For all you condo owners, potential and future here is what 2011 looked like for Eastman Condo sales.

For the year there were 9 units sold. The lowest priced was 68 Pintail Knob for $130,000 The highest priced was 24 Pleasant Dr. a waterfront Parkhurst, selling for $260,000. The median price was $185,000 and the average price was $191,100. Usually the median price is used but since there are only 9 sales using the median or average is fair and realistic.

On a business note…. All the condos that sold last year were listed by Country Houses. On the buyer side Country Houses brought the buyer to 7 of the 9 units. I think it’s fair to say that we at Country Houses will get your condo sold!! 9 sales equals 18 transaction sides (buyer/seller) and we had 16 of 18!!!

The biggest thing that I see for Sullivan County is the fact that the median residential home sale price is down 10.29% for the year compared to 2010. That is a healthy number, way to big than we want to see!!! The number of houses sold in 2011 v. 2010 are about the same (355 v.352) so prices have dropped!! Home prices across the state are down 6.19%

The median price of condos dropped 20.78% but when there is only 12 condos sold in Sullivan County for the entire year of 2010 then we sell 22 in 2011 I could see that number being swayed easily. Twelve condo sales for an entire year is just to small a number to be statistically accurate. If we look at the entire state the median sale price of a condo is only down 6.06%

Some of the highlights are: The median sale price for all improved properties is $175,000 averaged out year to date. That’s down 6.42% from last year. Sullivan County is down 4.69% but Merrimack County is down 9.51%. I think locally, particularly in Eastman we are somewhat shielded from a 9% drop in a year. We just don’t have that many foreclosures driving prices down like they have in Concord area.

Another number going the wrong way is average selling price per square foot. At $120.00 that is not the lowest I’ve seen but these are August numbers. August sales are typically stronger than November and December. This year we peaked in June. July and August are trending down. It will be very interesting to see where Septembers numbers are.

Eastman specific: We have sold 19 homes so far this year vs. 39 for the same time period in 2010. Slightly less than half of last years numbers. Yet condo sales are up. Year to date there have been 8 units sold vs. 5 last year. By the end of the month the 9th condo sale will take place so that is a good sign.

Another extremely good sign is the fact that the average sales price for homes in Eastman has remained stable from last year. This years average sale price is $284,240. Last year there were three home sales over $600,000 and one sale at $530,000 which raised the average to $304,342. So even though the average is off this year by $20,000 realistically by taking out the highs and lows the average should be right around $280,ooo so this year we have a solid number!!

If you are a buyer, Interest rates are astoundingly low. 30 Year fixed rates with no points at 3.75% Who would have thought that??? The combination of interest rates and home prices are extremely attractive. Don’t be the one to say I should have bought then….It’s a great time to buy….and now is the time!

Right now there are seven properties either pending sale, or contingent. Contingent means that there is a signed Purchase and Sales Agreement and there are either inspections to complete or financing to obtain. Pending is when the property is about to be transferred. Usually within a few weeks of going from the contingent status to pending.

Here are the numbers: Of the seven properties, four are houses and three are condos. Six are Country Houses listings, six buyers are Country Houses Buyers, one house is listed by an out of area agency and as of right now I do not know who brought the buyer.

Here’s another way to look at this. There are two transaction sides to each sale, the seller side and the buyer side. So 7×2=14 total transaction sides. Country Houses is part of 12 of the 14 sides.

Why should you list with Country Houses? These numbers are just proof that our location, right here in Eastman, is the place buyers come to find their Eastman home or condo.

This is great news!! Last year the condo market was dreadful. To only sell 6 units when in the good years there were 20 to 30 sales just made it a extremely tough year. Units are also getting shown more so the potential that more units will sell is there.

It would just be great if we can to twelve or fifteen units sold this year….

The median selling price for all properties in good old New Hampshire is $175,000. There have been increases for the past three months since hitting a low of $169,000 in February. Another positive stat is the average selling price per square foot. At the end of May buyers were paying on average $115.02 per square foot. This is up from a low set four months ago of $109.00

Another stat that I don’t like to use because there are just to many ways for it to be measured and altered is days on market. Although the number dropped in a rather big way it is not in a trend. Over the last seven months the number has been up 4 times and down three. If you have any questions as to why I don’t like the days on market number I will gladly explain it to you.

This is what I found. There were a total of 53 properties sold in Eastman last year. This includes condos and homes. The average sale price per square foot was $125.25 The average sale price per square foot for the entire state is $125.00916 This is a complete surprise that the cost per square foot was basically identical!!

We all can see that most homes in the Hanover and New London areas are typically higher priced then Eastman but I always felt that Eastman would be higher value than the state average, but these numbers are correct.

HOMES—

January 1st-December 31st, 2010 there were 47 homes sold in Eastman

January 1st-December 31st, 2009 there were 32 homes sold in Eastman

CONDOS—

January 1st-December 31st, 2010 there were 6 condos sold in Eastman

January 1st-December 31st, 2009 there were 11 condos sold in Eastman

LAND—

January 1st-December 31st, 2010 there were 2 unimproved lots sold

January 1st-December 31st, 2009 there were 5 unimproved lots sold

As you can see the home sale market was a rather good year. We even beat 2008 when there was 39 homes sold. I anticipate another strong year in 2011 as the rise in interest rates seems to be helping buyers make up their minds faster. This sounds counter intuitive but the cost of money over the life of a loan is far greater then if you were to save another 1-3% in the purchase price of a home. I do believe that home prices have gone down quite a bit but have not reached their bottom. The inventory levels of homes for sale is just to great! The competition between home sellers ultimately leads to lower prices.

As for condos…. Most condos in Eastman are second homes. I believe that only 30% of Eastman condos are primary. So the bulk of the sales market is to the vacation buyer. Here is the problem, where is the vacation home buyer? The vacation home buyer has been sitting on the side lines for years now. As the stock market and job security strengthen vacation buyers will be back!!

Land… I get more calls on land then homes or condos, mostly, out of area callers. The hardest thing to do is to get someone to hop in their car and drive one, two or three hours to look at a piece of land. If buyers are in the area then that’s a different story.

So if you want all the NH Sales Statistics Year To Date click on bold letters and get the latest for New Hampshire, Merrimack and Sullivan Counties.

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.