Des Moines Real Estate Statistics Week Ending 4-24-09

April Showers Bring May Flowers!

Week Ending April 24, 2009
Total Number of Homes For Sale in the Des Moines Area – 5,050
New Listings Taken During the Last 7 Days – 276
Accepted Offers (Pendings) During the Last 7 Days – 153
Homes Closed (Solds) During the Last 7 Days – 82
Average Sale Price of Solds – $164,004
Average Days On Market of Solds – 85

If you would like to search for homes in the Des Moines area, feel free to visit my website.  I don’t require a login or password and collect no information about you.  You can always contact me if you have questions. 
Click Here to begin your own home search or go to http://search.homesbyles.iow.mlxchange.com

Les Sulgrove, RE/MAX Real Estate Group

Information on this blog posting is for informational purposes only and not intended as solicitation if you are already working with a REALTOR®. There is no obligation or fee for any information on this blog posting.

Data Source: Les Sulgrove, RE/MAX Real Estate Group
Des Moines Area Association of REALTORS® MLS.
Des Moines Metropolitan Area defined as: Adel, Altoona,
Ankeny, Bondurant, Carlisle, Clive, Des Moines, Dallas Center,
Desoto, Granger, Grimes, Indianola, Johnston, Norwalk,
Pleasant Hill, Polk City, Urbandale, Van Meter ,Waukee,
West Des Moines, Windsor Heights, Winterset

"When ye proffer the pigge open the poke."

Today on Facebook, I posted that I was "Happy as a Pig in a Poke".  I figured I better find out what that really meant. 

I did a quick Google search on the origin of the saying and this is what I found.

First of all, Pig in a Poke literally translates into “Pig in a bag”.  I’m not sure when being “Happy” was added to this phrase, but perhaps the Poke (the bag) was dry and warm and the Pig was cold and wet… therefore one could conclude that the Pig COULD be Happy in the Poke.  I mean, really… look at the picture to the left.. this little pig definitely looks happy!

So far so good.  I’m justifying the use of my ill-gotten phrase.  But I still have MORE questions… the origin of Pig in a Poke referenced the phrase “When ye proffer the pigge, open the poke”.  Which means “An offering or deal that is foolishly accepted without being examined first” or Don’t Buy The Pig Until You’ve Seen It!

Now we’re getting somewhere!  You have all heard the term ‘caveat emptor’ which is Latin for ‘let the buyer beware’ and according to Google, in this case, if you buy something, you should take responsibility to make sure it is what you intended to buy.

So as it turns out, when today I said I was Happy as a Pig in a Poke, what I really meant was that I was warm and dry and in my environment and that I felt very content over the whole matter. 

The weather in Des Moines today was the most beautiful so far this year.  It was 80 degrees, low humidity and no breeze.  A classic “Chamber of Commerce Day”… DOH!  There I go again! 

Needless to say, I was Happy as a Pig in a Poke, even if I was mixing my metaphors slightly….  

What Are You Doing To Promote The $8,000 Home Buyer Credit?

Des Moines Real Estate Statistics Week Ending 4-17-09

Week Ending April 17, 2009

We’re almost to the end of the first quarter of 2009 and things are looking up for Des Moines area real estate!  The chart below shows two lines of data.  The top blue line represents offers written since January 1st.  The bottom red line represents properties that have sold or closed since the first of the year.

January 1st there were 675 homes in the Pending status.  As of April 17th, there were 1,364.  That is an increase of over 200%.

January 1st Solds were at 369 homes.  April 17th Solds are at 503 which translates into a little over 136% increase!

Here’s what has happened in the real estate market this past week.

Total Number of Homes For Sale in the Des Moines Area – 4,994
New Listings Taken During the Last 7 Days – 257
Accepted Offers (Pendings) During the Last 7 Days – 129
Homes Closed (Solds) During the Last 7 Days – 89
Average Sale Price of Solds – $159,617
Average Days On Market of Solds – 79
If you would like to search for homes in the Des Moines area, feel free to visit my website.  I don’t require a login or password and collect no information about you.  You can always contact me if you have questions. 
Click Here to begin your own home search or go to http://search.homesbyles.iow.mlxchange.com

Les Sulgrove, RE/MAX Real Estate Group

Information on this blog posting is for informational purposes only
and not intended as solicitation if you are already working with a REALTOR®.
There is no obligation or fee for any information on this blog posting.
Data Source: Les Sulgrove, RE/MAX Real Estate Group
Des Moines Area Association of REALTORS® MLS.
Des Moines Metropolitan Area defined as: Adel, Altoona,
Ankeny, Bondurant, Carlisle, Clive, Des Moines, Dallas Center,
Desoto, Granger, Grimes, Indianola, Johnston, Norwalk,
Pleasant Hill, Polk City, Urbandale, Van Meter ,Waukee,
West Des Moines, Windsor Heights, Winterset

Grays Lake Walking Trail

Des Moines Real Estate Statistics Week Ending 4-10-09

Week Ending April 10, 2009

 
Total Number of Homes For Sale in the Des Moines Area – 5,005
New Listings Taken During the Last 7 Days – 298
Accepted Offers (Pendings) During the Last 7 Days – 166
Homes Closed (Solds) During the Last 7 Days – 52
Average Sale Price of Solds – $160,316
Average Days On Market of Solds – 79
 
If you would like to search for homes in the Des Moines area, feel free to visit my website.  I don’t require a login or password and collect no information about you.  You can always contact me if you have questions. 
 
