Are Sequim real estate prices at the bottom or are they going to decline further?  The word on the street is that home prices are going to decline on a national average, but what about the Sequim real estate prices?  Sequim real estate prices have actually increased this calendar year compared to the same period last year, at least when we pull the average and median prices from all sales data in the local MLS.  This is interesting data, because in most areas of the country the average and median prices have declined since last year.  As I wrote in an earlier article entitled Housing Market Prediction for Sequim Area, the Sequim real estate market should not be interpreted by national statistics encompassing all of the depressed foreclosure markets like Las Vegas and Phoenix.

Sequim Real Estate Prices Effected by Volume

I’ve compiled data from our local MLS for all sales for the first five months of the year going back to 2003.  Looking at Sequim home sales, 2005 was the peak for total homes sold, and 2010 jumped to 67 and this year (2011) from January through May we have 40 homes sold.  [Click on this graph for an enlarged view.]

Sequim Real Estate Prices

It’s clear that total volume is down.  Less homes have sold this year than last, but how have prices been effected?  As you would expect, supply and demand will determine prices, certius peribus, and Sequim real estate prices have declined, but not nearly as dramatically as in other areas of the country, and certainly not as much as the national averages.

Sequim Real Estate Prices Increased?

Click on this graph for an enlarged view, and then I’ll share my interpretation below.

Sequim real estate prices have decreased when we look at the average price of  homes sold from 2008 to 2009, from $337,119 to $321,136.  And from 2009 to 20010 again we had a decline from $321,136 to $292,642.  But from last year (2010) to this year we have an increase in both the average price and the median price of homes sold.  The average price increased from $292,642 to $338,506. The median price increased from $269,000 to $295,000.

Much more could be said about statistical analysis and parsing data, but this is very interesting data.  While many other areas have continued to decline and predictions are for more decline based on national averages, Sequim real estate prices should be examined with the unique and stable Sequim real estate market in mind.  We are not immune form the national market and national economic recession, but we are a different market with different variables of its own.

If you’re planning to buy a home in Sequim, may I suggest you hire me as your buyer’s agent?  I know the market, prices, and how to negotiate the best possible price and terms in the current market.  Email if you have questions or would like to discuss the local market and Sequim real estate prices.

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Buyer Tips in a Buyer’s Market.  This is the second in a series of articles that will give buyers insight into the mind of a seller and their agent.  See part one at Buyer Tips in a Buyer’s Market Part 1.  In the first article I wrote, “Sellers must have listing agents who are extremely good at three things:  marketing the listed home for sale (using the right technology, advertising, photos, and videos), persuasive sales (written and verbal), and negotiating the price and terms.”

I’m going to address these three topics in reverse order, starting with Negotiating the Price and Terms.  This single issue  of negotiating mistakes in this buyer’s market has the greatest potential to hinder a buyer, not to mention kill the transaction for a seller.  But if you know the way some sellers and their agents are thinking, if you know the misconceptions they have about negotiating the price and terms, you can have the upper hand in negotiating.

Some listing agents are making huge mistakes in negotiating the price and terms for their selling clients, and sometimes these mistakes rise to the level of sabotaging their own clients’ transactions.  Do they intentionally sabotage their own transaction?  No, they do not.  After all, they earn no commission if the deal does not close.  Perhaps the best way to make the point is by sharing some examples of how a listing agent sabotages the sale of their own listing, and we’ll look at how this effects you as a buyer.

This is a Buyer’s Market Not a Seller’s Market

A retired couple from Arizona decided to write an offer on a home (somewhere in the Northwest) that was about 30 years old and located way out of town, about a 30 minute drive from the nearest town.  It is remote enough that very few retirees even look at homes this far out of town.  This is not a modern home, and it doesn’t compare to the gorgeous modern kitchens of newer homes.  This would be a tough listing to sell, but one thing I can say with great confidence:  this home must be listed at a very reasonable price, because the buyers for this home in this remote location are few and far between.  Literally, this seller might only see one qualified  and interested buyer once in three years.  And to state the obvious, this is a buyer’s market, not a seller’s market.  (more…)

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Buyer Tips in a Buyer’s Market.  This is the first in a series of articles that will give buyers insight into the mind of a seller and their agent.  After hundreds of transactions as a buyer’s agent, I’ve recognized some common patterns, and I’ve decided to share these patterns with my readers who are primarily buyers.  The purpose of this first article is to make you as a buyer aware of the importance of what I will share about sellers and their agents and how you can benefit, sometimes by $10,000 to $70,000.  But the benefits to you are far more than just money, although that would be reason enough to know these things in a buyer’s market.

It is a Buyer’s Market

A significant number of sellers and their agents are repeatedly making the same mistakes, and if you are aware of these mistakes in this buyer’s market, you can take advantage of them.  Sellers are experiencing a lot of pain right now.  Many are having to sell their homes at losses or for so much less than they had hoped.  And many more sellers are frustrated that their homes have been listed for sale for one or two or three years and still have not sold.  This is a critical time for sellers.  They are under great financial stress, and many absolutely must get their homes sold.

