Federal Reserve officials publicly declared that it was business as usual despite S&P’s downgrade of US government debt.

Forced appreciation is actually done by someone or something and can occur very quickly.  Forced appreciation can occur in many different ways.  The home can be just cleaned up and picked up.  A home can be updated to increase the value.  This usually occurs in older homes that are dated and suffer from “functional obsolescence” which really just means that they really don’t function to meet people’s lifestyle anymore.  The home may be a small two bedroom home in an older established neighborhood of three bedroom homes.  An addition to this home to add an extra bedroom could make this home greatly appreciate in value.  Forced appreciation can occur by a possible rezoning if the property is better suited for commercial or industrial use. 

 Updating a home can range from a complete renovation or just some touch ups such as fresh paint, new carpet, appliances and fixtures.  You don’t have to know a lot about renovating and you don’t necessarily need to hire a contractor to achieve forced appreciation.  It is a good idea to try to find comps in the area to see what those other properties have and feature.  It would be really good if you could find “sold” ones so that you may see the difference and compare the two.  If you are looking to buy, renovate and resell, you want to do a thorough inspection of the home as well as other ones in the area and use the phrase K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid).  If you are buying in an area that houses are a 3/2 with Formica counter tops you don’t need a 5/3 with granite.  Keep things in tune with the rest of the neighborhood.   

Obviously the biggest and best improvements you can make are to bathrooms and kitchens.  Updating these generally give you the best return on your money and are huge selling features.  A surprising feature that is an unexpected selling feature is outdoor living space.  Buyers love patios, decks and ways to extend their living space outside.

Last week I told you I would investigate our “local” market to determine foreclosure statistics.  According to the Bay County Association of Realtors and the Bay County MLS there were 2,721 SOLD residential transactions in 2010 for the entire MLS coverage areas.  Out of the 2,721 transactions 1,100 of them were categorized as foreclosures.  This includes, short sales, reos, pre-foreclosure and in-foreclosure categories.  That is 40%, 14% higher than the national average.  Surprisingly enough only 374 of the 849 condos sold were foreclosures which are 44%, 102 of 259 townhomes were foreclosures which are 39%.  The bulk of the properties were detached single family homes at 539 of 1421 were foreclosures which are 38%. 

The MLS covers Bay, Calhoun, Escambia, Franklin, Gulf, Holmes, Jackson, Liberty, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Walton and Washington Counties.

Panama City Beach real estate

The economy is the driving factor of real estate appreciation in the Panama City Beach as well as in the entire U.S. That includes interest rates as well as the current employment rate, business growth in the area, housing supply and demand and affordability.

Regional economic and social factors also affect Panama City Beach Real Estate appreciation. Many homebuyers choose to live in areas with the best and most convenient features for households to thrive, such as a close proximity to schools, jobs and commerce.

A good school district can also be an indicator of good home appreciation. It is believed that good schools help foster lifestyles associated with high levels of attainment at the individual, household and community level. However, because of Panama City Beach Real Estate is mostly purchased by vacationers some factors are not as important to others as a lot of people are temporary residents.

Demographics also play a role in real estate appreciation. For example, during the 1980s, much of the baby boomer generation (People born between 1946 – 1964) was buying real estate, causing homes to appreciate at a faster rate than inflation and made real estate a profitable investment. The group referred to as Generation Y – born roughly between 1980 and now – is the biggest generation since the baby boomers. Their contribution to real estate is expected to be far greater than their older siblings of Generation X (born between 1965 and 1979).

There are some aspects that significantly contribute to real estate appreciation, which you may want to ask your agent about when shopping for a home:

Recent sales. Performance Realty will retrieve public records on Panama City Beach Real Estate sales in the neighborhood you wish to live in. How many home sales have there been in the past year? What are the asking prices? Do the final sales exceed the asking prices?

Appreciation history. Have home prices risen or declined over the past 5 to 10 years? Is the neighborhood considered desirable because of its location, amenities or affordability?

Panama City Beach business economy. Is there a good mixture of business or does the area rely on one industry? Have any new industries moved into or out of the area? Is there a lot of new development nearby? Economic changes such as a large factory going out of business can dramatically affect demand for housing in a particular area.

It is important to note that while appreciation is nice to have, it should not be the reason you decide to buy a home in a particular area. Even if you buy a house in a rapidly appreciating area, there is not a guarantee that its value will rise by the time you want to sell it. That’s why it’s best to pick a neighborhood – and a home – in an area that suits your own needs.

Last year, the gap between the sales price of foreclosed homes and regular “arm’s length” transactions widened than in previous years.  There is also more good news for buyers.  According to RealtyTrac, more homes were taken back by banks than were purchased by buyers.  This means that buyers will continue to get good deals and foreclosed homes at a discount. 

On national average buyers who purchased a foreclosed home in 2010 received a 28% discount from those that purchased a traditional non-foreclosed home.   Foreclosed homes made up nearly 26% of all home sales last year.  Although that number is down from the 29% in 2009, it’s up from 23% in 2008 and traditionally, foreclosures only make up 10% of homes sold.