Click Here to begin your own home search or go to http://search.homesbyles.iow.mlxchange.com   
 

Les Sulgrove, RE/MAX Real Estate Group

Information on this blog posting is for informational purposes only
and not intended as solicitation if you are already working with a REALTOR®.
There is no obligation or fee for any information on this blog posting.
Data Source: Les Sulgrove, RE/MAX Real Estate Group
Des Moines Area Association of REALTORS® MLS.
Des Moines Metropolitan Area defined as: Adel, Altoona,
Ankeny, Bondurant, Carlisle, Clive, Des Moines, Dallas Center,
Desoto, Granger, Grimes, Indianola, Johnston, Norwalk,
Pleasant Hill, Polk City, Urbandale, Van Meter ,Waukee,
West Des Moines, Windsor Heights, Winterset

Technology Update 4/6/09

 I’m a Blackberry Curve owner.  I have friends that are iPhone users and Palm Treo users.  Prior to drinking the Blackbery Kool-Aid, I was a Motorola Q owner.   I’m so happy I went with the Blackberry Curve last October.

In the last couple of weeks, Blackberry launched its own App store called App World.  I know.. all you iPhone users are saying “We’ve had our App Store forever…. Blackberry is just copying us!”… I say “Bring it on!” 

From time to time as I discover and hear about new Apps for the Blackberry, I’ll post them here! To start, here’s a cool App from Allsport GPS Platinum – Trimble Outdoors.

 

I’ve taken up walking daily for exercise.  Trimble Outdoors is a GPS App that lets you use your Blackberry Phone as a tracking device.   There are different modes for tracking your exercise including walking, running, road and mountain biking, trail runninng and board skiing. 

Each mode tracks your location by GPS, your speed, elevation and time from start to finish.  Upon closing a session, your data is uploaded automatically to Trimble Outdoors website.  Your GPS location is matched to Google Maps and Google Earth.  Below is the screenshot map from my walk today.

 

As you can see, my trail is overlayed onto streets around my home.  I started my walk on Thornton Ave and purposely ended the tracking on SW 29th to be able to show a start and finish in two locations.  In order to really appreciate this App, I’m going to share the actual links to my Trimble Outdoors website.

Full Trip Report   (Be sure and click on Google Earth View)
Elevation Profile 

The best part of this App????   IT’S FREE!!!!!!!  How Cool Is That!!!!

The Road Les Travels is 1 Year Old Today!

One year ago today I decided to jump into the blogging world.  I re-read my first post and my goal was to learn what makes a good blog and to fulfill a purpose.  I’m still learning what makes a good blog, but I have sort of focused in on providing weekly real estate statistics for the Des Moines area.  Some weeks it was a struggle or chore to write the blog.  But I have written 68 posts including this one in the past year.  So I guess that means something.

So with that, here’s my not quite perfect “Birthday Blog Cake”!

Des Moines Real Estate Statistics Week Ending 4-3-09

Week Ending April 3, 2009

Total Number of Homes For Sale in the Des Moines Area – 4957
New Listings Taken During the Last 7 Days – 307
Accepted Offers (Pendings) During the Last 7 Days – 170
Homes Closed (Solds) During the Last 7 Days – 151
Average Sale Price of Solds – $152,786
Average Days On Market of Solds – 105
 
If you would like to search for homes in the Des Moines area, feel free to visit my website.  I don’t require a login or password and collect no information about you.  You can always contact me if you have questions. 
 
Click Here to begin your own home search or go to http://search.homesbyles.iow.mlxchange.com   
 

Les Sulgrove, RE/MAX Real Estate Group

Information on this blog posting is for informational purposes only
and not intended as solicitation if you are already working with a REALTOR®.
There is no obligation or fee for any information on this blog posting.

Data Source: Les Sulgrove, RE/MAX Real Estate Group
Des Moines Area Association of REALTORS® MLS.
Des Moines Metropolitan Area defined as: Adel, Altoona,
Ankeny, Bondurant, Carlisle, Clive, Des Moines, Dallas Center,
Desoto, Granger, Grimes, Indianola, Johnston, Norwalk,
Pleasant Hill, Polk City, Urbandale, Van Meter ,Waukee,
West Des Moines, Windsor Heights, Winterset