Taking a look back at the residential real estate market in the Burlington VT Area (including Burlington, South Burlington, Williston, Essex, Essex Jct., Hinesburg, St. George, Underhill, Jericho, Westford, Milton, Colchester, Winooski, Charlotte, Shelburne, Richmond, Bolton, and Huntington) for 2009 a total of 872 single family homes, 513 condos and 63 multi-families sold in Chittenden County according to the North Western Vermont Board of Realtor’s MLS Statistics. According to the same statistics the average sale price of a single family home in Chittenden County, Vermont was $302,446, for a condo the average price was $212,653, and for multi-families the average price was $277,666, for 2009. When we compare these 2009 Burlington VT Area numbers and statistics to those in 2008 the number of single family home sales is actually up by a hundred and three homes from 769 in 2008 or 11.8%, however, the average price per unit sold is down $17,103 or 5.3% from the $319,549 average in 2008. And as for the Burlington area condo market the number of sales is only down by 5 units when compared to 2008 statistics and the average price per unit sold is down $9,054 or 4.5% from the $221,707 average in 2008. As for multi-families, the number of sales were down by 15 units and the average price per multi-family unit was down $24,541 or 8.1% from 2008.
Looking at these numbers, Chittenden County residential real estate as a whole has really stayed pretty steady. The correction was minor when comparing percentages in price per units sold with 2008 stats. The Burlington area market has seen a drop in prices per unit but total number of single family homes, condos, and multi-family sales in 2009, when viewed from a combined perspective, is actually above the number of units sold in 2008 by 83 units! Any thoughts?
In an effort to make your life easier Omega Real Estate Associates, Inc. In Williston Vermont is now hand aggregating relevant Burlington VT area business and real estate articles and putting them on their website! Omega Real Estate Associates aims to be your one stop shop for all of your Real Estate needs and now you can read up on the latest business news before you pull the trigger on the new Williston office space.
Stay informed as to what’s going on in the Burlington Vermont business world. Find out about proposed developments, new Vermont businesses and whatever else happens in the Burlington VT area.
Are you familiar with the Real Estate adage that goes; ‘the true value of a property is what a ready, willing and able buyer is willing to pay’? Well, the following rambling discourse has something to do with that subject.
On 2/18/2010, I went to an education update on the appraisal process for existing single family homes in Vermont, and here’s what I found.
Appraiser’s are having a difficult time with their valuations of Vermont real estate these days due to the lower than normal volume of sales to use as comparables (land is even more difficult). Lower sales volume means fewer recently sold properties that are going to be available as good comps. All of the different features in a home comparison aren’t going to match up as closely, so you’re going to end up with a wider range of value due to approximate (rather subjective) adjustments that must be made to get homes equalized for a fair comparison. It’s one of those things that is part art and part science. Nowadays the art part is more dominant vs. the science, meaning one is less likely to get a precise value based on a really good comparable. As a Buyer’s agent, what this means for me is that I can be an even greater value to my clients. For sure, I need to be using correct assumptions about the value of different adjustments for each feature, but a buyer needs to have help in obtaining information about what price range makes sense for a particular property. Getting help in determining a realistic price range helps everyone reach common ground faster in regards to an offer that a seller will accept (assuming it’s not a short sale or foreclosure, or a fixer upper).
Even though I’m not an appraiser, I can at least do the math in a simple comparable market analysis to give my buyer a general idea about value in any given Chittenden County, Vermont property.
So, it all comes down to the supposed valuation of a property vs. what a ready, willing and able buyer offers to pay. Let the games begin!
