Eastman Real Estate Blog

I got a few good questions today and here are some answers.

Why do you only show the list price of your sold properties? If you are looking at sold properties from my www.EastmanRealEstate.net blog, the blog links directly to my other web site www.JeffAdie.com
That site is limited to what information I can input. The list price is the only price I can post and I’ve asked for that to be changed and no success there.

You don’t show days on market, why? This is a very complex number and I don’t believe its valid. Here are some of the reasons why.

Properties are listed too high, don’t sell, then people take them off the market. The seller either re-lists or changes agents. If they re-list all you have to do is wait 30 days, get a new MLS number and the days on market number resets to zero. If they change agencies, you can re-list right away, get a new MLS number and days on market start at zero. I’ve seen the same property go on and off the market for years but the days on market only show a handful of days when it should be years. Another issue I have with days on market is a scenario like this.

New Listing January 1st, 2009 Price $500,000. Three months go by no showings

Price Reduction April 1st, 2009 new price $475,000. One or two showings but nothing happens.

Price Reduction July 1st, 2009 new price $450,000. Several showings, even some interest but no offers.

Price Reduction October 1st, 2009 new price $425,000. Showings start, interest, and the house sells at $419,000 and closes on  October 30th, 2009.

Here is my question: Should the days on market be 304 days? Or should it be 30? The original price was a pipe dream, the property would still be on the market if they didn’t reduce the price. If the home was priced at $425,000 it would have most likely sold in 30 days.

What do you think?

Late September 2010

It’s the end of September and the fall colors are really showing up on the hill sides. This photo was taken about 9;30am when the sun was trying to poke through the cloud cover. The sun never did break through and by early afternoon it has become very over cast.

Enjoy the photo: If you click on the photo you can get the panoramic view.

Autumn Colors

The summer weather continues and the fall colors are really starting to show up.

So what’s in the line up for things to do? Hiking is at it’s best this time of year. Not to cold and not to hot. The smell of autumn is in the air. How about a golf tournament? Tennis is always a great option.

For other great ideas click the link for Things To Do In Eastman

A few questions were put in front of me this am and I will try to answer them as best I can.

First I would like to say that home and condo prices are dropping everywhere. Prices in Eastman may have declined seemingly more than some other local areas and that may be true. I believe that there is more direct competition in the smaller radius of Eastman compared to other towns. Look at the size of Enfield, it’s about 52 square miles, New London is 25.6 square miles. Even though New London has the same amount of homes for sale the distance between them is far greater than homes in Eastman. This is one of the reasons New London’s home sales are down so much over the last few years. Prices have not declined as much and until they do New London will see a slow housing market.

The Buy In Fee: I do not believe the buy in fee has much affect on buyers. As stated before, buyers know that fee exists well before they drive into Eastman. If buyers are afraid of the buy in fee, they usually don’t show up.

The Annual Assessment: This cost does equate to about $40,000 in mortgage money. Using today’s interest rates and financing a home, an Eastman buyer paying $250,000 for a home in the community can for the same monthly outlay pay $290,000. So, yes I do believe the annual assessment does influence prices of homes.

Something else to consider is the cost of land. I believe that the cost of land in Eastman is so low that it dramatically reduces the over all cost of a home. Keeping the cost per square foot lower than if you built in New London or other surrounding towns. Considering a lower initial cost leads to a lower re-sale value. I think this idea gets left out at lot during many “value” discussions.

Home sales in the Eastman Community seem to be a big topic these days. I get asked several time a week, “how are things going”, “is anything selling”, or “are there any buyers looking”. The answer to these questions are: Good, Yes and Yes.

Before I get into some statistics on sales, I want to talk about the Eastman New Member Fee and ECA Annual Fee. The New Member Fee is a one time fee that is paid at time of closing. Almost all buyers of Eastman property are well aware of this fee before they arrive at the community to look at housing. The internet has helped buyers do plenty of research so they are educated before they get to the main entrance. The annual Eastman Community Association fee is a bit harder to explain. Most buyers that don’t have young kids understand it just fine. It’s when you get a younger family that wants to buy a vacation home, they don’t understand that some of the Eastman amenities are not included. As of this writing Eastman is considering bumping up the ECA annual fee about $220.00 so that owners can gain access to everything but golf at no extra cost. We will see what happens in a few short weeks if this change will take place.

Now for some sales stats:

Currently in Eastman there are 87 homes actively for sale, 39 homes sold, 25 closed between $200-400,000 and 4 sold between $400-600,00.

New London has 90 homes active for sale, 24 have sold, 14 between $200-400,000 and 5 between $400-600,00

Enfield has 93 homes active for sale, 29 have sold, 11 between $200-400,00 and 4 between $400-600,00

Lebanon has 138 homes active for sale, 66 have sold, 31 between $200-400,00 and 5 between $400-600,000

What I see is New London has the slowest selling market out of the four areas. Enfield is the second slowest market. Eastman would come in third just behind Lebanon. Why are more houses selling in Lebanon? There is a disproportionate amount of homes selling under $200,000.

If you ask me, Eastman home sales are as good if not better than other local markets. Eastman is a community that that appeals to many, not everybody, but no community appeals to everyone. Eastman does offer a lot and people that live here really do enjoy the life style.

There are some interesting things happening in the Eastman Community this time of year. The biggest change is that there are actually leaves falling from trees! It still feels like summer with the high temperatures we’ve been having. Even after the hurricane that wasn’t, we have sunny skies and temps in the mid seventies.

The hillside around the lake and surrounding areas are showing faint signs of color other than green. I suspect that we could have a very bright foliage year with the dry summer that we have had. It could also go the other way and be a muted color year? I guess time will tell……

Some great events are happening today, like the Eastman Community yard sale. This is a big event every year when residents gather to swap and sell belongings that might not be needed. At least until next year when some things get bought back.

How about dinner down at South Cove Activity Center. It’s catered by Bistro Nouveau and should be a lot of fun. Dinner starts at 5pm so get there early, you might need tickets to get in.

Anyway enjoy this fine weekend…..