Clearly, sellers must have listing agents who are extremely good at three things in a buyer’s market:  marketing the listed home for sale (using the right technology, advertising, photos, and videos), persuasive sales (written and verbal), and negotiating the price and terms.  It is a sad fact in reality that many sellers do not have agents who are extremely good in all of these areas.  It is especially unfortunate, because the sellers are the ones who lose out.  I can almost guarantee that these sellers don’t even know why their homes haven’t sold or why that last offer blew up and the buyers walked away.  Some think they know, but they don’t.  After 30 years of getting inside buyer’s and seller’s heads, I have a pretty good idea of how the conversations go between sellers and their listing agents.

Buyer’s Market and Sellers

By the way, you might wonder why I don’t share these things with sellers if I can help them.  The answer is I primarily represent buyers, but in addition to that sellers are not asking me.  I find it fascinating that buyers are using the Internet extensively but sellers are not.  Buyers are doing their due diligence in their research for their next home and who they hire as their buyer’s agent, but sellers are not doing research on their listing agents or how their homes should be marketed or the huge negotiating mistakes that are being made.  If I am correct about this, and I am, it becomes even more incumbent upon sellers to carefully choose a listing agent who is knowledgeable, competent, experienced, professional, and trustworthy.  But I can say with some confidence that the vast majority of sellers simply don’t know how to select an agent.  They just assume the agent they call has all these qualities.

Buyer’s Market and Agency

I represent a select number of selling clients, but even then I never act as a dual agent for a buyer and seller.  Read more about why I only represent one client at a time and how buyers get the short end of the bargain in Dual Agency.  Not everything I share about how sellers and their agents think will help you negotiate a better price in a buyer’s market, but if you as a buyer have a better understanding of what is going on with sellers and their agents, you will be far more likely to get the better end of the negotiations.  I want you to win your negotiation on both price and terms and end up in a far superior position against a seller.

Does this make sense?  This is foundational thinking for the true stories I will share in this series.  The next article will drill down on the important subject of negotiating mistakes and tips for buyers in a buyer’s market.

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Sequim real estate agents come in all sizes, shapes, backgrounds, educations, experiences, and personalities.  This is no small issue, because when you buy a home in Sequim or Port Angeles, you want to be certain that you have a professional who is competent and experienced.  Right?  Absolutely!  But you also want a buyer’s agent with whom you feel comfortable.  You are about to spend a small fortune, and you are about to make a commitment to a home that will mean you live here for the rest of your life.  At least that’s your plan, right?

The landscape of Sequim real estate agents is interesting.  Let’s have some fun with this.

Sequim Real Estate Agents

We have Sequim real estate agents who are very young and some who knew Moses personally.  We have agents who have college degrees and some who had trouble in Kindergarten.  Some are tall and thin while others are not so tall and not so thin.  Others are bald (mostly the men), and the females tend to have a variety of hairstyles, like curly (not the three stooges guy), stringy, fuzzy, and up high.

And then there are Sequim real estate agents who have a lifetime of experience in real estate, marketing and sales, legal contracts and drafting language, and in recent years technology and Internet marketing, and others who . . . have backgrounds as varied as retired military, school teacher, McDonald’s manager, housewife (an honorable profession), preacher, home builder, Starbucks coffee expert, waitress (waiter), construction worker, mortgage rep, and car salesman.

And it will be no surprise that the variety does not end there.  We have Sequim real estate agents who are straight laced with no sense of humor and who even walk as stiff as a board.  And we have agents who are as gay as the sunshine (no judgment here).  I presume they are proud of their sexual preference as I am of mine.

Sequim Real Estate Agents – Personalities

And the shades of personalities among Sequim real estate agents is also entertaining:  quiet and reserved, bold and loud, humble and respectful, arrogant and demanding, expressionless and cold, and warm and smiley.  I love the variety of agents in this business.  But then again as I reflect on these variations, it just reminds me that real estate agents are as varied as the general population itself.

One suggestion for selecting one of the many Sequim real estate agents:  select three, interview the other two and then come interview me.  Chose the one you think is best suited for you personally.  Go with your gut feeling as much as with your intellect.  After all, this is one of the most important decisions of your life.

Here’s another article about the future of real estate:  Sequim Real Estate

Sequim real estate agents . . . are buyer’s agents like me.

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If you are going to buy a Sequim home, may I suggest three keys that have taken me a lifetime to learn.  I’ve been in real estate 30 years, 20 of which were practicing real estate law.  I’ve seen many mistakes in real estate, and I have learned through clients’ mistakes all about traps for the unwary.  If you ask me what are the three most important considerations for a buyer, if I had to boil 30 years in real estate down to the three most important tips for buyers, here they are.  May I say before you read these that they may sound simple, but there is much more beneath the surface to each of these.  I could write a book about these.  Wait, I did!

