Timonium Home Sale Statistics October 2011

Home sales in Timonium were up slightly over the same period last year with $10,144,017 in homes changing hands last month.

The average sales price was down 8.63% to $349,794, mostly due to the detached homes price which was down 18.39% from $428,953 last October to $350,060 this year. This tells me that most likely more of the smaller Lutherville cape cod, rancher, and split levels sold, rather than some of the larger single family homes.

56 new homes came on the market, while 37 homes went under contract, which a 44% increase over October of last year. A total of 214 homes are for sale in Timonium.

Here is a link to the detailed October 2011 Timonium home sale report.

As you can see from the numbers this month, more of the smaller detached homes sold, while the attached/townhouse numbers can be skewed because one of the nine sales was in the $600-799,000 range.

Keep in mind that each Timonium neighborhood is different. Contact me for your Timonium house value!

This Month in Real Estate November 2011

This Month in Real Estate for November 2011 has been released!

The numbers from October, presented by Jay Papasan, showed the home sales at an annual pace of 4.9 million, down slightly from last month, but much better than September’s numbers. Median home price was $165,000, which is another drop from This Month in Real Estate October 2011. Interest rates rose very slightly to an average of 4.1% for a 30 year fixed mortgage.

The Top Story asks the question, “What are first time homebuyers looking for?” According to KW research, much of it is to stay in the same area as they were renting. 3/4 of first time homebuyers bought a single family home, and most purchased a three bedroom, two bath home.

Of course, this data is nationwide, and the Baltimore real estate market is different than any other. Many areas of the country do not have the dense, highly populated areas with rowhomes such as Downtown Baltimore in Federal Hill, Fells Point, Canton, and Locust Point. Even Baltimore County has many townhouse neighborhoods, such as Mays Chapel in Timonium, Rodgers Forge, and areas of White Marsh and Perry Hall.

In News You Can Use, Bryon Ellington discusses three things you should know about buying versus renting.

1) Equity. You can build wealth through equity. He aligns it with a long term savings account. Every month that you pay your mortgage, a portion of the mortgage goes into that “account” (your principle).

2) Appreciation. If the market where you buy appreciates, then that equity becomes even larger.

3) Make it your own. You can renovate, paint, do whatever you’d like to it!

He also points out that when you pay rent, you are still paying a mortgage. It is just someone else’s mortgage, and you don’t get the benefits of ownership.

For more information about buying a home in Baltimore, please contact me. I would be happy to help!

FHA Condo Rules Make Selling Many Condos Difficult

Recently, there were changes made to the FHA condo regulations on which projects can be FHA insured or not.

According to a Washington Post rundown of the changes, a major one is the “spot approval” that used to be acceptable to be eligible for an FHA loan. Another article goes more in depth on the issues this is causing for condo home sellers.

The agency eliminated spot approval earlier this year. Now, any condo buyer with an FHA loan must stick to an FHA-approved building. A lender, developer/builder, homeowners association or management company can submit a package to the FHA seeking approval. The change was part of a broader initiative to tighten FHA condo policy. Some elements of that initiative have been temporarily loosened through Dec. 31 to try to stabilize the condo market.Why? Condos are widely considered the market’s shakiest segment because they are popular with speculators and financially vulnerable entry-level buyers. A lot of foreclosure-related losses have come from condos, which is why industry policies have forced lenders to look more closely at the makeup of entire complexes before extending loans.

Without that FHA approval, it ties the hands of many buyers, as most would then need more money for a downpayment, which they may not have.

I did a quick spot check on Timonium condos on the HUD site where you can review FHA condo approval statuses. I was sad to see how many had expired, leaving any sellers in those buildings at a disadvantage! Of the 23 Timonium condo communities that came up when I searched 21093, 16 of them have expired. Here is a pdf of the Timonium FHA condo statuses as of today.

I have written much about the FHA Condo Recertifications, because we have so many Timonium condos that are now affected by these changes.

