When I first got into real estate in Boise, I remember Pioneer Title Company used to conduct pizza parties at the office any time they did over 500 title orders a month and now even in this market we sold almost that many homes in the MLS in a month and yet people complain.  Keep in mind the title company has orders not just from home sales, but from refinances, second mortgages, lot sales, trustee sales, etc.

Yes in certain areas where homes have been overbuilt (in volume and/or in price) these owners still are having a tough time selling.  I talked to a "for sale by owner" yesterday that bought a home six months ago to remodel and resell and they are frustrated, but they didn't consider the point of deminishing returns on the remodel.  I saw the house before the remodel and it was horribly outdated, but it would have been great with new carpet, paint and laminate countertops and sprucing up in the bathroom.  The subdivision doesn't warrant slab granite in the kitchen and all bathrooms, nor did it justify probably 700 sq. ft. of hardwood floors, etc.  I was not surprised to see the model home that was built on Five Mile near I-84 go back to the bank instead of to a homeowner since it was also overbuilt for the area.  I talked to a builder up in McCall today about his project only to learn it went back to his bank recently as well.

So with all the negativity in the market, how is it that we still managed to sell nearly 500 homes in Ada County in July?  The sellers that looked at the market conditions and priced their homes according based on logical analysis instead of their own personal emotional desires typically have no problem selling.

If you are thinking of selling your home, make sure your agent takes the time to inform you of the full picture and the absorption rate for a home like yours.  Don't just take the raw data and say of those 497 homes that sold, the market time was only 67 days, because that is only part of the picture.  The rest of the story is that the "Most Recent Listing" took 67 days to sell, however many of the homes have been listed multiple times (with the same agent or multiple agents) prior to selling.  Therefore, the aborption rate of the current homes for sale is about 10 months, so you need to look at the entire picture to create a marking plan to make your home sell faster.

Jim Paulson, CRS, GRI, EPRO - Broker / Owner Progressive Realty Corporation