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Recent trends in the Southwest Florida real estate market—as reported by TRENDGRAPHIX—continue to show encouraging signs of a market in recovery. Year-over-year inventories of existing homes for sale are down by nearly a fifth to a quarter across all three counties of Southwest Florida; while both closed and pending sales in Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte Counties remain steady and dramatic.
*Data courtesy of Trendgraphix
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If selling your home or condominium is high on your agenda in 2010 here are some important facts you should know.
Any licensed brokerage is capable of listing your property. But only one is the undisputed leader in finding buyers for homes on Longboat Key. Michael Saunders & Company.
The proof is in the performance. Based on dollar volume sales over the past 12 months—as recorded by the Mid Florida MLS and published by the leading independent real estate tracking firm TRENDGRAPHIX—agents from Michael Saunders & Company bring buyers to Longboat Key property sales nearly twice as often as their next closest competitor.
As the below bar graphs depict, this phenomenon holds true across all price ranges; but becomes noticeably more dramatic as the price range increases. For properties $1 million and up, our agents furnish buyers more often than our next four closest competitors combined.
Before you list your Longboat Key property, contact an agent from Michael Saunders & Company. Find out how the region’s largest network of top-producing agents, its most heavily-frequented Web site and unparalleled network of international brokerage affiliations will help you succeed in finding a buyer faster. After all, isn’t that what selling your home is all about?
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Sarasota’s real estate market traveled light years in 2009, compared with where it was this time last year; and where other Florida markets still are today. Even as ours is being recommended as the #1 best-priced housing market in the U.S.— by such real estate gurus as Barbara Corcoran for NBC’s Today Show and the market analysts at zillow.com—other major Florida markets, including Jacksonville, Orlando and Miami, are being dismissed as the nation’s most overpriced.
Last May, when Michael Saunders invited noted real estate expert Steve Harney to Sarasota to headline a company-wide assembly of our agents, he was very clear in his takeaway message. The only way to re-enervate our market is to educate sellers to back down from unrealistic price expectations born of an unrealistic boom. Using actual statistics culled from the Sarasota MLS, Harney showed the enormous gap between what homes are listed for and what buyers are actually willing to pay. He then challenged our agents to close the gap. “If not you,’ he boomed to the back row, “Then who? If agents from one of the most respected firms in the nation won’t take the lead, who will?”
Harney’s words had a seismic impact. By mid-June—some six weeks later—agents from Michael Saunders & Company had achieved more than $110.7 million in overall price reductions; with more happening every day since then. Moreover, they didn’t simply petition their sellers to lower prices, but came fortified with fresh market statistics to help their clients understand why such a move was vital to their best interests.
After that, the proverbial dam broke; unleashing months—even years—of pent-up buyer demand. Buyers in droves jumped eagerly off the fence to take advantage of these best-priced opportunities, while many also queued-up to take advantage of the first-time homebuyer tax credit that had recently been enacted into law. This past week the Sarasota Association of Realtors announced that overall sales for November 2009 were nearly 86 percent higher than last November. What a difference a year makes.
Asked by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune last week to identify which of our agents turned in the most impressive performances of 2009, the answer was a no-brainer. As shown on the graphs below, it was through the combined efforts of every one of our agents working diligently in a tough market that led Michael Saunders & Company to increase its commanding share of the Sarasota market among the five best-performing brokers. This holds true across all price ranges; but becomes particularly dramatic as the price range goes up. (Source: TRENDGRAPHIX: November 2009). As well, the agents in our Manatee County and Englewood offices have achieved similar across-the-board dominance of their respective markets. Call any of our agents to share additional in-depth information from TRENDGRAPHIX—an independent source for the latest in local market trends and information.
If you’re planning to sell your home in 2010 you should pay particular attention to the graph that depicts the percentage of “buyer sales by dollar volume.” It shows that agents from Michael Saunders & Company furnish the buyer for closed transactions as often as the next two competitors combined.
For the foreseeable future Southwest Florida will remain firmly entrenched in a buyers’ market where the best-priced properties will continue to sell, while the rest sit. Pricing as correctly and aggressively as possible is the best way to ensure your home attracts the most buyers. With the market’s largest share of buyers coming to us through every available portal—including michaelsaunders.com, our international brokerage affiliations and our referral division—the best resolution you can make if you’re planning to sell in the New Year is to contact an agent from Michael Saunders & Company.
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Photo Credit: Heinz Kluetmeier/SI
Even though the area’s real estate market is at long last exhibiting true signs of a gradual but sustained recovery, it continues to favor buyers in search of the best-priced buying opportunities. Improvements in the market notwithstanding, the pool of available homes in Southwest Florida—although shrinking—remains much larger during any given month than the corresponding pool of available buyers. In true “supply-and-demand” fashion, the region remains in a solid buyers’ market. Nevertheless, if you’re planning to sell your home in the not-too-distant future, you can significantly improve the odds of obtaining better results faster by taking two important steps now that will deepen your own pool of potential buyers.
First, commit to pricing your home at least as aggressively as other homes in its competitive set, if not more so. We repeat this mantra time after time—week after week—because price remains the single most important catalyst for luring buyers away from indecision on the sidelines to confidence at the closing table.
Second, list your home where it is absolutely assured of being noticed by the most buyers. It’s a proven fact. For homes in virtually every price range, Michael Saunders & Company engages more buyers and brings them to the closing table—by far—than any other company in Southwest Florida. A bold statement, to be sure; but one for which we proudly offer independent verification based on actual sales data obtained from the Sarasota MLS—and reported monthly by the California-based, independent research firm TRENDGRAPHIX.
For homes priced from $150,000 and up, agents of Michael Saunders & Company brought buyers to the closing table 68% more often in the past 12 months than the market’s next leading competitor. For homes priced $250,000 and above, we are apt to furnish the buyer 87% more often. Moreover, the spread between Michael Saunders & Company and the next leading competitor in the market is equally dramatic for attracting buyers to higher priced homes. This is a most vital consideration if your home falls into this category; since the recovery has yet to work its way into the upper tiers of the market. Versus a year ago, nationwide sales of homes priced upwards from $500,000 are down 8.9%, those priced from $1 million and up are down 23.3%; and homes priced from $2 million and up are down 32.4%.