Real Estate Information

Today (August 23rd, 2010) something happened in the Des Moines real estate market that hasn't happened since June.  Today the number of Pending transactions climbed above the 1,100 mark.

It may not seem like much, but in times when we are looking for anything that shows improvement, we will take what we can.

Positive Thoughts Welcomed!

To see the full chart (special update 8/23/10) go to www.remarketpulse.com

It's July 30th, 2010 and I've been tracking Des Moines real estate market activity since 2008.  In 2009, I began to follow and record Pending transactions on a daily basis.  Pendings refers to an accepted offer between a buyer and seller and is a temporary status of a real estate transaction. 

When a home is listed for sale, it is labled as "Active" meaning it is available for showings and the seller is waiting for an offer to purchase to be brought to them.  When a buyer and seller agree on a purchase price and other contingencies of the offer, the property status is changed to "Pending" or "Sale Pending".  The Pending Status can last from a couple of weeks up to more than a couple of months, depending on the laundry list of things that need to happen before a buyer is willing and/or able to close on the sale.  The third status of a real estate transaction is called the "Sold" or "Closed" status.  This is when the buyer completes the purchase process, typically by sitting down with their mortgage lender and signing dozens of papers promising to repay the mortgage and finally presenting a check to the seller for the amount of the purchase.  The real estate transaction is over for practical purposes at this point.

The chart that you see updated on this website each week represents the number of Pending Transactions recorded on each day in 2009 and year to date in 2010.  The picture above is a slice of the Current Pending Sales Comparison chart.  You can download the full PDF report by Clicking Here.  But for now, here's what the different lines and colors mean. 

First, the blue line.  This is the daily record of Pendings in 2009.  Every Friday I mark where the activity was for that same date in 2009.  This lets you see whether we are ahead or behind last years activity when looking at 2010 data.

Next you will notice that there is a Red and Yellow area chart.  This is the 2010 Pendings.  The activity is red as it progresses through the year until the point at which 2010 Pendings were ahead of 2009.  Once 2010 Pendings dipped below 2009 levels, the chart changes to Yellow.  This is to give you a quick visual of whether we are ahead or behind 2009 activity.

Note that on May 3rd, 2010, we hit the high point of Pendings at 2,159 transactions "on the books".  Coincidentally, this was right at the end of the Federal Tax Stimulus program that ended on April 30th.  So naturally with the incentive ending, Sale Pendings begin to drop off.

This trend has continued until around the second week of July when Pendings stopped falling and the market began to pick back up again.  To the uninformed consumer, one would make the assumption that the real estate market is very slow and perhaps even well behind where it should be from last year.  If we had not had the tax stimulus, then this assessment would be correct, but what we saw in the Des Moines real estate market was that much of the real estate activity that would normally have occurred throughout the summer was accelerated to prior to the April 30th deadline for the stimulus. 

You can see that business is now levelled off and staying around that 1,100 number of Pendings.  We are behind last years numbers of Pending transactions as shown on this chart, but remember the tax stimulus was in effect then as well.  It may take the rest of this year before we know if we are truly ahead or behind.

In the meantime, keep checking back at my website http://www.remarketpulse.com each week for an updated Pendings chart.

Ahhh.... Life's little lessons....

I was one of many people that experienced storm damage from last weekends weather event across the Des Moines metro area.  First of all, let me state that I own my home and have a good insurance company on my side.  I had literally changed home owners insurance just the previous month and had gone through the painful process of getting insurance quotes from various companies.  Little did I know that I would be testing out the claims process so quickly.  My only previous home owner insurance claim was from almost 10 years ago after moving into our home when I was out mowing the back lawn.  My lawn mower kicked a piece of lava rock that escaped the landscaping area and ended up embedded in my neighbors vinyl siding.  That was a great "Hi there, new neighbor... ".

