St Charles County Real Estate Market Report - First Half 2018

To be a well-informed homebuyer, seller or investor, it is important to understand the current real estate market conditions. Part of our job is making sure our clients have the information necessary to make the best real estate decisions possible. To help, we’ve put together a report on the real estate market conditions in St. Charles County, Missouri for the first half of 2018.

Number of Homes for Sale

This first chart depicts the number of active real estate listings by month over the past 3 years. As you can see, late spring and early summer have the most homes listed for sale. In 2018, the number of homes listed for sale in January was 1047, while currently there are about 1375 homes listed for sale in the St. Charles County area of Missouri.

Also notice that while summer is a busy selling season, there are still a LOT of homes for sale in the middle of winter. So you can buy or sell a home any time of year.

But when you compare the number of homes for sale in the first half of the year to the two previous years, you can see that 2018 has fewer homes on the market. These conditions point to a sellers market, where there are a similar number of homebuyers looking for homes and a smaller number of homes listed for sale.

Average Sales Price

With a similar number of homebuyers and fewer homes listed, the average sales price of residential property in St. Charles County, Missouri has increased. However unlike 2016 and 2017, where prices increased every month, 2018 has had fluctuations. This may be a sign that prices are leveling or at least not climbing as quickly. If you’ve been thinking about listing a residential property for sale, now is a great time.

- Learn how to Prepare Your Home to Sell -

Percentage of Original Price Received for a Residential Property

While sellers like to get the most money they can for their property, buyers want to pay the least they can for a home. Through the negotiation process the price received for residential real estate is often a little less than the original price the property was listed. The first half of 2018 shows that with more competition for residential properties, sellers are netting more money for their homes. Look closer at this chart and you’ll notice that homebuyers who purchase in the first quarter of the year (during the winter months) are more likely to get a better deal on their home purchase.

Days On Market

A decreasing number of days on market are another indicator of a sellers market. This points to competition among homebuyers - as there is often more than one buyer looking at and bidding on each home. Homebuyers are sometimes learning this the hard way, when they try to see a home for sale and find out that it already has an accepted contract.

- See how our Buyers' Agents Help Homebuyers -

For St. Charles County, Missouri, the first half of 2018 is keeping a similar fast pace of home sales as 2017. Homebuyers should be prepared when looking at homes to act quickly when they find a home they like and prepare for possible bidding wars with other buyers. Working with a great buyers agent, like the buyers agents on The Boehmer Team, will increase a homebuyer’s chances of finding a great property for sale before it is sold.

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Contact The Boehmer Team for expert home buying or investing assistance. We know the St. Charles County, Missouri real estate market and have information on homes that are not yet listed for sale. Or if you are ready to get the most from a residential home sale in the current market, contact us to help with a smooth home selling experience. 

What Is An Inventory Home?

An inventory home is a completed new construction home that is available for sale by the builder. Inventory homes are the builder’s way of offering the buying public an opportunity for owning a brand new home without the wait time of the building process (typically 4-6 months). 

 

4 Bed, 3.5 Bath Home in St. Charles by Fischer and Frichtel features a Main Floor Master Suite

Home buyers who want a newly constructed home but are overwhelmed by the process of making selections on colors and finishes should take a look at inventory homes. And for those buyers who need to see exactly what they are getting without having to visualize their finished home from a display home or a floor plan brochure, an inventory home is a great option.

 

Why Inventory Homes Are Great For Home Buyers

This Low Maintenance Villa by by Bridgewater Communities includes an exterior maintenance package for a low monthly fee.

New construction homes are great homes to purchase. They require less maintenance, are more energy efficient and are safer than older homes. Newly constructed homes often come with warranties that are far better than any warranty you can get on an existing home.

Learn More About The Benefits of Buying New

In addition to all the great reasons for getting a newly built home, builder inventory homes offer other great perks as well. For example, a home buyer gets to enjoy the beautiful results and hard work of interior finishes that were a collaboration of the builder and their interior designers. 

 

Beautiful Custom Kitchen in a Ballwin by Wool Custom Homes

Together they create a home that is on trend with some of the most popular colors and finishes for details such as flooring, countertops, light fixtures, and other details. This ensures that you don’t have to stress over every selection and wait for the work to be completed. 

 

The open living area and tall ceilings are a popular feature in this move-in ready home in St. Louis County by Renaissance Living.

Many buyers want to be moved into their new home in time for the holiday season.  Builders prepare for these demands and often have great opportunities on brand new, move-in-ready inventory homes.  Although every builder is different, it is not uncommon to find year-end savings or promotional opportunities on these homes.

