Your Shippensburg Home Value
Posted on August 30, 2011 by JA/LEX Real Estate in Shippensburg homes for sale Shippensburg real estateYour Shippensburg Home Value
Bought to you by: JALEX Real Estate Services
Your Shippensburg home values are in decline. I suppose I do not have to tell you that. You watch the same news that we do and if your house is currently for sale or if you are contemplating listing your home for sale then you know what I mean. Real estate values in Shippensburg have gone down from 2006 and 2007 market highs. In fact, I am seeing some homes sell now for what they sold for in the early to mid 2000′s! My question is this, is anyone committed to maintaining the value of homes in the local Shippensburg real estate market?
Where are the Mortgage Lenders, Appraisers, Home Builders, Real Estate Agents, and other professionals that served you with smiles on their faces, a hand shake and congrats on your great investment! You can answer that question for yourselves but this is what I know.
Mortgage Lenders make loans with money belonging to the bank’s customers who have savings and checking accounts. Because that money is not theirs they must free it up by selling those mortgages to investors buying mortgage backed securities. Those investors have much tighter standards now. They want much “safer” investments. Therefore, the bank’s mortgage lending standards are tighter as well. The Mortgage Lender is looking for as little a risk as possible too so the houses have to meet much more criteria than ever. And the lower the banks basis in the property the better.
That leads us to the next group, Appraisers. These real estate professionals are hired by the Mortgage Lender to determine the value of the property that the seller and buyer have come to agreement on. Both parties have established what we call the fair market value of that property. Now the Mortgage Lender hires a Licensed Real Estate Appraiser to determine the value of the property so that you are not over paying right? Or perhaps so the Mortgage Lender has a lower basis? I am not sure, what I know is that there are plenty of real estate transactions where that appraisal comes back lower than the agreed upon price or what we call “fair market value.” In fact, I know of certain Appraisers that return a low value every time they perform an appraisal! What are these professionals doing to maintain the value of your Shippensburg real estate?
The Home Builders are the next group that we can discuss. House values have dropped and new home sales are low. Many Home Builders have turned to less expensive labor and materials in order to build a home “cheaper” and sell it for what the market will now bear. Quality has suffered for some homes and many builders are not building right now. Some Home Builders are rising to the top. Those Home Builders offer good quality in spite of the current state of the real estate market. Those Home Builders have control over their systems and how they manufacture their product. These Home Builders are meeting Shippensburg area Home Buyers where they are with a good product that fits their budget. So these homes should be selling right? I guess they would be but very few builders are doing what I just talked about. Just look at the new homes offered for sale in the Shippensburg area. There is not too much difference between them and what was offered in the past four years except the new ones do not have real hard wood flooring, they now have laminate flooring. Not to mention the grass not seeded.
Real estate agents also play a role in maintaining the value of your home. There are many types of real estate agents; educated, not so, part time, full time, honest, dishonest, professional, not professional, and so on. Buyer agents that allow their buyers to make low offers do nothing for your real estate values. Those agents need a paycheck and they know that even if they have to write offer after offer, eventually it might lead to something. These agents fail to let their market knowledge and professionalism show through. They fail to educate the buyer and provide the data that will lead to making an offer that makes sense and may lead to a transaction. These are the real estate agents that say, “it’s a buyer’s market!” which is Realtor speak for “I need a paycheck!” After the home inspection you will receive a request to have everything fixed that the inspector could find! Often these agents come from out of town. Their market knowledge is not necessarily specific to your area. And all real estate is local! On the other hand, there are agents that educate. These agents use market data when talking about offering prices and selling prices. These agents know that in real estate it is possible for every party involved to win! These are the real estate agents that are working to maintain the value of your home. Often, they work and live in the same area as you do. And priority number one is to come to the end of a transaction and know that you have exceeded every one’s expectations! That is called building a business and that happens one transaction at a time over time.
So who do you think is working to maintain the value of your home? Take a look at your local Shippensburg real estate agents at JALEX Real Estate Services. Since JALEX opened in 2007 the number of local Shippensburg homes that we have sold has increased in each year since! Our total sales volume has gone up each year too. Our business is growing for a number of reasons. One reason is the trust that you have that we are working to maintain the value of Shippensburg real estate. After all, all real estate is local and this is where we live and work.