Back to this latest storm.  Like many, we were awoken by what sounded like the proverbial freight train.... a double hung storm window in our bedroom blew out of the frame (glass intact) from the high winds... fortunately it was stopped by the venetian blinds and I was able to simply pop it back into the frame.  But that was enough to wake me up and begin to realize that we were in the midst of a great storm. 

As dark as it was, I could tell that we had lost several large limbs from our backyard trees and a 30lb potted plant on the deck was on its side.  As I continued to look through the glass patio doors (something that I thought later was very stupid of me to do) I could see that my gazebo was twisted and broken into pieces.  This gazebo is one of those canvas topped "tent like" structures that you now see everywhere in all the home improvement stores.  We've had ours for several years and I remember paying quite a bit of money for it when we first bought it.  It has (had) stood the test of time during every other storm that blew through our back yard, but this one did the old "big top" in.

Shortly after 3:00am my house lost its power.. now I know those of you reading this from other parts of the country (coastlines/hurricane-ville) losing power is something that happens more frequently to you than it does to us here in the midwest... Generators are not a big ticket item here and I would bet that most generators are purchased here for Farmers Market vendors and not home owners waiting for power to go out!

As daylight arrived I was able to assess the full damage to my property.  A wooden fence along the back of my property had taken a couple of direct hits from large limbs and as a result, all the posts have snapped off at the ground.  The good news is that the fence itself appears to be in good condition and only the posts will need to be replaced.

Most of the limbs have fallen to the ground, however there is one large limb still  hanging from above waiting for assistance to come all the way down.  Assistance meaning the sound of a chainsaw and professional tree service.... I have a "loaded" walnut tree at the other end of my lot with at least two large branches stuck above... they appear to be from a neighbors tree and were blown into my tree... but because they are at least 30 feet in the air, again, the tree service will need to remove them.

It appears after having my insurance adjuster out that I will have a claim for damages against my new policy.  I kiddingly said that I was probably their newest policy owner with a claim.... the adjuster said to me... "well, hopefully you'll someday be our oldest policy owner without a claim"...

I agree with that statement!  So... To finish this blog post and give some truth to advertising of the title... here are a couple of things that I have learned from this experience.

1.  Make sure you have your home owner insurance policy handy and know what is or isn't covered.  (The reason I recently switched policies is because my premium had gone up A TON and my coverage had changed)

2.  Keep a list of service providers applicable to your needs (tree trimmers if you have lots of trees on your lot for example) so that you don't have scramble if you need service or worse emergency service.

3.  Be prepared for storm outages by having flashlights & batteries handy at a moments notice.  IF you are in an area where you frequently lose power, consider buying a generator and know how to use it. 

4.  If you lose electricity, try not to open your refrigerator or freezer unless absolutely necessary... discard any food that comes to room temperature from your freezer to avoid food poisoning. 

5.  Lastly, have a backup plan if your home does sustain damage or a loss of power requiring you to leave for an extended period of time.  Don't forget to include your pets in this plan of action!  They can suffer from heat stroke more quickly than people because they rely on keeping the inside temperatures cooler plus the fact that they don't have the option of taking off their coat to cool down!

I was in the grocery store yesterday waiting in line behind an elderly lady who was buying a loaf of bread, quart of milk and a couple of other small items.  It was in the middle of the day and there weren't a lot of check out lines open and I wasn't in any particular hurry.  As I stood there while they rang up her purchase, I watched as she reached deep inside of her purse and pulled out her check book, wrapped in at least five rubber bands.  I patiently watched as the checker, a young girl in her 20's waited for the woman to methodically and exactly write out her check for her purchase.

Afterwards as the woman walked towards the exit of the store, I asked the checker "What was that paper thing that that lady had just given you in exchange for her groceries?".....  Not understanding my humor, the checker looked at me and said... "It was a check Sir...", in a tone between disbelief and annoyance with me.  I smiled and said... "Oh.. that's what that was!"... She then realized I was being "funny" and started to laugh and tell me all about how long some people take to write out their checks and how some people cover the check with their hands as they write, so nobody around them can see their "personal information"....