1.  Find out the best way to do your research and how to find the ideal Sequim home.

This is clearly the beginning of the process in finding and buying your Sequim home.  But this is more important than some realize.  If your research tools and human resources are not the best, you can miss out on the best home and you can miss the opportunity of a lifetime.  You can also end up with an inexperienced agent, and you could end up in a nightmare scenario, instead of the happy retirement plan you have been dreaming about for so long.

There are two powerful free online resources I recommend.  They are both resources I created, but I created them to be the best two resources for buyers, and I believe they are.  One is the largest Sequim real estate blog, which you’ll find at Sequim Real Estate Blog.  This real estate blog has over 900 articles written for you as a buyer so you can make wise choices.  I’ve written about almost every conceivable issue that comes up for buyers.  This is my life’s experience given to you at absolutely no cost, no obligation, and you can read these articles anonymously without registering.  I never force myself on my clients or prospective clients.  The other resource is the easiest and most powerful MLS search site, which you’ll find at Sequim MLS.  You can do simple or advanced parameter searches for your home, and there’s a great map showing the location of all the listings.  If you want to, you can have the program keep track of the homes you want to bookmark for future reference.

2.  Find the best buyer’s agent in the area.

Why not take a lifetime of education and experience and put it to work for you at no cost.  Why risk so much money and the potential for mistakes by trying to be your own professional agent?  This is not the time to learn by trial and error.  As a buyer’s agent, my clients pay me nothing.  The sellers always pay the commissions for the buying and selling side.  Take advantage of a professional buyer’s agent’s education, experience, contract drafting knowledge, negotiating skills, and attention to inspection issues to keep you out of trouble and to reach your goal of a smooth closing.  By the way, the answers you get are only as good as the questions you ask, but what if you don’t know all the questions?  A great buyer’s agent will not only answer you questions, they will help you to raise questions that need to be raised to protect you.  Believe me, a good buyer’s agent is worth his or her weight in gold.  (Read Why You Should Never Buy From the Listing Agent)

3.  Beware of traps for the unwary in the local real estate market.

One of the keys to success in life is simply avoiding major pitfalls.  This is true in real estate.  There are a hundred mistakes a buyer can make, mistakes that could cost you a lot of money and stress.  When you buy real estate in a new area, you can bet there are unique real estate issues in each state and in each county.  Find out what those issues are, especially for the specific location of your property, and do your due diligence with the right research, the right documents (feasibilities and contingencies), and the right processes within all contract deadlines.  If you don’t know about all the local issues or traps for the unwary, this is another reason to hire a local buyer’s agent who does.

Some might say, “Yea, he’s just trying to sell his services.”  Sure I am, but I also am honest and have a valuable lifetime of experience to offer my buyers.  I work hard every day for my clients, and I work hard writing articles that are helpful to the public, whether they ever hire me or not.  These three tips are honest and true.  If you use these three tips, a lot of good will come out of your experience, and you’ll be glad you did when you buy your Sequim home.

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The real estate business is changing, but most people don’t know how dramatic these changes are.  When you’re in the midst of massive economic, cultural, and business change, as we are in the real estate industry, it is very hard to somehow get above the fray and all the chaos and recognize the bigger picture.

The real estate business is experiencing massive changes, and real estate brokerage as we have known it for 30 years is dying.  What is the proof?  The National Association of Realtors reported that 300,000 Relators have left the business in this recession.  Consumers are no longer walking into the big expensive bricks-and-mortar buildings or calling off newspaper ads.  Instead consumers (both buyers and sellers) are using the Internet and the wonderful free resources available to them 24/7 (like this site).

A large RE/Max office closed its doors downtown Seattle this past year (along with many others in King and Pierce Counties).  A few months ago the RE/Max office in Port Angeles went out of business (along with several others).  All over the country offices are closing, merging, consolidating, and even filing bankruptcy.  Realty Executives, a large national franchise, filed bankruptcy two days ago.

Inman News reported today that, “Real estate brokerage and franchise giant Realogy Corp. reported a $237 million first-quarter loss today, as interest expenses on the company’s massive debt outweighed improvements in operating income.”  Realogy owns Century 21, Coldwell Banker, Sotheby’s International Realty, NRT, and ERA, and Realogy also licenses the Better Homes and Gardens brand from Meredith Corporation.  Realogy is the classic traditional brokerage with a huge living nightmare unfolding right before our eyes.  The largest real estate brokerage empire in the country is very unlikely to survive in its present form.

Consumers are the driving force of these changes, but exciting advances in technology and the Internet have given consumers new power and control over how they buy and sell real estate.  My brokerage is on the cutting edge of these changes, and it allows me to serve my clients with all these cutting edge tools.  This chart shows how the old methods are being replaced by new tools on the right side.

The real estate business is dramatically changing, but the traditional bricks-and-mortar brokerages are falling left and right.  Ultimately consumers are going to be the real winners, and I’m delighted to be part of the change that serves consumers best interests here at eXp Realty, also known as Sequim and Port Angeles Real Estate.  I’m Chuck Marunde, buyer’s agent.

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