Homeowners in Sequim and Port Angeles, and for that matter throughout the country, are not satisfied with paying typical 6% real estate commissions.  Hence the rise of discount brokerage services, flat fee consulting services, and for-sale-by-owner websites. 

There are some very good reasons.  The whole business of buying and selling real estate has been changing.  Traditional advertising has been loosing its appeal to consumers.  Remember cold calling?  That used to be popular.  The public grew to hate cold calling so much, we have stringent laws controlling that distasteful practice, and we have "do not call" lists.  Remember the cigarette ads on billboards in the ’60′s and ’70′s?  Billion dollar judgments have been entered against cigarette companies, the advertising has been regulated by law, and billboards have become passe.

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Real estate prices have stalled and dropped in some areas in and around Sequim and Port Angeles, Washington, but appreciation has far exceeded the minor price decreases as shown in this data from Standard and Poor’s:

City            App from        Change                2000           Oct 06-07

Atlanta         133.79          - 0.7%Boston          169.34          - 3.6%Charlotte       133.98          + 4.3%Chicago         163.12          - 3.2%Cleveland       115.93          - 4.5%Dallas          124.44          - 0.1%Denver          136.08          - 1.8%Detroit         108.15          - 11.2%Las Vegas       208.68          - 10.7%Los Angeles     249.50          - 8.8%Miami           244.35          - 12.4%Minneapolis     161.24          - 5.5%New York        205.48          - 4.1%Phoenix         200.72          - 10.6%Portland        185.10          + 1.9%San Diego       217.02          - 11.1%San Francisco   202.03          - 6.2%Seattle         189.86          + 3.3%Tampa           206.38          - 11.8%Washington      226.71          - 7.0%

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Here’s a great visual of Sequim real estate prices and Port Angeles real estate prices in the first 11 months of 2006 and 2007. This is very revealing! Click on the graphic below to enlarge it.

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With all the hullabaloo about real estate sales and prices being down, and with a media that likes to generalize and lump all states together, I like to look at our local stats to find out exactly what is going on. What is happening to Port Angeles real estate sales and prices? Likewise, what is happening to Sequim real estate sales and prices? Watch this blog for regular posts on this subject, and for vignettes of the market. Here is a vignette comparing October sales of last year with October sales this year.

Okay, both Port Angeles and Sequim sales are down this October. P.A. sold 11 less houses, and Sequim sold 15 less houses. If you’re selling your home, consider this: 37 houses still sold in Port Angeles last month, and 45 houses sold last month in Sequim. We are far from a depressed market. It is alive and well, and those net proceeds could be yours.

Now, if you are a FSBO, are you doing the right things to sell your home now? Is it priced right? Do you know where to find buyers? If you have a Realtor, is your Realtor on top of all this? This morning a friend told me she has not heard from her Realtor for months. Her Realtor has not showed their home, is not advertising it, and does not call or write. I sincerely hope you don’t find yourself in this position in this market. In a market that has slowed, and that is this market, you can no longer depend upon luck to sell your home, or a Realtor who does nothing but throws your property in the MLS and hopes someone sells it. Buyers are still buying, but fall into any of the many Traps for the Unwary, and you will still have a house for sale.

Interested in a particular comparison or other market stats? Let me know, and I’ll pull the numbers, chart it and post it for you.

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Click on the Charts to Enlarge

These two graphics compare total sales of homes in the Sequim and Port Angeles areas (excluding new construction) in the first nine months of 2007 and 2006 (below). It’s an interesting comparison in light of all the doom and gloom talk about the real estate market. We are down, but not by alarming proportions. The total number of houses sold in the first nine months of 2006 was 758, and in 2007 it was 697. That’s a decline of only eight percent (8%). This does not include new construction, which we will look at later.

Click on the Charts to Enlarge

Buyers are still buying, and this is good news for sellers. The key is pricing your home right. Overpriced listings will get stale in this market, while the house down the street sells within 60 to 90 days. If a house is overpriced, the window of opportunity with those who would have made an offer is closed. Those buyers are probably gone forever. Only the houses that are priced right are included in the above chart statistics.

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We are seeing many listings get price reductions, some are getting multiple price reductions in a short period of time. In my opinion, while price reductions are a regular part of the business, and while a slowing market increases the pace of price reductions, there’s another important reason for so many reductions: overpriced listings. A Sacramento Broker, Elizabeth Weintraub, said it well:

As a seller interviews each agent, often the estimate of value creeps upward. Maybe the first agent knows there will be two other agents competing for the listing, so the first agent names an astronomical figure. The second agent, upon hearing the first agent’s price, beats it. The third agent comes in higher yet. A seller who chose an agent based on which estimate is highest is the ultimate loser. Yet almost every seller operates in this manner. It’s a shame because so few agents take the time to educate sellers that other factors such as marketing plans and the agent’s negotiation abilities are far more important than estimate of value. The comps speak loudly if anybody looks at them. Ultimately, the market place establishes value.

From a Realtor’s perspective, getting a listing ought not to be some sort of bidding process: the highest bidder gets the listings. The seller will lose every time. That’s my opinion. Of course, I could be wrong.

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