I decided to take a closer look at our daily real estate inventory analysis to see if I could find a trend that would make us smile a little in the Tallahassee real estate market, and I think I’ve found one that will excite even the loudest bear in the market. Read the rest of this entry
If you'd like to forward this post to someone you think might be interested, simply click on the "Share This" link and click "E-mail."
Share This
Too often, we work with people who want to buy a home in Tallahassee who do not understand the importance of being a strong buyer. They believe that due to the nature of the market, they have thousands of homes from which to choose so they can just go out and “shop.” Read the rest of this entry
If you'd like to forward this post to someone you think might be interested, simply click on the "Share This" link and click "E-mail."
Share This
Several months ago, I wrote a blog about the Southwood Subdivision in Tallahassee. Back then, I reported that home prices were dropping and heading towards the “pre boom” levels that we saw in 2005. I thought it might be interesting to see a quick update on what is happening in Southwood three months later.
The first thing that I saw when I pulled information from the Tallahassee Board of Realtors Multiple Listing Service (MLS) was that Beazer homes was the seller in 33% of the Southwood home sales in the past 12 months. When I took into account all the new construction sales, new homes sales in Southwood represented roughly 1 in every 2 homesales. That does not bode well for a subdivision that has nearly 16 months of supply of homes on the market already.
 |
 |
Current |
3 Months Ago |
The graph on the left was created from Tallahassee MLS information about an hour before I posted this. The graph on the right was made about three months prior. Here are a few observations that I find disconcerting for people who have a home for sale in Southwood in Tallahassee:
That final point is one the bears close scrutiny. If Beazer is delivering homes at a lower price per square foot than previous builders, won’t that mean that resale home values are dropping as well? I will keep a close eye on Southwood and report back again in the future.
As a reminder for those who subscribe to the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog by email, some embedded pictures and videos might not be appearing in your email and you might need to click the title header to go to your browser where all will be visible.
Keep checking out the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog every day for updates that include charts, graphs, and analysis of the Tallahassee real estate market.
If you like this Article then please subscribe to my blog through a full RSS feed, or you can 
Joe Manausa is a real estate investor and the Broker and Co-Owner of Century 21 First Realty. He can be reached via e-mail through the Tallahassee Real Estate Website or catch his latest writings on the Tallahassee Florida Real Estate Blog , or by calling (850) 386-2001.
If you'd like to forward this post to someone you think might be interested, simply click on the "Share This" link and click "E-mail."
Share This
With this being the 101st blog written in the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog, I figured I would give the readers a look at who is visiting our blog in Tallahassee, Florida. You might be surprised at who we drag in. So, to answer our question regarding who are you Tallahassee real estate people…
Women out-visited men during the month of June. I wonder if this is a long-term trend. It seems that our average parallels that of overall internet usage.
Not surprisingly, 93% of our visitors are old enough to buy or sell a home in Tallahassee.
The ethnicity figures for the Tallahassee real estate blog shows that 93% of our visitors are either Caucasian or African American.
This chart shows that it’s not just my friends and family visiting, as we can see that 60% of the visitors to Tallahassee Real Estate Blog have a college degree (or higher).
Roughly 7 out of 8 of our visitors make greater than $30,00 per year, while 1 in 2 make over $60,000 per year.
Perhaps the most interesting data that I have found is that our visitors come from 110 different countries! That too me is amazing. It just shows you the power of the internet and the importance of having an international real estate marketing plan, even for lil’ ol’ Tallahassee.
This next graph shows that we have had over 35,000 visits this year and that mid-day at the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog is roughly 2:30 p.m. and that 2/3rds of our visitors have been to the blog by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
O.K. Now that we all know who everybody is, hopefully we can see a lot more comments and two-way dialogue on what is becoming a very popular spot in the blogosphere. Please do not hesitate to comment below and to recommend anything that you would like to see covered on the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog.
As a reminder for those who subscribe to the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog by email, some embedded pictures and videos might not be appearing in your email and you might need to click the title header to go to your browser where all will be visible.
Keep checking out the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog every day for updates that include charts, graphs, and analysis of the Tallahassee real estate market.
