September Stats

September stats are in and there really isn’t much of a surprise. Existing home sales are down from August, which is normal. The drop was about 9.9% from August sales. That is a little higher than the average drop in September. The average drop from August to September is 8.93%. The average sale price for September was 324,500. That is a price dropped 2.05% from August. However, that is still 2.75% over the same month last year. Right now I am taking a wait and see approach to the direction of the market. October through January are normally much slower than the rest of the year.

If you would like to see more stats use the links below:

http://www.armls.com/pdfs/ListChartSept06.pdf

http://www.armls.com/pdfs/SoldStatsSept06.pdf

South Scottsdale - Place to be

If you have any doubts that the next area in which to invest is South Scottsdale, read this:

http://www.azcentral.com/community/scottsdale/articles/1006sr-losarcos1006Z8.html

I have been saying it for almost a year, buy NOW!

Include Real Estate in your Retirement Portfolio

Here is a good article that talks about adding real estate to your retirement portfolio.

I couldn't agree more. Everyone always talks about diversifying, why not include rental properties or second homes in your plans?

http://www.realestatejournal.com/indinvestor/20061003-hube.html

BTW, did you know that you can use funds from a qualified IRA or 401k to invest in real estate?
This can be done without fees and with the same tax shelters given to securities investments.

September Data

Now that September is over we can begin to take a look at some sales data.  The slowdown of existing home sales continues and the prices decline slightly.

In September there were 5554 homes sold which is a decline of almost 11% from August.  The average purchase price was 325,806 which is a 1.66% drop from August. There are over 20,000 homes that have been on the market more that 90 days!!!  This means that there are at least 20,000 homes that are over priced and I am sure there are even more than that.  I believe the number of homes on the market will decrease significantly over the next couple of months.   Those sellers who don’t need to sell will start cancelling their contracts or will start letting their contracts expire as the holidays get closer.  The sellers who really need to sell will have to start lowering their asking price.  We are coming into what is typically the worst time of year to sell your home.  If at all possible, get it on the market now or wait until next year.