This is not good news, and I hope that the associations are working toward their re-certifications, though I understand across the US that many have tried and been denied over technicalities or other issues, and that the penalty for a director providing incorrect information (even if in error) faces $1 million in fines & up to 30 years in jail, so many are not willing to take on the risk.

Hopefully there will be another resolution on this matter, so affected condo owners aren’t hurt more by the inability to sell to FHA homebuyers.

21093 Home Sale Statistics September 2011

Home sales in 21093 were stable in September, with a small increase of 8.7% over the same month last year.

Average home sale price in Timonium was up 5.5% as well, up to $336,156 versus a low of $318,630 last September.

One more home sold this September, with 34 changing hands.

An interesting statistic (but not a good one), is that townhouse sales prices were down 18.22% to $250,692 while last year’s average was $306,542. It appears that there were a number of condos that sold, and they are used in the statistics. One sold for under $150,000, two for $150-200,000, and 4 in the $200-299,000 price range, which could explain the large drop in prices throughout the 21093 zip code.

At the same time, we had a price jump for detached homes, with average sales price rising to $389,062 over last September’s average of $325,538. Again, though, this number is skewed because there were FOUR sales in the $600-800,000 price range, which bring that average up tremendously and artificially.

Here is a link to the detailed September 2011 Timonium home sale report.

What this really reminds me is that real estate is extremely local. Timonium real estate is no different. There are $800,000 neighborhoods that are adjacent to $275,000 ones. Each neighborhood, even each street, can hold different values. Contact me for your Lutherville neighborhood house value!

Timonium Home Sales Statistics August 2011

Timonium home sales were up in a HUGE way in August 2011 — across the board, great numbers were showing over the same month last year.

Total sold volume was up 134.17% from $8,953,500 in August 2010 to $20,966,275 last month. Average sold price was up a smidgen 4.54% to $374,398.

Total number of homes sold was up 124.00% to 56 over last year’s 25 homes sold in August.

The one number that was down is a good one — the number of days on average that it took to sell a home dropped 46.55% — on average, it has been taking 62 days to sell instead of the 116 days it was taking in the same period last year.

38 homes went under contract, and 59 new ones were listed. There were a total of 226 homes on the market in 21093.

This appears to be a continuation of the rise we saw in both June and July Timonium home sales.

Compared to much of the Baltimore real estate market, Timonium is really doing well.

See the full August 2011 Timonium home sale report here.

As I have talked about many times before, each neighborhood, even within zip codes, can have different markets and statistics. Contact me for more details on your Timonium neighborhood house sales.

A New Low for Incorrect Zillow Zestimates

Last night, Zillow posted a tweet, inviting you to look at this glorious mansion on the market for $35,000,000. Please note, that is $35 MILLION.

The amusing part to me, is when I clicked on it, directly under the asking price is the Zillow Zestimate: $396,500. Yes, you read that right, Three hundred ninety-six THOUSAND, five hundred dollars.

Now, I realize Zillow’s algorithms have what they claim to be somewhere between a 7-11% margin of error, but this one is off by 88.27%. OFF BY ALMOST 90% OF VALUE. Hm. Think something might not be right?

Yet Automated Valuation Systems are the way banks are doing quick appraisal reviews, and no wonder they may be coming in low.

I’ve discussed the Zillow Zestimates in the past, beginning with Zillow Zestimates for Towson Real Estate May Be Misleading. I have come across a large number that were not close to a selling price of a home.

Then, I had communications with some Zillow executives, where some light was shed on why it is possible they are off in our area, which I discussed in Misleading Towson Zillow Zestimates Explained Further.

Zestimates started to complicate things further as the market began to drop, because banks began to reduce Home Equity Lines of Credit, and were using Desktop Valuations to do so. When one of my clients called his bank, his loan officer pulled up Zillow & told him that’s why it had been dropped. (See Incorrect Towson Zillow Zestimate Strike Again.)

Earlier this year, Zillow updated their Algorithms to try to correct some of the problems. For the Baltimore metropolitan area, according to the site’s “Zestimate Accuracy,” Zestimates are within 20% of an actual sales price only 78.3% of the time (with a 7.9% margin of error).