If you like this Article then please subscribe to my blog through a full RSS feed, or you can
Joe Manausa is a real estate investor and the Broker and Co-Owner of Century 21 First Realty. He can be reached via e-mail through the Tallahassee Real Estate Website or catch his latest writings on the Tallahassee Florida Real Estate Blog , or by calling (850) 386-2001.
If you'd like to forward this post to someone you think might be interested, simply click on the "Share This" link and click "E-mail."
Share This
I received an email request from a reader “Nancy” in Orlando, Florida last night. For medical reasons, she needs to move to a real estate market that has little humidity and she wants to be in Prescott, Arizona.
Nancy writes
“Hi Joe, saw your site after doing a search “where do I trade my house“.
My husband and I have a Lakefront Home (upscaled) on 1 Acre with Rental Income near Orlando, FL. It is a 4 BR, 4 BA, 4012 sq. ft., multi-level very unique and sunset views from every “angle”. It is priced at $1,599,000. My husband is a Licensed, R.E. Broker in FL (he actually use to be District Direct of Century 21 out of Miami) Anyway, I have Fibromyalgia and we are looking to trade a house in Prescott, Arizona only (I have narrowed down the climate to a “T”)
We are looking for: $500,000 - $900,000 price range home with sq. ft. of 3000+ in Prescott. Age of home does not matter but we are looking to finance difference for new owner here.
What is the best way to do this…any help is so appreciated! Nancy”
Many people around the country are in similar situations. They own a home in one real estate market but want or need to move to another real estate market. So what should Nancy do?
My recommendation to Nancy is to find the top real estate company in the Orlando market and work with somebody who has extensive experience in real estate investment (this can be determined by asking to see their own portfolio). This agent will be able to give Nancy specific advice for the Orlando real estate market.
The next advice is to think of this situation as two separate situations. First, what can Nancy do with the current house in Orlando? Second, what should Nancy do to buy a home in Prescott, Arizona ?
While a trade is definitely a possibility, what are the odds of somebody living in Prescott, Arizona needing a $1.5M home in Orlando, Florida? If a trade is going to help, it will most likely be trading the home in Orlando for a commercial property somewhere in America. Once this is done, it is possible then to trade that commercial property “somewhere in America” for a property in Prescott, Arizona. But most likely, this problem will be solved without a trade. The key is to get solid, experienced professionals helping Nancy on the ground at each location.
As a reminder for those who subscribe to the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog by email, some embedded pictures and videos might not be appearing in your email and you might need to click the title header to go to your browser where all will be visible.
Keep checking out the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog every day for updates that include charts, graphs, and analysis of the Tallahassee real estate market.
If you like this Article then please subscribe to my blog through a full RSS feed, or you can
Joe Manausa is a real estate investor and the Broker and Co-Owner of Century 21 First Realty. He can be reached via e-mail through the Tallahassee Real Estate Website or catch his latest writings on the Tallahassee Florida Real Estate Blog , or by calling (850) 386-2001.
If you'd like to forward this post to someone you think might be interested, simply click on the "Share This" link and click "E-mail."
Share This
There has been some debate lately in the Tallahassee real estate market regarding how one would measure appreciation rates of homes in a given real estate market. Some people like to think that you compare the median home price in our market today with the median home price from a year ago, and that will show you the current appreciation.
I disagree.
Completely.
Vehemently.
Patently.
O.K. I’m out of big words.
I believe that the median home price cannot be used to measure appreciation because the median home itself does not remain constant. It’s not saying an apple a year ago cost $.29, and today it costs $.32, therefore it appreciated. You see, last year, after the end of the boom market, the median home size in Tallahassee might have been 2,000 square feet. Now that prices are dropping, but interest rates are so good, buyers might be choosing to spend the same amount of money but just purchase “more house for the money!” This year’s median home size could be 2,100 square feet. That means that we could see the median home price in Tallahassee stay flat, but still have depreciation occurring in our market.
Does that make sense?
Certainly.
Definitely.
Absolutely.
O.K. So now that we know how NOT to measure real estate appreciation, how about we tackle the issue itself?
