Sep 27, 2012
The Mansion on Bank Street sold at auction for $400,000.00 plus the 10% auction fee for a total of $440,000.00. I keep getting asked, “Was it a good deal?” Depends on which side of the sale you are on. I hear and read in the local paper that the buyer is planning on making it into a Bed and Breakfast with other offerings to the community. I also heard she purchased about $60,000.00 worth of the furniture at the auction.
I was at the auction to see the fun and I noticed only three people made bids, plus one of the owners threw in a bid. Not sure how that works in an “absolute auction”, but they would have the right to do so. Auctions work well if you have interested parties that bid against each other and run the price up in the frenzy. Also, I noticed that no locals were willing to go the price to make it their dream home. It really is one of the most magnificent homes I have ever been in and I have been in a lot of homes. In today’s market and with today’s building costs, it would probably take two million dollars to replicate the home, lot and furniture purchased.
So, was it a good buy? Well, we will see. You “marry” a home like this when you buy it, for better or worse. A big unknown is what will it really cost to get it to be that upscale Bed and Breakfast. In my opinion, the most important factor will be if the local community really gets behind this new owner and supports her efforts. We need to send her business, use the home for parties and support her in this adventure. I have never met her, but I am in, are you? Let me know.
Harry L. Cross, III
Aug 24, 2012
OPPORTUNITY TO SEE A FANTASTIC HISTORICAL HOME!!
The mansion at 204 Bank Street and all of its furniture is going to auction. Cross Realty is not handling the auction, but it is a wonderful opportunity to see one of Suffolk’s most impressive and elegant homes and the period furniture. You can take a virtual tour by going to A B Cole’s auction website, www.abcole.com
I hope you will take advantage of the times that it is open Friday 8/24 6pm-9pm, Sat. 8/25 10am-3pm, 9/1 10am-3pm. The auction will be held at the Cultural Arts Center on 9/7. Go see this place, it will be fun and you may find something to bid on. If you want to bid on the home, please register Cross Realty as your agent and if you want some advise on bidding, call me.
If nothing else, this is a really cheap date night, include Harper’s Table for dinner! Maybe I will see you there!
Jul 23, 2012
There is lots to talk about. The increase in sales, decrease in number of listings and the continued best interest rates I have ever seen! Andrew Kantor, an information analysis with the Virginia Association of Realtors, wrote in an article published in the Virginian Pilot this weekend “that after five years we can say yes the recovery is here. There are simply too many positives to ignore”. He is right, but there is some more news that the market is progressing but very slowly. We still have a large inventor of bank owned homes that are pushing the prices down for the normal sellers. The article goes on to mention that if one of the next three things happen, we could go backwards:
1. Interest rate rise
2. Our economy does not move forward/unemployment rises
3. The European mess gets out of hand.
Personally I am encouraged by the fact that banks are handling foreclosures quicker and response time has been cut considerably on offers on the bank owned properties, the number of listings have declined, interest rates are great and more buyers are looking at homes. Price, condition and the ability to get a loan are still the keys. We know where to price them to sell, call us, we can help you. Hope your AC can get your home down to a tolerable temperature. Most of our AC systems are just not made to deal with this extreme heat.
Jun 25, 2012
It is hot. I wish we could translate that into the real estate market, which is still on the cool side for sellers. Looking at the sales charts from REIN MLS it shows a spike of closings in April of 117 houses sold in Suffolk. January had 51, February had 64, March had 84 and May had 91. The market got hot and then it is trending back to slow. We expect the market to stay about the same for the next few months. The listings that are selling are foreclosures and short sales making up about 40% of the total market and the balance are homes that are priced very competitively. The indication of what a seller should do is simply, no action or showings, better lower your price. A hard message for stressed sellers, but there is a price in every range that is getting some demand and sales.
If you know someone in a foreclosure or short sale situation; make sure they understand they need two types of help. An attorney to advocate and guide them through the process that is experienced in helping clients in the foreclosure process and secondly, they need marketing of their property with an experienced broker. Call us we can help!
Fly the flag for the 4th of July and be thankful you live in the USA!
May 23, 2012
Our market had a good spurt in March and has been better than last year, but not enough to make any real significant changes. It is going in the right direction, which is good news. The really good news is shown in the “Housing Affordability Index” (Wells Fargo data). What this index computes is how much, as a percentage of income, it takes to purchase or rent a home. It is affected by Supply (listings), market demand (number of buyers) and the cost of financing. We have gone from a market that had way too many listings, about a ten month inventory, to a seven month inventory. We want a five to six month inventory. The biggest positive effect on the Housing Affordability Index is that prices have declined to where it takes, on average, 37.5% of the average income to buy a home. This is based on a medium priced home at $220,000 with a payment (PITI) of $1,242.00. That is a very good number for the incomes in the $50,000.00 to $75,000.00 income range. Now there are variables to this, but in general, this is good news for buyers. SO BUYERS, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR! Interest rates are at their lowest and they have to go up, so if you are thinking of getting a new home, now looks like a great time to do it!
On a community note. Have you seen the new YMCA Camp Arrowhead on Kenyon Road? Wow, indoor swimming pool, archery range, climbing tower, track, huge fields, indoor learning areas and much more. I wish my grandchildren were old enough to go! I wish I could go, in fact, maybe I will go! Only $130.00 (member) for one week including lunch and snack from 6 am to 6 pm. Scholarships and financial assistance are available. Call 934-9622 to register your kids. Filling up, better call today! Opens June 18 for ages 5-12. Please send this info on to someone you know that might be interested. Thanks!
Apr 26, 2012
The spring always brings hope that our market will begin to move quicker. It has helped. Let’s look at some numbers. Over the last four months, in the City of Suffolk 314 homes sold. Currently there are 798 homes listed. This indicates that about 10% of the listings are selling each month. Not a stellar amount. We would like to see about 40% selling. Actually, I personally would like to see 100% selling, but that has not happened since I first got into the business in 1973 when we had six houses to sell and they all sold in thirty days. That’s not going to happen for a while. What this continues to tell us is that a seller has to understand the market numbers for sales, listings, absorption rate and cost of money to analyze where their “selling zone” really is. I can tell you it is in the bottom 12-18% of your competition in almost all cases. Take a look at the attached chart from REIN MLS for more info. Remember, Lee and Harry Cross can sell your house!
One point that needs to be noted in this market is that homes are selling very close to their list price. Why? Because the homes that are selling are in the bottom of the price range for their competition or in their possible “selling zone”. These home prices have been “pre-negotiated” to be very competitive and to attract possible buyers. The best strategy is to price it well to be part of the possible absorption rate.
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