For a $200,000 house, being 20% below would bring the price down to $160,000. Above, that price (which would make a seller happy, but not a buyer or appraiser), would be $240,000. That’s a tremendous difference!

Real estate is very local. Even street-by-street or neighborhood-by-neighborhood within a zip code can have majorly different values.

If you would like an accurate Towson home value estimate, please contact me. I can help you anywhere in the Baltimore real estate market area, or if you are in a different state, I can refer you to an agent anywhere across the country.

Timonium Home Sales Statistics July 2011

Timonium home sales statistics for July 2011 were up — and up in many good ways!

Not only were sales up 56.54% over the same period last year, PRICES were up 8% as well.

Of course, this could be due to more of the larger Timonium single family homes selling versus townhouses, especially since 28 detached homes sold versus 15 last July. One number that did drop was the average sold price for attached homes (townhouses or Mays Chapel condos), down about 12% from $297,091 last year to $261,314 this year.

48 homes went under contract (that is DOUBLE last July), and 68 homes were listed last month.

This appears to be a continuation of the rise we saw in June Timonium home sales.

Compared to much of the Baltimore real estate market, Timonium is really doing well.

See the full July 2011 Timonium home sale report here.

As I have mentioned before, each neighborhood is very different, even within zip codes. Contact me for more details on your Timonium neighborhood house sales.

Mays Chapel Condo for Sale

Mays Chapel offers condos, townhouses, and apartments as a planned-unit community built by Keelty.

One fantastic Mays Chapel condo for sale is 12204 Burncourt Road #301.

This third floor unit is amazingly clean, well maintained, and loved. This building is one of the few that has front-to-back units, meaning you get trees and privacy in the back, plus you can have a cross breeze from the front!

Don’t miss this beautiful third floor Mays Chapel Condo with cathedral ceilings and private feel! 12204 Burncourt Rd #301 is superb!

Timonium Home Sale Statistics June 2011

Timonium home sale statistics showed minor drops in June 2011 from the same period last year.

June 2011 was much better than May 2011 21093 home sales statistics!

Sold dollar volume was down 6.84% from $20,528,050 last June to $19,124,100 this June.

The great news is that the average sales price in 21093 rose 5.95% to $374,982!

Seven less houses sold, but days on the market were less as well.

67 homes came on the market in June, and there were a total of 219 active for sale. 47 homes went under contract.

Compared to other areas around us in the Baltimore real estate marketplace, Timonium real estate is holding strong, and is seeing a bit of a comeback this month.

See the full June 2011 Timonium home sale report here!

Each neighborhood is different. Contact me for more details on your Timonium neighborhood house sales!

This Month in Real Estate July 2011

This Month in Real Estate for July 2011 has been released!

First, as always, Jay Papasan discusses the numbers:

Home sales dropped a little to a pace of 4.8 million home sales for the year, versus the 5.1 million they were averaging per June 2011′s This Month in Real Estate. The median home sales price is up to $167,000 from last month. The average rate for a 30 year fixed rate mortgage, according to Freddie Mac, was about 4.5%, down .1% from last month.

Then, Jay talks about the top three technology tools that agents use to help clients buy and sell real estate.

First is email: Almost 2/3 of agents use email to get properties in front of perspective buyers.

Second is personal websites, like mine, realtormarney.com.

Third is national websites, like realtor.com, where I have enhanced listings!

This indicates that real estate is still very local, as we know from the sales numbers differing even within zip codes!

In News You Can Use, Byron Ellington talks about the three ways to get your home sold — even with new and inventive ways to market your house.

1) PRICE IT RIGHT. Know what the trend is. Are prices rising in your neighborhood? Dropping? What has been happening over the last year? Price ahead of the market, instead of chasing it.

2) Consider a Pre-sale Inspection to be able to address issues with the house.

3) If you have multiple offers, consider all factors, not just price!

Contact me for more details about the technology and techniques I use to to sell Timonium houses. I would love to help you!

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