There were a total of 831,574 foreclosed properties that were sold last year.  That figure is down 31% from 2009.  Sales of homes outside the foreclosed category declined 19% in 2010. 

Although it appears that the pace of foreclosed homes have slowed down, actually, lenders increased their repossessions by taking back nearly 1 million homes in 2010.  This increased the inventory of foreclosed homes that have yet hit the market.  In order for the market to fully recover, this inventory must be absorbed.  The part of the article I found most interesting is that typically only 30% of a banks foreclosure inventory is on the market.

So, keeping the above discount numbers in mind, more foreclosure sales means banks are taking more losses.  This would single handedly decrease property values more than what they already are.  Therefore banks are slowly releasing their inventory.

Although this article had good facts and statistics RealtyTrac works off of national averages and because real estate is local, it got me thinking about our local market.  I wonder what the numbers are for it.  I will publish my findings in the coming days.  Please keep checking back for the latest news, tips and updates.  If you would like, subscribe to my blog to receive the latest information.

Part 6 and the final part of the series brought to you by Performance Realty “Top Reasons Why Homes Do NOT Sale.”  The # 6 reason of your home not selling is Your home is NOT easily accessible.

To get your Panama City Beach house sold quickly, it’s important that it is easy to show to as many potential buyers as possible. The first thing a good agent will do when working with buyers is talk to the buyer and learn what kind of Panama City Beach home they are looking for. Then the agent searches all the available homes for those most closely matching what the buyer wants. Next, the agent puts together a list of the best matches to go show to the buyer. When a busy agent is compiling a list of Panama City Beach houses to show a buyer, the agent will naturally tend to show those houses that are easiest to gain access to first. Many homes on the market have “lock boxes” on them. The lock box is a device which holds a key to the home, that only qualified local agents can access. Panama City Beach houses that are listed as being “lock box, no appointment needed” will get shown more often than homes listed as “agent has key, call for appointment”. If at all possible, you should let your agent put a lock box on your home for easier showing.

If you can’t do a lock box, you need to be sure that you make it as convenient and easy as possible for other agents to show your home. If they call, do whatever you have to do to accommodate letting them show your home to buyers on their schedule. If you don’t, the agent will probably show the buyer other Panama City Beach homes for sale, and if that buyer makes an offer on one of them, you’ve just lost a great opportunity.

It’s best if you can leave when the agent and buyer arrive to see your Panama City Beach home for sale. Buyers won’t feel comfortable with you there and it could sour an otherwise good impression.  Make sure your home is easy to show!

You’ll hear it described as a slow market, or a buyer’s market, or maybe a cold market. But it all means the same thing. Panama City Beach real estate sales are slow; there are too many Panama City Beach homes for sale and too many Panama City Beach condos for sale and not enough active buyers. There are several things you can do to combat a slow market. The most effective strategy is to sell at a lower price. Buyers are expecting to find bargains during a slow market. You can also help yourself by offering to pay some concessions to help a buyer that might not have a lot of cash. The ultimate way to beat a slow market is to simply wait it out. But that’s not always an option for many sellers.  If you are unable to wait it out and you owe more than what your house is currently worth, Performance Realty will walk you through the short sale process guiding you every step of the way.  We will supply you with the proper forms and negotiate with your lender directly on your behalf.  You will NEVER have to talk to the bank if you don’t want to.  For more information on short sale assistance please feel free to contact us. 

For the latest tips, subscribe to our blog in the top right hand corner.

Your Marketing Campaign Is Out of Steam. 

The best Panama City Beach Real Estate agents all use an aggressive marketing plan to market their listings. If your listing agent isn’t making sure your property can be found easily on the internet, isn’t actively advertizing his or her listings to other agents in the area, isn’t running ads in the local newspapers and real estate publications, then it might be time to change agents. If all your agent has done is put a sign in your front yard and add your home to the local MLS, then that agent isn’t coming close to doing all that can be done to effectively market your home.  Performance Realty prides itself in keeping up with the latest technologies.  We currently market your listings on approximately 100 websites.  We use various types of listing syndications that automatically puts our listings in the top real estate directories.  Performance Realty uses various types of online advertising that gives us solid leads via the internet.  Chances are if you are reading this post you found us online.  If you can find us, so can buyers.  We currently rank in the Top 5 of real estate companies on Google for keywords that were searched the most by buyers.  There is a lot more to advertising your listings than just putting a sign in the yard and advertising in local papers.  A lot of buyers are out of town and without the latest technology and an internet presence a lot of potential buyers could miss the opportunity to view your home.  As we have discussed before that is a critical mistake in this market.  It is a buyer’s market and there is an abundance of inventory to choose from.  If you are interested in viewing our noncommittal listing presentation or seeing our technology at work don’t hesitate to contact us.