I believe that a real math-whiz person could take a fair, random sampling of homes that have sold in Tallahassee and then run a simple analysis. This analysis would consider all homes that have sold recently and then see how much they have gained (or lost) since their last sale.
With that in mind, and understanding that I do not have the time to ensure that our sample is “fairly” random, or that I can tell you what my margin of error will be, I went ahead and grabbed 10% of the closed single-family home sales from the month of May in the Tallahassee real estate market. I made sure that the ones that I selected were “arms length” sales (meaning not family member to family member) and entered the information into a simple spreadsheet and found the following:
| Home Location | Previous
Sale Price |
Recent Sale Price | Previous
Sale Date |
Recent
Sale Date |
Annual Appreciation Rate |
| Buckeye Terrace | $215,000 | $208,000 | 4/30/2007 | 5/7/2008 | -3.19% |
| Tuscany Drive | $289,000 | $279,500 | 9/26/2006 | 5/9/2008 | -2.04% |
| Summertree Drive | $258,000 | $260,000 | 8/10/2006 | 5/12/2008 | 0.44% |
| Newman Lane | $273,000 | $247,000 | 2/28/2006 | 5/15/2008 | -4.43% |
| Hill Gail Trail | $195,900 | $200,000 | 12/9/2005 | 5/12/2008 | 0.86% |
| Cummings Avenue | $237,500 | $220,000 | 10/28/2005 | 5/15/2008 | -2.96% |
| Ivy Green Trail | $265,000 | $290,000 | 11/8/2004 | 5/19/2008 | 2.59% |
| Buckeye Terrace | $148,000 | $215,000 | 2/27/2004 | 4/30/2007 | 12.49% |
| Stonehenge Trail | $144,900 | $187,500 | 1/27/2004 | 5/16/2008 | 6.17% |
| Winter Lane | $153,000 | $200,000 | 8/1/2003 | 5/9/2008 | 5.77% |
| River Chase | $255,000 | $337,000 | 7/26/2002 | 5/8/2008 | 4.93% |
| Kingdom Drive | $118,000 | $167,000 | 2/25/2002 | 5/30/2008 | 5.70% |
| Layla Street | $105,000 | $150,000 | 7/19/2000 | 5/16/2008 | 4.66% |
| Conservancy | $243,000 | $435,000 | 7/16/1999 | 5/1/2008 | 6.84% |
| Ruthenia | $44,600 | $102,500 | 5/24/1999 | 5/23/2008 | 9.68% |
| Mallard Trace | $236,000 | $380,000 | 7/28/1998 | 5/23/2008 | 4.97% |
| Oldfield Drive | $127,500 | $238,000 | 6/3/1998 | 5/2/2008 | 6.49% |
| Paddington Drive | $112,800 | $230,500 | 8/20/1997 | 5/9/2008 | 6.89% |
| Whisper Way | $64,000 | $163,500 | 9/21/1994 | 5/22/2008 | 7.10% |
| Meadow Ridge Drive | $195,000 | $400,000 | 6/3/1994 | 5/29/2008 | 5.27% |
| Waverly Road | $215,000 | $310,000 | 4/15/1994 | 5/23/2008 | 2.63% |
| Man O War Trail | $78,800 | $175,000 | 3/3/1993 | 5/12/2008 | 5.39% |
| Hill ‘N Dale Street | $80,000 | $180,000 | 12/2/1991 | 5/2/2008 | 5.06% |
The average annual appreciation rate in this group is about 4% (3.97%). Anything purchased in 2005 or more recently in this group has depreciated. Any home purchased in 2004 or prior has appreciated. I suspect this means that properties were appreciating over time until the market peaked in 2005. Since then, the market has “taken some back.” If you purchased your home recently, it might be worth less than you paid. However, if you purchased it prior to 2005, most likely is still is worth more than you paid.
Take a close look at the home on Buckeye trace (it is listed twice in blue). It was sold after being purchased in 2007 and it was sold for 3% less than it had been purchased. But the prior owner, who owned it from 2004 to 2007, had an annual appreciation rate of 12.5%. The previous owner had perfect market timing, hitting the best two years of real estate appreciation that the Tallahassee real estate market has seen since I began measuring in 1991.
