The Mid Coast Maine Real Estate Market
We're into the heart of winter now, the Super Bowl is over, the mercury has been hovering in the low digits for a while, the snow does not look pretty and the cars have a dirty gray salty tint to them no matter what color they actually are. It feels like it's going to be a long time until summer is here but time has a way of flying by so let's take a look at our local real estate market and assess where that is.
Anecdotally speaking most real estate brokers will tell you that they think the market is improving. The phone is ringing a lot more than it did, more email inquiries are coming in and I know I've done more showings this year compared to this same time last year.
But what does the actual hard data tell us? At this time last year when we looked back at what had actually transpired in December of '05 and January of '06 we saw that there were 112 closed sides in Lincoln County. Now for those who don't work in real estate every day let me explain the jargon. The are 2 sides in every real estate transaction; the Listing side and the Selling side. Ordinarily this means that there were 2 brokers involved, one representing the Lister (or Seller) and one representing the Buyer. Those brokers may or may not both be affiliated with the same agency but they have separate duties and different fiduciary responsibilities. In some cases one broker may represent both parties, this is called Disclosed Dual Agency, it is approved of by the Maine State Legislature and is a topic for another post.
So in December of '05 and January of '06 we had 112 sides of sales that actually closed for a total dollar volume of $42,250,700. For the same period this winter, December '06 and January '07 we had 104 closed sides for a dollar volume of $31,376,800. Some quick and simple math tells us that total sales are off a little more than 8% but that sales prices are off more than 25%.
Now let me disclaim these figures slightly. Closed sales are really more of a reflection of the 30 to 60 days preceding the actual time period in which they close as that is how long it generally takes for the inspection period, financing and other arrangements. But still I think this is usefull to help us all put our current market situation in perspective.
I think it is reasonable to look at the market this way: those of us on the front lines in the real estate industry perceive a change in the market, we perceive that there is more activity, that there are more buyers looking at property and that there is a more up beat attitude towards real estate in general. The actual figures show that there is activity in the market (104 closed sides in 2 months is not too bad) but at a lower price level than in the recent past. But there is one more critical piece of information; right now in Lincoln County there are 536 single family residences for sale in the state wide Multiple Listing System! Newcastle Square Realty puts several new properties on the market every week as do many other agencies. Prospective Buyers have a great deal from which to choose.
The days are getting longer if not yet warmer. Pitchers and Catchers report to Florida in 9 days. The spring selling season will be upon us before you know it. If you are serious about selling your property this year, the only way to accomplish that will be to get ahead of the market price wise, put your property in the best possible shape to sell (ask any Newcastle Square broker for a copy of our Market Preparation Guide) and engage the services of a top notch, professional real estate broker.
This is not a bad market but it is a different market. Success will come to those who change and adapt.
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