November Maple Valley Market Report ‘07 vs. ‘08

These numbers reflect single family homes listed and sold through NWMLS and do not represent any “by owner” transactions which may have closed.

Through November 30, 2007 there were 736 homes closed with the average sales price being $439,481

Through November 30, 2008 there were 399 homes closed with the average sales price being $398,495

Price Down 9% on Average

Sales 39% in number

Average Days on Market Down 10% (a good thing!)

Ready to Sell in Maple Valley? Go Global!

One of the things I pride myself on as a Listing Agent is the power of my internet marketing program. When I meet with potential sellers in the Maple Valley area, I am able to demonstrate to them through statistics and anecdotes how an effective internet marketing strategy, combined with an experienced eye on local trends can help them be successful, even in today’s market.

One of the features I offer to website visitors is the ability to sign up for automatic Listing updates for the Maple Valley market. A few weeks ago I received an email from a soldier in Iraq who had signed up to have new listings emailed to him. He is researching different communities in the Seattle area, trying to determine where he and his family will settle when he comes home.

Here’s a snippet of his email:

We really do have a broad geography.
I am looking for good schools from Bonney Lake to Lake Stevens.  Maple
Valley is the center and your web-site kept turning up every time I
searched on “Maple Valley”. (Emphasis added by me)

On a weekly basis I have people visiting my various websites and blogs from New York to Texas to California to Dubai (?), and other many other international locations (ok, I’ll admit I don’t even know where some of these countries are) and many of them are repeat visitors.  

Over 80% of home buyers begin their home search on the internet. Today more than ever, it’s imperative to your success that your property have maximum (read global!) exposure beyond a simple MLS listing format. Buyers want details, photos and virtual tours. They want to shop in their PJ’s from the comfort of their living room.

And I’m happy to help them!

If you plan on selling your Maple Valley home in the near future, I’d love the opportunity to talk with you (no obligation of course) about the power of internet marketing and how it is possible to sell, even in a slower market.

 

 Colleen Fischesser is the Broker/Owner of RE/MAX Select in Maple Valley, WA. She has been successfully selling and marketing properties all over South King & North Pierce counties since 1990 but specializes in the Maple Valley Washington area. .She may be contacted directly at: 425-432-5400

 

Copyright 2008, All Rights Reserved Colleen Fischesser

Home Shopping-Buying in Maple Valley PT 2

In a previous post, I addressed the “getting ready” phase of  home buying, outlining the steps which should be taken prior to actually looking at homes as well as the process I go through with buyers who would like to have me represent them in the purchase of their greater Maple Valley area home.  

Once you’re committed and your preapproval is in hand, it’s time to go shopping!

The internet has altered the Home shopping experience tremendously.  In the past, I would have shown you many more homes than I would now, because you’ll probably have eliminated many and zero-ed in on a few “favorites”. 

Typically I plan to show no more than 8 homes in one outing unless there is a real constraint on time; a client in town only for the weekend, or someone who must be in their new home by the end of the month. The reason I don’t prefer to show more than that is because after awhile they all begin to blend together.  Was it house # 2 or 10 that had that waterfall in the backyard? The pink kitchen of house number 4 gets filed in the memory of house number 8….and even though I can gently remind you which home had which features, it becomes overwhelming and most people start to shut down.

So we arrive at the first house and what do I do?  Well I guarantee you I don’t fling open the doors and say “Now this is the Living Room” and “This is the Bathroom” like TV real estate agents seem to enjoy doing. I prefer to let me clients take the house in at their own pace, and move through the rooms as they would like to….want to go to the garage first?

Fine by me!

The house is yours to explore and imagine as your own. 

One thing I will do however, is point out features which you may not be aware of, or offer comparisons between this home and the last to help you decide whether this house would work for you or not. For instance, “This home has the 4″ baseboards whereas the last home had 2″, or pointing out a new furnace or larger than average hot water heater. If you told me you wanted a big backyard, I will ask you how you feel about the yard of the home we’re in…afterall, “big” is a subjective term and I need to see what you consider big.  If you begin to veer away from what you told me you really wanted in your next home (remember our “getting ready” meeting?), then I will remind you about that…”This is a great house, but remember you said that you absolutely had to have 4 bedrooms upstairs? Are you sure you would be willing to give that up?” You should make that decision without being swept up in the emotion of being in the house at that time, and that’s my job-to remind you of those things throughout the process.

Home shopping is a good time and my clients and I usually have alot of fun along the way. As we go through the homes they will inevitably get tagged with a nick-name. “The foofy house” (lots of lace curtains and dolls and doiles), “the orange house” or the “stinky house”.  The list of nicknames I’ve heard over the yeas could go on forever and some of them are pretty darn hysterical!

After viewing each home, we will usually put it in one of two categories-”forget about it” or “it’s a possibility”. Every now and they you’ll walk into a home and just know right away that it’s the right one. But sometimes the decision is a little harder to make. What I tell my clients is if you keep looking at more houses and are using another house by which to judge them all, then you’ve probably already made your choice.

My role in the home shopping process is not to sell you a house. It is to help you gather as much information as you need in order to make an educated decision about your financial investment.  And if we have some fun along the way….that’s ok too.

 

Copyright 2008, All Rights Reserved Colleen Fischesser

Part 3 in the Buying in Maple Valley series will be on Negotiating Your Offer 

The Definition of “Quirky”

The loose definition of “quirk” is having a “peculiar trait”….according to Merriam-Webster’s online definition at least. 

 This was the word of the day this past weekend while I was showing homes in the Maple Valley area.

No matter which home we went to, there was, inevitably, an odd quirk to the property.  Be it poor condition, a bizarre floorplan or an unusual property trait, we seemed destined to find something quirky about every single home we viewed. Many had great amenities, ”except for”.

 The longer we looked, the more we began to expect ( even look forward to identifying )the quirk in the next house.

We weren’t disappointed. Every home we viewed had “something odd” about it.

Quirky.

Odd can be good and odd can be bad. But if there is something quirky about a home, the price needs to reflect that oddity or “quirk”. Otherwise, it will just become topic for conversation and the buyers will say “next”.

There is a buyer for every home.

But not at any price.

Unless you’re willing to wait a really long time.

 

Copyright 2008, All Rights Reserved Colleen Fischesser