Most likely this data is too small of a sample to be absolute “proof” of anything, I would suspect these kind of numbers to hold true for the entire market. Home values peaked in 2005 and we are now seeing real estate depreciation in the Tallahassee real estate market.
If you would like to see the full Tallahassee Real Estate Market Report, just following the link to 12 new and updated color graphs.
As a reminder for those who subscribe to the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog by email, some embedded pictures and videos might not be appearing in your email and you might need to click the title header to go to your browser where all will be visible.
Keep checking out the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog every day for updates that include charts, graphs, and analysis of the Tallahassee real estate market.
If you like this Article then please subscribe to my blog through a full RSS feed, or you can
Joe Manausa is a real estate investor and the Broker and Co-Owner of Century 21 First Realty. He can be reached via e-mail through the Tallahassee Real Estate Website or catch his latest writings on the Tallahassee Florida Real Estate Blog , or by calling (850) 386-2001.
If you'd like to forward this post to someone you think might be interested, simply click on the "Share This" link and click "E-mail."
Share This
I took a look at some of our higher trafficked articles on the Tallahassee Florida Real Estate Blog and found that these ten articles received a ton of traffic. If you are seeking great real estate information and happened to miss any of them, I’ve included a link below for you to see what everyone else is reading about.
What You Need To Know About Open Houses - One technique that real estate professionals use to meet more buyers is to hold an “Open House” at a home for sale. Statistically, we have less than a 1% chance of selling the home that we are in due to that Open house, so you might wonder why we do it at all.
How Home Values Are Determined - Everyone who owns a home typically likes particular aspects of that home. But these likes and dislikes have less to do with value that you might think, so let me give you some value-thoughts to chew on.
Short Sale Advice - A real estate short sale is when a home gets sold and the proceeds from the sale “fall short” of what the property owners owes on the mortgage(s) on the home. The bank(s) agrees prior to closing to accept a lesser amount than what it is owned. The bank will do this if it feels it will get more money through a short sale than through the timely and expensive cost of a foreclosure action. The property owner will often consider a real estate short sale when the owner receives assurance from the bank the loan will be deemed “paid in full.” Sometimes though, the property owner’s only option is the short sale, even if a deficiency judgement results in the process.
How To Buy A Foreclosure - So you’re hell-bent on buying a foreclosure! If so, this article contains the perfect “to do” list for you to use as guidance as you enter a market full of opportunity, surprises, pitfalls and rewards.
How To Evaluate Income Producing Properties - Take a look at a model that I refer to as the Real Estate Stack. This is the most basic of measurement models which allows an investor to take an investment and convert it to a mathematical model so that it can be compared with all other investment opportunities.
A Case Study in Buying Investment Real Estate - The return in real estate is found in long-term, leveraged appreciation. Too many investors think the money is in speculation or in the “flip,” whereas seasoned investors like to watch the appreciation build up.
Predicting Housing Consumption - With data on hand that has been recorded since 1991, I’m thinking that there might be a way to extrapolate a housing consumption estimate for the future by looking at what has happened in the past.
Tallahassee Real Estate Market Report (Free Download) - This is our third consecutive month of offering our free Tallahassee Housing Report. The purpose is to provide useful information about Tallahassee Housing by showing supply and demand across all price ranges in Leon County. This is the most comprehensive report that you will find on supply and demand in Tallahassee because it brings in more sources than just the MLS.
Making Florida Housing Affordable - So much of Florida real estate, especially near the beaches, has appreciated so highly that it is hard for working families to buy a home. It is so hard to build affordable housing with the cost of land, sticks, bricks and labor so high. That is where some key programs offered by the government can come into play, luring investors and developers alike. A few key programs that I think will make the difference are featured within.
How To Prepare To Sell Your Home - Preparing to meet with an agent is an important step in the process of selling your home. You see, the real estate agent is going to give you advice, and this advice will only be as good as the information that the agent uses to form the advice. With that in mind, let’s review what you should do to prepare for this meeting.
I hope you enjoyed this compilation of great real estate information. If you liked this summary format, please leave a comment below and I will put together more in the future (or if you didn’t like it, a comment here will help as well).
