Des Moines Real Estate Statistics Week Ending 7-31-09

MLS Statistics HOT OFF THE PRESS!  It’s the end of another month!! 

What price ranges are selling?
It’s pretty obvious from this months statistics that the $8,000 economic stimulus is still affecting the under $200,000 price range.  The red bar represents homes that are currently for sale (Active Listings).  By far the most selection of homes for sale are under $200,000.  The yellow bar represents sellers that accepted offers on their property during the month of July.  Almost 80% of the accepted offers in July were priced under $200,000. 

Next week – Spot Stats!

Week Ending July 31, 2009
Total Number of Homes For Sale in the Des Moines Area – 5184
New Listings Taken During the Last 7 Days – 273
Accepted Offers (Pendings) During the Last 7 Days – 160
Homes Closed (Solds) During the Last 7 Days – 159
Average Sale Price of Solds – $171,103
Average Days On Market of Solds – 109

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

Tech Tip by Les Sulgrove 7/29/09

Every once in awhile, I run across a cool new website when surfing the net.  Tonight I found a sited called Dumpr.  My high school English teacher must HATE the Internet… 

http://www.dumpr.net/ 

There seems to be an unlimited supply of photo editing websites right now, but what caught my eye on this site was how my personal photos can be manipulated into fun designs.  You must register to use their site, but they have a free version as well as a paid version.  The paid version (Pro) is only $19.97 per year.. so if you have a couple extra sawbucks, you can enjoy all the features of Dumpr!

This is the effect that caught my eye… “Rubik’s Cube”.  I applied a photo that I took at the Des Moines Farmers Market.  

Or how about this picture I took of carrots with the “Museum” effect?

You can save as many created pictures on your computer as you like with the free version.  Check it out!

http://www.dumpr.net/ 

Les Sulgrove

Des Moines Real Estate Statistics Week Ending 7-24-09

This has been one of those weeks… I’m not sure why, but I thought about this piece by Kipling today.. Thank goodness for Google… in a matter of moments I had found the entire quote.  It’s Friday night and I feel better now.  Thank you Rudyard Kipling!

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it.

~ (Joseph) Rudyard Kipling

Week Ending July 24, 2009
Total Number of Homes For Sale in the Des Moines Area – 5186
New Listings Taken During the Last 7 Days – 300
Accepted Offers (Pendings) During the Last 7 Days – 160
Homes Closed (Solds) During the Last 7 Days – 139
Average Sale Price of Solds – $162,114
Average Days On Market of Solds – 94

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

What’s in a name? Obviously – Money

It was announced recently that the Sears Tower in Chicago has been named The Willis Tower after Willis Group Holdings, a London based financial services firm.  I don’t care what they officially call it, it will always be the Sears Tower to me.  I started thinking about other buildings and landmarks that have lost their names in the last few years.  I know many places by their previous name, but couldn’t tell you where they are based on their current new name.  Candlestick Park in San Francisco for example.. changed to 3Com Park, and now Monster Park. 

Where did the San Diego Chargers first play?  If you said Jack Murphy Stadium, you’d be wrong.  When the team first came to San Diego from Los Angeles, they played at Balboa Stadium from 1961 to 1966.  In 1967 they played in San Diego Stadium.  In 1981 San Diego Stadium was named after the late Jack Murphy in his honor.  In 1997 Qualcomm Corporation paid $18 Million for naming rights.  The stadium used to share space with the San Diego Padres baseball team.  In 2004 the Padres left Qualcomm for their current home in downtown San Diego.  Do you know the name of that park?  I’ll give you a hint… it had nothing to do with Baseball but a controversy with the radical protest group PETA…. the answer after this weeks MLS Statistics.