Nobody was waiting behind me, so I took the opportunity to ask this young 20-something checker if she had ever heard of a "counter check".  She gave me a curious look so I promptly dated myself by starting out... "Well, when I was your age....  I remember when banks used to put a pad of blank checks out on the checkout line at the grocery stores... It was nothing but a plain pad of paper, check sized, with the banks name, basic check writing fields and what at that time was the banks identification number (now known as a routing number).  Nowhere on the check was an account number because this was a universal check.  People back then (in the 60's) would write their signature legibly and the checker behind the counter knew you, your brother, your sister, your aunt, uncle, mother, father, grandparents, cousins and even your in-laws... AND the local Banker knew you.  In fact, there was likely to be TWO books of counter checks at the checkout... one from the local bank and another from a competing bank at the next town... all though nobody ever wrote checks on THAT account.... "

By this time the young 20-something checker was staring at me with a glazed over look like, "Why did he pick MY line to come through today"......  I smiled and thought to myself that I was lucky to live in such a great place that I do and that although the times have changed and debit cards are now the norm and there are no longer blank counter checks at the grocery store, things really haven't changed that much.

There will always be little old lady's with their checkbooks all rubber banded up... and there will always be young 20-something grocery checkers forcing smiles through their teeth at people like me as I begin to play that "I remember when game" myself...   I just wonder.. when I'm 80, will I have a stack of ATM cards in my pocket all rubber banded together and will there be people in their late 40's behind me watching.... waiting to tell their memory of the days of how people used to use "green paper called CASH" to buy their groceries?

It's officially the First Day of Summer!  Also known as the continuation of the Rainy Season.  So to help you "celebrate" or better put.. PREPARE... Here are a couple of website links to help you keep informed of the two most popular activities this summer!  WEATHER and ROAD CONSTRUCTION!

WEATHER

This is a great weather map called Full Size Weather from Weather Underground (No Not THAT Weather Underground)....You can customize your weather location by zip code, view temperatures, clouds, or my favorite animated storm cells.

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?brand=wxmap&query=50321

Next Up ROAD CONSTRUCTION

This is the best statewide map of road construction activity, although, if I were planning a trip across the country and found this site, I'd probably reconsider driving across the state... the only comfort is knowing that all the other states look the same...

http://hb.511ia.org/main.jsf

What ever your pleasure this summer... keep a close eye on the skys and the highways and you will "eventually" get where you are going!

As the month of June progresses, the effects of the end of a federal tax credit are becoming clear.  The real estate market that saw record activity all spring is now finding its level.  The chart above compares 2010 sale pending activity (indicated by the red and yellow areas) to 2009 activity (indicated by the blue line).

As 2010 started off, Pending sales climbed above 2009 levels at a fast pace.  The tax credit officially ended on April 30th and by May 3rd the number of Pendings had peaked at 2,159.  From that date on, without the tax credit incentive, activity slowed down.

On June 1st, the number Pending sales was at the same level as 2009.  You will notice that the 2010 chart changes from Red to Yellow at that point.  I wanted to make the point where activity dropped below last years activity stand out.  As of today (June 18th) the number of Pending sales on the books was at 1,290, compared to 1,688 a year ago.

We have seen this drop off before.  Last November when the previous tax credit was to expire, buyers backed away from the offer table and there was a drop all the way until the end of the year. 

How far will this current drop go?  Only time will tell but I do predict an increase in Pending sales in the next 30 days.  With the late ending of the school year, many families have taken off immediately after the last days of school on vacations.  We typically see a dip (as shown above in the blue line) and then another dip as the July 4th holiday hits. 

We certainly are living in interesting times.  If you are interested in seeing more real estate statistics, be sure and click on Des Moines Housing Statistics from my main website (www.desmoineshomeinfo.com) or go directly to the stats page by going to www.remarketpulse.com. 