If you haven’t already heard, Google announced another new product the other day called Buzz. It’s basically another social networking tool . Really Google? As if we aren’t already overwhelmed enough? Between Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and email (yes, some of us still email), who has time for another one? I guess Buzz is supposed to make your life easier by linking these all together and clogging up your inbox. Perfect! Now I can find out what Peter had for breakfast and get updates on the traffic jam Allison is stuck in right in my inbox. Do stupid waste of time tweets and facebook updates go into a special Buzz SPAM folder? Now that’s a feature that would sell me on Buzz. Here’s the thing, the only buzz on Buzz is that it nobody likes it. I did a quick Twitter search to see what people are saying about it and 80% of the tweets were negative. Is Google losing it’s edge?
What’s really puzzling about all of this is that the Real Estate community hasn’t jumped all over this thing like they did with Twitter and Facebook. Realtors are notorious for finding a way to plug listings through any and all platforms; to get the buzz going so to speak. I guess time will tell. Maybe people are still trying to figure out whether Twitter is helping their business or killing productivity.
As you can see it’s been quite some time since we have posted anything on our blog. This however is all going to change. I thought it would be appropriate to rekindle the flame with a simple update of what’s been going on in the Williston commercial real estate world the last few months…or at least what’s been going on in our office. Here is a list of commercial transactions completed in our office over the last few months.
Sears Hometown Stores (like the regular Sears but without the clothing and jewelry) leased about 9,000 SF at 94 Harvest Lane for their new retail store in Williston. They are open for business, go check them out!
Franklin August (a cardboard box company) expanded their operations at 430 Commerce St. in Williston and took over 6,160 SF of additional space.
The Williston Community Food Shelf moved their storefront to a 600 SF space at the Taft Farm Plaza in Williston.
Vermont Furniture Galleries expanded there warehouse space and absorbed an additional 6500 SF of space at 350 Pioneer Drive in Williston.
The Alzheimer’s Association leased an 800 SF office at Tat Farm in Williston
TSL Snowshoes, Inc. has leased 11,772 SF of warehouse at 330 Pioneer Drive in Williston.
Well, summer is finally in full swing (kind of), and summer in Vermont is Real Estate season. The phones are ringing again and our cars are getting a welcomed workout. In fact, things got so crazy around here that the Omega Real Estate team has added a new member.
We are proud to welcome Buyer Specialist, John Sortor, to Omega Real Estate Associates’ team. Having enjoyed a diverse career in financial services (insurance and retirement planning), John has parlayed his experience into a successful real estate career. Since 2006, he has specialized in the residential market as a buyer’s agent, and enjoys helping first time and experienced homebuyers navigate the ever-changing landscape of buying a home.
John spent his formative years outside of Boston, Massachusetts, graduated from Colby College in Waterville, Maine, and has lived in Vermont since 1993. Outside the marketplace, John enjoys the time with his wife, Denise, and two daughters, staying healthy through a variety of sports and home maintenance!
So enjoy summer while it lasts! Get out there and see some Real Estate. There are some amazing deals out there and we have just the man for the job…
Start your home or commercial property search at http://omegarealtyvt.com
Weakening fundamentals for the downtown Phoenix office market have forced landlords to offer up to 15 months of free rent to tenants that sign 10-year leases. The market’s 13 percent vacancy rate for class-A space has nearly doubled in the last few years and will increase further as a result of two projects that are nearing their completion – One Central Park East and CityScape.
It’s summer in Vermont and no one needs to be told that today’s real estate market is turbulent. It seems like every time you turn on the news or read the paper someone is doling out more ‘expert’ advice on the current state of the real estate market. One-minute things are on the rebound and the next, it’s time to jump ship. What are you supposed to believe? This kind of contradictory reporting is exactly the kind of thing that puts the real estate market into a deep freeze. Nobody wants to buy a new home if the price is going to freefall the next month and no one wants to put their home on the market when prices are at their lowest.
Vermont is an interesting place to practice Real Estate. We are sheltered from a lot of the trends being experienced elsewhere in the country but at the same time there isn’t a whole lot of market data or market predictions being reported in Vermont. The result is a relatively strong market with forecasting and market analysis that isn’t necessarily relevant to Vermont. Fortunately there are a lot of really knowledgeable Realtors in the area that know the ups and downs of the local market better than the press.