Des Moines Real Estate Statistics Week Ending 7-17-09
Week Ending July 17, 2009
Total Number of Homes For Sale in the Des Moines Area – 5211
New Listings Taken During the Last 7 Days – 286
Accepted Offers (Pendings) During the Last 7 Days – 179
Homes Closed (Solds) During the Last 7 Days – 131
Average Sale Price of Solds – $176,109
Average Days On Market of Solds – 96

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

The Answer to the question “What is the name of the San Diego Padres stadium?  Petco Park!  Named after the Pet Store chain based in San Diego.  Price for naming rights?  $2.7 Million per year through the year 2026. 

Interested in other stadium naming rights?   Here’s a link to a January ESPN.com web article.

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

MLS Map Placement – Are Your Listings Being Found? Wanna Bet?

I was running a search on our MLS today and noticed that one listing in particular was showing up even though it was in a different area of town.  I had created my search to include all homes in the area “DMW” Des Moines West.  It made me think “Why don’t agents check their listings when they are placed on the MLS for correct map placement?”  So I expanded my map view and look at what I found.  Eight properties listed as Des Moines West that are clearly out of the area.  The 7 listings all clumped together should be in Des Moines Northwest and the single one in the upper left corner is an Urbandale property.

Almost every search in our MLS is conducted using Area as a criteria.  What would you bet that these 8 listings are not getting as many showings as they could right now?  What would you bet that every seller would be furious if they knew their listing was not listed in the proper area?  What would you bet that even if I sent an email to each of these agents that they would not even know the area borders?

Take the extra couple of minutes when you get a listing and verify that the map location is correct.  Anyone want to bet me if these listings will be corrected in the next 7 days?

Des Moines Real Estate Statistics Week Ending 7-10-09

Week Ending July 10, 2009

2009 is officially half over and this week I have a lot of statistics to share. So let’s get started!

Active Listing Inventory

The number of homes for sale have increased every single month since January of this year.  Note that it was April of 2008 when listing inventory began to decline.  It will be interesting to watch this chart the remaining months of 2009.  Increasing inventory indicates confidence of sellers in the real estate market. 

Average Days On The Market

Homes continue to stay on the market longer 3 out of 6 months this year.  The homes that are selling quickly are priced well and are in top condition.  If your home is currently for sale, consider having a professional stager come in and look over your home.  Something as simple as rearranging a room may just be what it takes to get that buyer to make an offer!

Accepted Offers

This is where the rubber meets the road.  Contracts written (also known as Sale Pendings) are when a buyer and seller come to a formal agreement and the sale process is put into motion by way of a legal contract.  If you ever wondered when our real estate market hit that proverbial brick wall, it was in July of 2007.  This June more homes went under contract than any other time in the last 3 years with 924 accepted offers.

Closed Transactions
Closing day!  779 buyers closed on their home in June and just like New Listings, this number has steadily increased since January.  I will be watching this statistic very close the next few months.  We were only 3 transactions off of equally last June’s closings.  If you look back up at the dip in Pending on the previous chart where Pendings dropped off in July of 2007 you can see the drop in August of 2007 of closed transactions. 

Average Sale Price

And finally, the trend for the first half of the year shows an overall drop in Average Sale Price.  The first time home buyer stimulus is the cause of this drop.  Most transactions in the first 6 months of this year were for homes priced under $200,000.  If you want to see how the different price ranges fared in the month of June, check out my blog post from last week.

Total Number of Homes For Sale in the Des Moines Area – 5228
New Listings Taken During the Last 7 Days – 245
Accepted Offers (Pendings) During the Last 7 Days – 122
Homes Closed (Solds) During the Last 7 Days – 51
Average Sale Price of Solds – $183,509
Average Days On Market of Solds – 121

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

Des Moines Real Estate Statistics Week Ending 7-4-09

Week Ending July 4, 2009
Happy Birthday USA!

Total Number of Homes For Sale in the Des Moines Area – 5193
New Listings Taken During the Last 7 Days – 231
Accepted Offers (Pendings) During the Last 7 Days – 107
Homes Closed (Solds) During the Last 7 Days – 86
Average Sale Price of Solds – $172,335
Average Days On Market of Solds – 87

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