St. Louis and St. Charles County Builders With Inventory Homes For Sale

Throughout the years The Boehmer Team has worked with many new home builders in the St. Louis and St. Charles County areas.  We have created a list of preferred builders that we recommend to our clients. Each of these quality builders has inventory homes from time to time. We keep an updated page of those inventory homes at BuyNewAndNow.com.

 

Enjoy a spacious kitchen, center island, and upgraded appliances in this St. Louis County home by Genesis Development.

See Our List of Preferred Builders

While builders will be happy to provide you their own in-house sales representative, we recommend you contact an experienced Realtor for help when buying a new home. An experienced real estate agent will represent your interests in the transaction, not just the builder’s interests. If you have a question about buying an inventory home or would like more information about inventory homes, contact The Boehmer Team for expert assistance.

 

 

 

Tips for Preparing Your Home for Sale

The buying and selling season is definitely picking up steam here with The Boehmer Team at Prudential Select Properties.  The phones are ringing and homes are coming on the market at a rapid pace.  It is amazing what a difference it makes to walk into a home that is truly prepared to be on the market.  Believe me, little things do make a big difference! 

Much of what we are talking about doesn’t cost you much if anything.  It may take a little elbow grease and time, but the payoff is far greater than the effort and you have a well organized home.  The message sent by how the home is presented is far greater than most home sellers realize.  Let’s face it, buyers will snoop.  If they see organized, well maintained and clean areas they assume the home has been well maintained and taken care of.   Buyers don’t want to think that the home has just been surface cleaned for the sale, but has been meticulously maintained throughout the time you have owned the home.  A home with lesser features but impeccably presented stands a good chance of being in the game.

The most critical part of this puzzle is pricing and marketing the home appropriately.   

Here are a few thoughts on preparing your home for sale:

1. Curb appeal counts!  Pull up and take a good look yourself.  Sidewalks should be cleared of debris, the lawn should be mowed if the season allows, landscape should be trimmed with fresh mulch, flowers planted in season (yellow is inviting), the house numbers clearly readable from the street and any planters that are displayed should filled with fresh flowers or removed. 
2. The front door should be clean, dust free, door knob polished and nicely painted.  It is the first thing you see as you approach the home.
3. Make sure your doors (inside and out) are squeak free.  This is a simple fix that takes only minutes.
4. Declutter - Less is more.  If you are committed to moving, pack up items that you do not use on a regular basis and stack them neatly in a storage area either in your basement or in a storage unit.  Kitchen and bathroom counters, drawers, closets and rooms should be simply displayed.
5. Neutral colors- We both love color.  It makes a home show with so much personality, makes pictures show better and adds interest to rooms.  Although, when selling we have found that a neutral color works best for most buyers.  It should be rich enough to make white trim stand out and add warmth to the room but not to dark to make the rooms look small.  Many times we see sellers paint white to be neutral.  We personally do not find that to be the answer, as it appears very stark, cold and impersonal.  Make neutral choices to avoid being remembered as the “house with the purple bathroom”.  Consider adding color with accessories if necessary.
6. Replace burned out bulbs so the home shows bright and airy.
7. Knock down cobwebs, they tend to show up in corners and light fixtures.
8. Laundry Rooms are important.  They should be fresh and organized.  This will make the room look larger and more inviting.
9. Closets are equally important.  They should be orderly, shoes lined up instead of piled, and hanging clothes should be hanging the same direction.  Remove seasonal clothes.  An organized closet will appear larger than a cluttered closet. 
10. Wash your windows, window sills and door tracks.
11. Re-caulk any areas that the caulk has dried up or pulled away, especially in Kitchens and Baths.
12. Dust the ceiling fans, they tend to get overlooked.
13. Clean out the refrigerator and run your dishwasher, believe it or not people do look.
14. Beware of unpleasant odors.  This is a huge turn off whether it is pet odors, cooking odors or an overdose of air freshener.
15. Replace worn throw rugs with fresh, attractive replacements.  This allows you to add a splash of color as well as define an area.
16.  Polish chrome faucets, they will sparkle.
17. If you have a challenging room, stage it.  It is a problem when a buyer can not figure out how to arrange a room.  Solve the problem for them by staging.
18. Fix obvious problems.  If you know that everyone walking through the home will see a flaw in the home that will need to be repaired before selling, fix it before listing the home.
19. Create a focal point in every room.  This gives buyers something to focus on and fall in love with.
20. Concentrate on big impact rooms.  If they love these rooms, buyers will usually accept less than perfect conditions in other areas.
21. Hardwood is in!  It is warm, inviting, can make small rooms appear larger and is a top feature that buyers are looking for.
22. In areas that require a municipal inspection, you may want to consider having the inspection done in advance to address any items that may come up.
23. Consider getting an appraisal in advance if you are unsure of your position in the market.
24. Hire a quality agent.  Interview qualified candidates that have made a commitment to their profession, have embraced technology and are willing to go the extra mile to earn your business.
25. PRICE IT APPROPRIATELY!  The best agent and the best marketing in the world will not sell an overpriced listing.  It will certainly help you be positioned for a sale.  Have your professional Realtor review comparable sales with you to ensure you are positioned to sell in the shortest amount of time at the highest price. 