Here are some numbers for you to think about when making your decision whether to buy or sell in the near future.
In April of 2008 there were 101 residential units sold. Compare that with April of this year, which saw 91 units sold, and a 10% drop doesn’t sound that bad considering all the negative talk. Prices have declined a bit, but it has only helped to spur sales. Looking at the current inventory, it appears that now is the time to start thinking about that condo purchase. There are over 300 Condos on the market right now in Chittenden County and with mortgage rates at historic lows and affordability at an all time high now might be the time! Perhaps you have a child attending UVM for 4 years. Why not build equity and give you children a clean, safe place to live at the same time?
I was doing some research on the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) website and I came across a pretty cool calculator that figures how much house you can afford with an FHA loan. It’s pretty cool how it breaks everything down. Use the detailed explanation for more info. This could be particularly helpful for first time home buyers.
This is an especially exciting post for me for two reasons:
1) I have been wanting to introduce video tours into our marketing strategy for a while now. Not enough people offer it and I think it’s something that potential buyers really want and I think sellers deserve it. We are there taking pictures anyway, why not grab some video while we’re at it. The technology is there. There’s really no excuse.
2) I REALLY like this new Multi-Family listing in Downtown Burlington where I shot this trial video. If executed properly, I think this is the type of property that could really benefit from video. The reason being that there are 4 apartments in this building and it’s pretty hard to get the flow of the property (how rooms are connected, etc.) from still images. Of course you could just go see it in person. Another reason is that in a property like this there are a lot of small spaces that are extremely difficult to photograph without a wide angle lens.
Now for the disclaimer: This video wasn’t executed properly. It was more of a spur of the moment thing so don’t judge. I was walking around taking pictures, talking about how I wanted to start doing video tours. Then it occurred to me that the camera has a video function so I started shooting. As you can see from the video below, it was such an afterthought that I didn’t even think to shut the toilet seat! It’s only a couple of seconds long, it’s shaky and it’s just a small portion of one of the units in the 4-unit building.
Taking a look back at the residential real estate market in the Burlington VT Area (including Burlington, South Burlington, Williston, Essex, Essex Jct., Hinesburg, St. George, Underhill, Jericho, Westford, Milton, Colchester, Winooski, Charlotte, Shelburne, Richmond, Bolton, and Huntington) for 2009 a total of 872 single family homes, 513 condos and 63 multi-families sold in Chittenden County according to the North Western Vermont Board of Realtor’s MLS Statistics. According to the same statistics the average sale price of a single family home in Chittenden County, Vermont was $302,446, for a condo the average price was $212,653, and for multi-families the average price was $277,666, for 2009. When we compare these 2009 Burlington VT Area numbers and statistics to those in 2008 the number of single family home sales is actually up by a hundred and three homes from 769 in 2008 or 11.8%, however, the average price per unit sold is down $17,103 or 5.3% from the $319,549 average in 2008. And as for the Burlington area condo market the number of sales is only down by 5 units when compared to 2008 statistics and the average price per unit sold is down $9,054 or 4.5% from the $221,707 average in 2008. As for multi-families, the number of sales were down by 15 units and the average price per multi-family unit was down $24,541 or 8.1% from 2008.
. Really Google? As if we aren’t already overwhelmed enough? Between Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and email (yes, some of us still email), who has time for another one? I guess Buzz is supposed to make your life easier by linking these all together and clogging up your inbox. Perfect! Now I can find out what Peter had for breakfast and get updates on the traffic jam Allison is stuck in right in my inbox. Do stupid waste of time tweets and facebook updates go into a special Buzz SPAM folder? Now that’s a feature that would sell me on Buzz. Here’s the thing, the only buzz on Buzz is that it nobody likes it. I did a quick Twitter search to see what people are saying about it and 80% of the tweets were negative. Is Google losing it’s edge?
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