Kensington short sale...SOLD after 653 days on the market!

A Kensington model on Houlton Circle that had been on the market since April of 2008 has finally sold for $345,000.

The original agent placed it on the market at $549,000, eventually reducing it to $410,000. After 269 days on the market, the owner switched agents. The new agent priced it at $400,000, had it on the market for over a year, and eventually sold it for $345,000. A selling price over $200,000 less than the original asking price...think someone made a pricing error here?

I see this too often, where wrong pricing, whomever is at fault (agent, owner, or both) ends up costing the seller tens of thousands..and in this case hundreds of thousands of dollars...as well as a great deal of time and stress.

Journeys End Market Recap

• There are 14 homes currently on the market in Journeys End.
• Prices range from $249,000 to $465,000
• Only 3 of the 14 are being marketed as short sales
• No bank-owned homes are currently on the market

• The are 12 homes currently "under contract"
• Prices range from $225,000 to $525,000
• 7 of the 12 were short sales
• 2 of the 12 were bank-owned, foreclosures

• In the past 60 days, 6 homes were removed  from the market (cancelled their listing)
• In the past 60 days 2 homes had their listing "expire" with their agent after being on the market for 1 year each

A recap of the previous 60 days sales activity shows 4 sales as follows:

1. Taos, short sale, $325,000
2. Versailles, bank-owned, $320,000
3. Phoenix, conventional sale, $350,000
4. Kensington, short sale, $317,000

Tuscon now under contract...pool/lake.

A Tuscon that was NOT being marketed as a short sale just went under contract. The home was placed on the market in early June at $428,000 but was priced at $400,000 at the time of contract.

The current owners just purchased the home in June of '08 @ $409,900.

Off the market...Taos

An expanded Taos that has been on the market for 563 days has been taken off the market. The home was originally listed in April of '08 @ $489,500 and was listed at $439,000 at the time it was taken off the market.

The current owners purchased the home in January 2002.

Off the market

A Santa Fe that has been on the market for 365 days while listed at $425,000 is now off the market. The home was purchased by the current owners in October , 2007 for $415,000.

Under contract...NOT a short sale

A Santa Fe on Finamore Circle that has been on and off the market for a year has just gone back under contract. This home was originally priced at $385,000 but was reduced to $349,000 at the time of contract.

Journeys End...back on the market

A Santa Fe on Finamore just came back on the market after being under contract since July 14th.

This home was originally placed on the market in September of 2008 at an asking price of $385,000 and was priced at $349, 900 when it went under contract in July. This home is not being sold as a short sale.

The home has been on and off the market for 358 days. The current owners paid $390,000 for the home in March of 2004.

Journeys End-Grande Estates...under contract

A Windsor on Shaina Ct., lake and pool, just went under contract again. This home was priced at $465,000 when it went under contract. It was originally priced at $495,000-went under contract and fell out of contract once already...this home has been on the market for 39 days.

Journeys End...under contract...bank owned

The Bank-owned Santa Fe, on C. Durham, that went on the market just a few days ago is now under contract. This home was priced at $294,900. It was on the market 21 days before the bank signed an offer.

Typically with an agressively priced bank-owned property, the bank keeps the property on the market and accepts offers for 7-10 days, at which time, if they have multiple offers they give all prospective buyers the opportunity to put in what is known as their "highest and best" offer, at which time the bank normally accepts the best (not necessarily the highest), offer.

Journeys End has 32 Lis Pendens

In the course of researching the market for the areas in which we specialize I routinely review the "lis pendens" for a neighborhood. In this post I'll go over what a lis pendens is and what is actually going on in Journeys End regarding homes with lis pendens filed on them.

According to an online legal dictionary, a Lis Pendens can accurately be defined as: Latin for "a suit pending." The term may refer to any pending lawsuit. (2) A written notice that a lawsuit has been filed concerning real estate, involving either the title to the property or a claimed ownership interest in it.

In reality, it generally means that someones lender has initiated the foreclosure process.