As a reminder for those who subscribe to the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog by email, some embedded pictures and videos might not be appearing in your email and you might need to click the title header to go to your browser where all will be visible.
Keep checking out the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog every day for updates that include charts, graphs, and analysis of the Tallahassee real estate market.
If you like this Article then please subscribe to my blog through a full RSS feed. You will be able to stay informed about the happenings in the Tallahassee Real Estate Market. You can also subscribe to this blog and have it delivered by Email.
Joe Manausa is a real estate investor and the Broker and Co-Owner of Century 21 First Realty. He can be reached via e-mail through the Tallahassee Real Estate Website or catch his latest writings on the Tallahassee Florida Real Estate Blog , or by calling (850) 386-2001.
If you'd like to forward this post to someone you think might be interested, simply click on the "Share This" link and click "E-mail."
Share This
I was speaking with a home owner in the Tallahassee real estate market yesterday who was very frustrated that she could not sell her home. She has had it on the market for over a year and was now considering my company for the job of selling the home.
The first thing that I shared with her is that she is not the only frustrated homeowner in Tallahassee, and for that matter, she does is certainly not the only frustrated homeowner in the US real estate market. I really felt for her and wanted to try to end her frustrations.
If you have been reading the Tallahassee Florida Real Estate Blog for a while, then you are aware that our nation is suffering through a very tough real estate market right now. Inventories are rising in all but a select few markets and frustrated homeowners are having to lower their asking prices. So, in short, there are no “painless” solutions to the housing problems until inventories return to a more balanced level. So what should my frustrated homeowner do?
If you are a frustrated homeowner, I will tell you that the market is what the market is. Period. Many homes are still selling and yours can sell too if you make the right decisions. In order to simplify what needs to occur, let’s take a look at some basic marketing principles…
As you can see from basic marketing, the actions to convert you from a frustrated homeowner to a former homeowner is rather simple. Clean it up, price it right, promote it worldwide, and it will sell.
As a reminder for those who subscribe to the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog by email, some embedded pictures and videos might not be appearing in your email and you might need to click the title header to go to your browser where all will be visible.
Keep checking out the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog every day for updates that include charts, graphs, and analysis of the Tallahassee real estate market.
If you like this Article then please subscribe to my blog through a full RSS feed. You will be able to stay informed about the happenings in the Tallahassee Real Estate Market. You can also subscribe to this blog and have it delivered by Email.
Joe Manausa is a real estate investor and the Broker and Co-Owner of Century 21 First Realty. He can be reached via e-mail through the Tallahassee Real Estate Website or catch his latest writings on the Tallahassee Florida Real Estate Blog , or by calling (850) 386-2001.
If you'd like to forward this post to someone you think might be interested, simply click on the "Share This" link and click "E-mail."
Share This
Recently, a reader of the Tallahassee Florida Real Estate Blog going by the name “Jim” asked ”
Joe, Can you do a subdivision workup for Bull Run?“
Jim, you asked this question on the perfect day. Not only was I interested in knowing how Bull Run was doing, I also got hit with a case of writers block and really didn’t know what to cover today. So here it goes.
According to the Leon County Tax records, home sales began in Bull Run in 2005.
| Quarter |
Units |
Avg. Sales Price |
| 2005 - 1st Qtr |
1 |
$406,500 |
| 2005 - 2nd Qtr | 1 |
$404,000 |
| 2005 - 3rd Qtr | 1 |
$401,100 |
| 2005 - 4th Qtr | 7 |
$411,143 |
| 2006 - 1st Qtr | 8 |
$354,775 |
| 2006 - 2nd Qtr | 17 |
$404.335 |
| 2006 - 3rd Qtr | 17 |
$367,465 |
| 2006 - 4th Qtr | 20 |
$372,535 |
| 2007 - 1st Qtr | 6 |
$381,267 |
| 2007 - 2nd Qtr | 8 |
$414,175 |
| 2007 - 3rd Qtr | 10 |
$409,390 |
| 2007 - 4th Qtr | 5 |
$378,050 |
| 2008 - 1st Qtr | 5 |
$379,960 |
| 2008 - 2nd Qtr *April |
2 |
$350,650 |
Using the sales data from Bull Run, our graph shows us that the price trend is declining:
Taking information from the MLS, we find the following supply and demand characteristics in Bull Run in Tallahassee: In the past twelve months, 34 homes have sold and currently there are 28 homes listed for sale in Bull Run. That implies a 9.9 months of supply figure (which is better than much of Leon County).