Week Ending June 11, 2010

Total Number of Homes For Sale in the Des Moines Area – 5102
New Listings Taken During the Last 7 Days – 287
Accepted Offers (Pendings) During the Last 7 Days – 108
Homes Closed (Solds) During the Last 7 Days – 125
Average Sale Price of Solds – $169,333
Average Days On Market of Solds – 90

If you would like to search for homes in the Des Moines area,
feel free to visit my website.  I don’t require a login or
password and collect no information about you. You can always
contact me if you have questions. 
Click Here to begin your own home search or go to http://www.desmoines-mls.com

Les Sulgrove, Iowa Real Estate Solutions, LLC

Information on this blog posting is for informational purposes only and
not intended as solicitation if you are already working with a REALTOR®.

There is no obligation or fee for any information on this blog posting.
Data Source: Les Sulgrove, Iowa Real Estate Solutions, LLC
Des Moines Area Association of REALTORS® MLS.
Des Moines Metropolitan Area defined as: Adel, Altoona,
Ankeny, Bondurant, Carlisle, Clive, Des Moines, Dallas Center,
Desoto, Granger, Grimes, Indianola, Johnston, Norwalk,
Pleasant Hill, Polk City, Urbandale, Van Meter ,Waukee,
West Des Moines, Windsor Heights, Winterset

In 1967 Jimmie Webb wrote the lyrics and The Fifth Dimension recorded the song "Up, Up and Away" which became a major hit reaching #7 on the US Pop Singles chart.  Fast forward to the year 2010.  The #1 song in the Pop Singles list is a song by Jason Derulo called "In My Head".

I have a confession to make... I've never heard of Jason Derulo nor have I heard the song "In My Head", but thanks to the Internet, I did find the lyrics to both "Up,Up and Away" and "In My Head" and this is my feeble attempt at tying this weeks real estate activity to these two songs.

The easy part is "Up, Up and Away"... "Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon..."  The metro real estate market has over 5,800 beautiful homes homes for sale as of today.  "Up, Up and Away" is a song about finding love and flying away.  1,881 excited home buyers have fallen in love with their next home.  Last year at this time, 1,359 homes were under contract.  Helping to fuel this love-fest is the Federal Tax Credit incentive for first time home buyers and buyers who have owned a home before.  We all know that these incentives go away at the end of the month and the question will then be "What happens next to the real estate market". 

Personally, I feel like we'll continue to see strong market activity.  We may not continue at the record pace we've set to date, but that's ok too.  The real estate market needs to find its leveling point.  I will continue to keep a daily accounting of our local real estate statistics.  Come back every Saturday morning and go to www.remarketpulse.com to see what the market activity did during the last week.

Now it's time to try and tie something out of the lyrics from "In My Head" to end this blog. The song starts out "Everyone's lookin' for love, oh, oh"... ok.. that's safe enough.. Everyone is looking for that perfect home (love)... As I continue to read through the lyrics, I think that I'll just stop here.  I am what my 18 year old son considers "Old"... maybe I am... to him... but when it comes to music and trying to tie lyrics to real estate... I'm better off stopping here.

Buyers have taken sales of homes in Des Moines "up, up and away" and I think that Buyers will continue to be out there "looking for love", "looking for that perfect home" after April 30th.

I hope that you haven't lost interest in my blog after this post... I, however, have decided that I've lost interest in any music written and recorded after 1970.... please don't hold that against me.  After all, I AM old....  Maybe next week, I'll use Jimmy Soul's hit song "If you want to be happy"... then again..

Less than 24 hours ago, I asked what day this week would we surpass last years Pending Sales transactions.  As you can see by the title of today's blog, today is that day.

47 new accepted offers were recorded today bringing the total to 1,809 Pending Sales.  The next question is "How High Will Pending Sales Climb?"  I have a feeling that we'll see that number sometime in the next couple of weeks.  In the meantime, click the image below to download the full size Pending chart.

Today's high number of Pending Transactions comes off of the release of March MLS stats by The Des Moines Area Association of REALTORS President Joanne Mangold.  You can read the complete press release by clicking here.