As of today, there were 32 Journeys End homes that currently have a lis pendens. Typically this indicates that the owners are in default...most likely for non-payment. Now out of the 32, 2 have already gone back to the bank but have not been put back up for sale yet; out of the remaining 30, only 9 are currently trying to be sold by the owners.

That leaves 2 already in the banks hands (but not yet listed for sale) and 21 more Journeys End homes that could possibly end up in the banks hands at some date in the future if the owners:
A) don't catch up on their payments/interest/penalties,
B) don't negotiate a forebearance agreement or loan modification enabling them to afford the home and make payments or
C) don't sell their home via a Short Sale prior to the sale on the courthouse steps.

This number (23) is a bit scary as it does not give any indication of the owners who are behind on their mortgage but their lender has not yet filed a Lis Pendens...and this is common, as the lenders are much slower to try and take a property back today than they were 5 years ago.

This is an excerpt from an article I read/posted today from the Mortgage Bankers Association: The results were lead by Florida with 12% of mortgages somewhere in foreclosure, another 5% at least 90 days past due and a total 22.8% at least one payment delinquent or in foreclosure at the end of June.

If you'd like to discuss what this may mean to you as a homeowner in Journeys End, please contact me via email or call the office at 561-432-5202.

Steve

Journeys End...Sold

Just sold...Yuma, 5/3/3, 2900+/- sq ft, on C Durham...$325,000. Not a short sale or forclosure sale.

This home was on the market for 99 days and was originally priced at $397,800 but was priced at $349,999 at the time of sale.

This Yuma sold in July of 2005 for $550,000.

Journeys End...price reduction

A Laredo, 3/2.5/2, 2067 sq ft, on C Durham just reduced to $275,000 from their previous price of $299,900. This home has been on the market over 750 days since 2007. The home is being marketed as a short sale, although it was not a short sale in the beginning.

This is possibly another case-in-point about proper market pricing to maximize a sales price: If this home were priced properly at the outset, the seller may not have ended up in this short sale situation.

Journeys End-Grande Estates...price reduction

A Biltmore model, 4/3/2, lake, pool, on Houlton just reduced their asking price to $398,500.

This home was most recently priced at $398,700, prior to that- $398,900, prior to that-$399,000, prior to that- $405,000 and was originally price at $414,900.

This home has been on the market for 77 days.

Journeys End-Grande Estates...price reduction

A Kensington model, pool, lake, on Houlton Cir., with a 2 level guest house, just reduced their asking price from $450,000 to $399,000. This home has been on the market for 137 days.

Journeys End...back on the market...Again!

A Taos model on C Durham, which has been on and off of the market since April 2007, and in and out of contract several times, has just come back on the market again.

This home was listed back in April of 2007 for $630,000 and was most recently priced at $325,000 when it was placed back on the market.

Journeys End...off the market...again!

A Kensington model (courtyard) that has been on and off the market with its curent owner since 12/2007 is off the market again. There is a bit of a story here...the home was foreclosed on by the lender in December of 2006. It's current owner bought it from the bank in September of 2007...the home was rehabbed and placed back on the market in December of 2007 with an asking price of $609,900.

Since then, the home has been listed by 4 different agents, most recently in July/2009 for $479,900...but today, 8/18, the home was placed "temporarily" off the market.

We'll keep you updated!

Journeys End...price reduction

Pecos model, 4/2.5/2,, lake, pool, on C. Durham was just reduced from $379,000 to $355,000. This home has been on the market for 109 days and this is the 1st price reduction.

Journeys End...market breakdown

For the first post we will give a detailed overview of all of the homes currently on the market in your subdivision. The next post will detail everything curently "under contract" and the one following that will cover the properties "sold" in the previous 60 days.

As the post continue, you will get almost instant updates to market activity in Journeys End...price changes, homes being taken off the market, new listings, homes going under contract and homes that have just sold. You will see as much detail as is available and legal/ethical to disclose, thus giving your "real time" data for your marketplace.