This shows the price per square foot rose about 3% per year from 2005 to 2007, but has since dropped over 7%. 7 homes have sold in 2008 in Bull Run in Tallahassee, and they have sold for an average price per square foot of just over $159.
The key to buying a home in Bull Run will be to know exactly what has sold, new versus resale, Builder A versus Builder B, etc. The same thing goes if you need to sell a home. This is simply a snapshot of the market in Bull Run in Tallahassee and it should give the reader a fairly good expectation of where the market is currently trading.
As a reminder for those who subscribe to the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog by email, some embedded pictures and videos might not be appearing in your email and you might need to click the title header to go to your browser where all will be visible.
Keep checking out the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog every day for updates that include charts, graphs, and analysis of the Tallahassee real estate market.
If you like this Article then please subscribe to my blog through a full RSS feed. You will be able to stay informed about the happenings in the Tallahassee Real Estate Market. You can also subscribe to this blog and have it delivered by Email.
Joe Manausa is a real estate investor and the Broker and Co-Owner of Century 21 First Realty. He can be reached via e-mail through the Tallahassee Real Estate Website or catch his latest writings on the Tallahassee Florida Real Estate Blog , or by calling (850) 386-2001.
If you'd like to forward this post to someone you think might be interested, simply click on the "Share This" link and click "E-mail."
Share This
I am helping an investor buy an investment property in Tallahassee today. With most people concerned about the market and choosing to be sellers, he likes to “swim upstream” and so he has moved to a buying position in the Tallahassee real estate market.
I figured our selection process might make for an interesting blog post. The simplicity of what he is doing has caused me to realize that sometimes our fears cause us to miss the obvious signs of what we should do. But as he reminded me, the return in real estate is found in long-term, leveraged appreciation. Too many investors think the money is in speculation or in the “flip,” whereas seasoned investors like to watch the appreciation build up.
So, today’s Tallahassee Real Estate Blog will feature a home for sale in Tallahassee. This is a real home that is completely renovated and will draw rents of $1,250 to $1,300 per month from the market. And because it has been completely renovated, the operating expenses on this unit will be lower than a typical property as all replacements have been recently made. It makes for the perfect investment property in Tallahassee.
I have included a simplified, but accurate, purchase analysis that shows an investor can buy this investment property in Tallahassee and should expect to realize a long-term, annual rate of return exceeding 20%!!! Not too bad for a “down market!”
In this example, we see the home is purchased for $118K with the buyer paying 3% towards closing costs. Assuming the buyer put 20% down, that would be total cash out of pocket for the buyer of $27,140.
As we can see from the example above, the short-term after-tax “cash on cash” return is basically 7.6%, but the overall return exceeds 20%. You can build serious wealth over time when you get your return on investment (ROI) north of 20%, which is all the more reason to consider buying an investment property in Tallahassee.
As a reminder for those who subscribe to the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog by email, some embedded pictures and videos might not be appearing in your email and you might need to click the title header to go to your browser where all will be visible.
Keep checking out the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog every day for updates that include charts, graphs, and analysis of the Tallahassee real estate market.
If you like this Article then please subscribe to my blog through a full RSS feed. You will be able to stay informed about the happenings in the Tallahassee Real Estate Market. You can also subscribe to this blog and have it delivered by Email.
Joe Manausa is a real estate investor and the Broker and Co-Owner of Century 21 First Realty. He can be reached via e-mail through the Tallahassee Real Estate Website or catch his latest writings on the Tallahassee Florida Real Estate Blog , or by calling (850) 386-2001.
If you'd like to forward this post to someone you think might be interested, simply click on the "Share This" link and click "E-mail."
Share This
Recent Comments