Selling your Shippensburg area home in 2010
Posted on April 20, 2010 by JA/LEX Real Estate in UncategorizedSelling your Shippensburg area home in Spring 2010
Brought to you by: JALEX Real Estate Services
I just finished looking at the new homes for sale in and around the Shippensburg and Chambersburg areas. I do this every day so that I know what is for sale in our real estate market. Over the past few months the listing prices of homes being made available for sale have dropped throughout the Shippensburg area. Sale prices had already been going down for the past two years and more significantly in the past year. We have also seen the appraised values go lower as well. Specifically speaking when it comes to bank appraisals, comparable sales are more scrutinized than ever. Bank underwriters are questioning the value that Appraisers give the real estate. The comparable sales are expected to be within one mile in many cases and the sales date of the comparable sales in some cases is required to be within 3 months. All of these factors have and are resulting is a decrease in the value of real estate throughout the Shippensburg and Chambersburg areas.
Today a new listing came on the local real estate market. A 7712 square foot home located right outside Chambersburg bordering a local golf course with mountain views, a stream and ponds. The interior of the home is second to none with regard to design and materials. What do you think the sales price might be for a 7000+ square foot mansion right on the gold course? 700k? 800k+? The sales price is $499,000!
The local Shippensburg and Chambersburg real estate market is populated with home buyers who have homes in the 2000 square foot range that they own for more than half of this price. No wonder foreclosure rates are high as families who must move for whatever reason, either job related or not, are forced to sell their homes in a real estate market where there is no apparent commitment to maintaining the value of our Shippensburg area homes. The emphasis is on basis in homes rather than the value of those Shippensburg homes. The value of Shippensburg real estate is being driven down by more than the real estate market conditions. Lenders are also driving values down as they look after their own basis in the homes they are making loans on. I learned that real estate is a commodity and like other commodities the value of any parcel of real estate is determined by what someone is ready, willing and able to pay for said real estate. I have personally seen Shippensburg area real estate transactions over the past six months where the buyer was able and willing to purchase for a particular price that a seller was selling for and the bank or mortgage lender would not make the loan. I have also witnessed this after a licensed real estate Appraiser had determined the value was good and acceptable. Then the bank’s Underwriters or Risk management team went to work reviewing the Appraisal performed by a qualified and licensed Appraiser just to determine that they did not agree with the value given (the market value), that it is too high. Of course, the value is never too low.
There are many reasons for the current conditions that affect real estate values in the Shippensburg area. I am by no means educated in the ways of Economics nor have I earned a business degree of any sort. I do own my own real estate company though and my business is to know as best I can the conditions and factors that affect the Shippensburg area real estate market. Throughout the United States many factors have contributed to the economic situation that we are in. Perhaps we have gotten ourselves in over our heads in America, after all, there is a saying that says “what goes up, always and inevitably, must come down.” Maybe our culture is to blame, a culture that is “entitled” to a comfortable living. A culture that is defined by a government that increasingly seems to reinforce that entitlement mind set by mandating “a chicken in every pot”, “no child left behind”, “universal health care for everyone!” You have to admit, over the past decade Americans have been using their homes as credit cards to finance new cars, home upgrades, dinner out, second homes, college educations and whatever else our hearts desired or we thought that we needed. How is that sustainable? How is the “entitlement” mind set sustainable? Especially when it is built on the backs of half of the Americans working?
No matter what you believe in terms of what, where or why things are the way that they have become now, one thing is certain. There are many of us re-thinking who we are and what we are doing. Many of us will have to make some serious changes in the ways that we live and do business going forward whether we like it or not. America must change. Now is our time to show who and what we are! We also need to remember that there is no honor in giving up. If you owe someone money, foreclosure or bankruptcy has become an easy way out. When is the easy way the right way? First thing is first, stop digging. Second, put a plan on together. Third, follow that plan, make the changes that you need to make and dig out one day at a time. The only thing that you are entitled to is to live with the results of your own actions. If you do not have a job go and find work. I have been trying to find someone to do lawn maintenance, repairs, painting for two weeks now. I have spoken with men who are not working, they are drawing unemployment. It frustrates me that these capable men would rather live off of the government and tax payers that get a job that is being offered to them! A job that I am offering with fair pay, good working conditions with good and fair people. No, these men would rather accept money from our government and you taxpayers, as long as it is being offered. What are we reinforcing here? If you ask me I say let the benefits run out. If there is to be an extension of those unemployment benefits then it has to be based on a lower amount and maybe even just enough to pay for housing.
I have strayed from my original point of this message. Point is that values are dropping. No one is going to help you pay for your next mortgage by agreeing to pay more for your listing than it is worth. And the mortgage lender is not going to allow it either. Listen to your Real estate agent when it comes to discussing the value of your Shippensburg area home. Look for an agent that understands how to market your home and make it visible everywhere and to everyone. Yes, pictures do matter and “too new for photo” is unacceptable. Pictures mattered yesterday, now video is the norm. Look for a Realtor whose brand says quality, integrity, easy to work with and service orientated. Stay away from those who will not work for less than some percent. Or agents or agencies that do not convey the willingness and or business sense to grasp how important it is to the sale of your asset to cooperate and work well with the entire real estate community. I am eluding to co-brokerage with other agencies. If your agent or agency is making it difficult for other agents to show your home or if they are providing unequal or unfair compensation to the other agent or agency then you they are not working for you, they are working for themselves.
Just a few thoughts for you to think about with regard to Shippensburg real estate. The world is changing and so are we. Our commitment is to be at the front of those changes, leading the way in Shippensburg. Not at the rear.