We hope these home selling tips are helpful to you.  If moving is on your mind or you are considering buying or selling Real Estate in the Metropolitan St. Louis and St. Charles County area, please visit us on the web at www.TheBoehmerTeam.com.

How Reliable is Zillow Really?

Maybe you’ve seen the commercials or done a quick Google search for real estate and found Zillow. They spend a lot of money on advertising and search engine optimization to be sure that you find them. But what you may not know is that beyond the hype, you can’t always trust buying or selling a St. Louis area home with help from Zillow.  

Home Sellers Using Zillow Should Look Closer 

Zillow offers a Zestimate, a free tool that gives you the approximate price your home is worth. However in testing the algorithm used to create these Zestimates nationally, even Zillow knows that they are not accurate. Zillow even points out that the Zestimate “is a starting point in determining a home’s value and is not an official appraisal.”

“Nationally, the Zestimate has a median error rate of 5.4%,” according to Zillow.com. On a national scale that’s equal to an error of about $14,000 per home nationally.

According to Zillow, nationwide, Zestimates are currently within 5% of the final sale price 47.3% of the time. (Meaning 56.3% of the time they are off by more than 5% of a home’s’ actual value.)

In the U.S. as a whole, Zestimates are currently within 10% of the final sale price 69.6% of the time. (Meaning 30.4% of the time they are more than 10% off on a home’s value.)

Nationally, Zestimates are currently within 20% of the final sale price 86.4% of the time. (Meaning 13.6% of the time they are off by more than a whopping 20% on a home’s value.)

- Info not in italics is from Zillow.com

Zillow even recommends, “Getting a comparative market analysis (CMA) from a real estate agent. Getting an appraisal from a professional appraiser. Visiting the house (whenever possible).” In fact, Zillow’s own CEO recently sold his own home at price that was 40% off from the Zestimate it was given on Zillow.

The Rise of The Home Valuation Tool

Since Zillow’s rise in the marketplace many others have created and implemented online home valuation models. These use publicly submitted data from local tax records. However tax records often do not reflect updates to homes or special features that might make one home worth more than the next.

These tools cannot see that you’ve completely remodeled your bathrooms while your neighbor’s house with the same floor plan hasn’t been updated in thirty years. They may not take into account that you have a finished basement and a new roof, while the neighbor’s house doesn’t. Though some like Zillow offer features for homeowners to add some of these updates to adjust their home’s valuation, Zillow still recommends “homeowners to supplement Zillow's information by doing other research.”

Even TheBoehmerTeam.com offers a tool to estimate a home’s value. Our tool immediately notifies us when a home valuation is created so that we can follow up with the homeowner to professionally assist them in refining the valuation to be the most accurate home valuation possible, beyond just a computer algorithm.  So whatever online home valuation tool you use, follow up with an expert Realtor. 

Home Buyers Using Zillow Often Miss Out

“I’d like to see these three homes I found on Zillow,” said a recent homebuyer. 

We had to tell the buyer, “this one is sold, this one is already pending the sale and this one just had an offer so we have two hours to see the home, decide if you like it and put in a competing offer.”

How could that be the case? Zillow is not very accurate. They have so much national data to handle that their data updates are often slow. Meaning that the data on the homes you see on Zillow is often old. In the current competitive sellers market, this means that by the time you find a home you want to see on Zillow, there is a good chance it will already be under contract or sold.

What is the Alternative to Zillow?

When listing your home for sale, skip the Zestimate and talk to an experienced Realtor, like any of us on The Boehmer Team. We offer expert, local advice to home sellers in addition to home staging tips and other items that will help your home sell faster and for the most money. We look into recent sales and all the unique features of your home to price it accurately.

When searching for a home to buy, use a local home search website that gets multiple daily updates of housing data, like www.TheBoehmerTeam.com. Our website contains all the homes listed publicly for sale that are on the St. Louis area multiple listing service, not just our company’s listings. Also our website gets multiple daily data updates, so the data is more accurate than the national data on Zillow.