiled. They don’t have the expected wear and tear found in every resale home, no matter its age. The builders’ lending programs are very competitive and the builders offer additional incentives to encourage the buyer to use their affiliate lenders.
That said, be cautious if you decide to buy a newly constructed home product . It’s not in your best interest to rely on the builder’s sales representative and construction staff to adequately represent your interests. Take along someone who knows the hooks and pitfalls of new home buyer incentive and mortgage loan programs. Use someone who knows how to monitor the process from contract writing to closing and will be
ready to step in on your behalf is something goes awry.
If you decide to buy a new construction home, we’ll be happy to help you.
We’re Stephanie and Randy Kelley, Realtors® of Keller Williams Legacy, San Antonio, Texas. If you have questions, need San Antonio realty or mortgage loan advice or assistance, or just want to chat a bit about our wonderful Alamo City, please call us at (210) 863-2661 or (210) 867-8743, or E-mail us at swkrealtor@aol.com or kelleybus@aol.com. Our SanAntonioHomeQuest.com Realty Solutions Team is always ready to help you with your home buying or selling needs.
Labels: Homes For Sale San Antonio, PCS San Antonio, San Antonio Army PCS, San Antonio Physician Loan, San Antonio Real Estate, San Antonio Realty, San Antonio Realty Market Report
