The stats are in for past quarter and shows that Foreclosures prices are down, Short Sales are leveled off or down and Traditional Home Sales are on the rise.  What does this mean?  Sellers have more confidence listing and selling their homes.  Mortgage rates are low and prices are up.

As you can see, Short Sale closing are down by 48% and the sales price is up by 12%.  I think this is because banks are doing a better job communicating with homeowners and more people are taking advantage of the HARP and HAMP and HOPE programs available.  That’s huge!  While Foreclosures prices are down the closings are only slightly up by 11%.  You would think with prices down there would be a growth in closings but many lenders will not finance some of these properties because of the distress they are in.  FYI… You can not get an FHA loan on a distressed property.  Most loans are not interested in distressed properties.  Most distressed properties for sale will not consider anything except cash offers.  If you have the cash, now is a great time to grab some Foreclosures.

The biggest improvement is in Traditional sales showing a 35% increase in closings and 18% increase in price!   Why the increase?  Could it be that there is less competition in the foreclosure and Short Sale markets?  Are buyers wanting to avoid Short Sales and Foreclosure and the work that goes with them?  Most of the customers I have worked with in the last few months are looking for affordable non-distressed homes that can be financed.  This is a definite change in the trend for me. 

So, if you are considering selling your home, prices are up 18% from last year.  That is good news for you.

I highly suggest contacting a Licensed Real Estate Professional that is a REALTOR®.  This means they are a member of the National Association of Realtors and adhere to the NAR Code of Ethics.

All of the statistics are from the Florida Association of Realtors website and are for Sarasota County.