A Baker’s Dozen Reveal Sales Were Buzzin’ For May!
Thirteen homes closed escrow during the month of May. Sale prices ranged from $417,950 for a Discovery to $800,000 for a lovely Maple with a view of two fairways on the golf course. The Discovery is one of Trilogy’s most popular and fast selling floor plans due to its smart use of space and price range. Notwithstanding, the two that sold this month took over two months and one of them nearly three months to secure a buyer. They both started out around $450,000 and sold nowhere near that. One was clearly equipped with a higher level of fits and finishes inside and out yet they only differed $2K in the final sales price. If one is going to ask top dollar, and others have been successful in the past, you must properly prepare and present the property. It was my feeling that it was lack luster presentations that resulted in the ultimate low sales prices. If you have a similar sized home potentially coming for sale, don’t be discouraged. My hope is that you’ll interview well as to what your broker intends to do to help you properly prepare and promote the home. Note the sales time and prices when presented by the Elephant; the difference is the amount of effort.
Take a look at what’s $old:
| Model | Original Asking Price | Asking Price when Sold | Sale Price | Days on Market |
| Discovery | $449,950 | $417,950 | $417,950 | 63 |
| Discovery | $449,950 | $419,950 | $419,950 | 88 |
| Orchard – Stand Alone Home | $489,000 | $489,000 | $490,000 | 2 |
| Vashon | $519,000 | $519,000 | $519,000 | 2 |
| Madison | $529,000 | $529,000 | $540,000 | 0 |
| Vancouver | $559,950 | $559,950 | $554,000 | 6 |
| Whidbey | $559,000 | $559,000 | $559,000 | 10 |
| Vancouver | $599,000 | $579,000 | $570,000 | 58 |
| Bainbridge | $569,900 | $569,900 | $570,000 | 234 |
| Bainbridge | $579,000 | $579,000 | $572,000 | 3 |
| Bainbridge | $589,000 | $589,000 | $589,000 | 17 |
| Alder | $749,000 | $749,000 | $749,000 | 3 |
| Maple – Golf Course | $809,900 | $809,900 | $800,000 | 25 |
Homes in bold & Green; the Elephant’s Work representing Sellers.
The average home sold in 39 days with one Bainbridge really skewing the numbers with nearly eight months on the market; take it out of the equation and things are flying off the market in about three weeks. Many have prognosticated, prior to the settlement of the recent lawsuit, that home values were being harmed by the negative publicity. That simply isn’t true. Home sales had a momentary slowing but values are extremely strong and pricing continues to edge up from what are already impressive sale prices in many categories. The tough collection of home to nail down a general value for each floor plan has been the “Estate Collection”. However, even the most opulent of Trilogy homes are showing signs of finding a base price range. There are two pending with asking prices well in excess of a million and we’ll see soon just what they actually sold for when they close escrow. I know of others planning to sell in this range.
Soon for each of Trilogy’s 23 floor plans, those of us Brokers who really know Trilogy, will be able to pull a basic number for each floor plan out of their pocket. All that will be left, then, is to determine the level of fits & finishes, condition, view and proximity to the Social Hub. Each home and home site will have a combination of those features which will decide whether that individual residence is inferior or superior to the status quo. I’ve touched on this in prior articles and have been able to do this for most of the floor plans for a couple years now. It’s the Estate Collection we’ve been waiting for to come around and it appears to be doing so. Over time, the only thing left will be to hire a Trilogy familiar broker and to measure the differences in the level of service. For us, “The Secret is in the Elephant.” Those of you who have used or heard of our service, from friends who have experienced it, understand. Even if I wrote about it, others still wouldn’t get it. I’d rather let them figure it out on their own. My Mother used to say, “My name is Willy; not Silly.”
What’s Currently in Escrow?
Slipping 3 transactions from April, there are a dozen sales pending the close of escrow as of May 31st. May, June and July are typically the hottest months for sales in Trilogy. However, with just 15 homes being available at the highest point in any one month this year and inventory as low as seven houses to choose from during May, it’s pretty tough to keep escrow busy. The saving grace is the extremely fast turnover; there are exceptions. Take a quick look at this recap of home statuses so far Year to Date:
| Jan. | Feb. | March | April | May | |
| $old | 6 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 13 |
| Pending | 4 | 8 | 14 | 15 | 12 |
| Active | 15 | 15 | 14 | 9 | 8 |
Here’s at what’s currently “Pending” or “Pending Inspection”. These are homes which have reached mutual terms between a buyer and a seller but have not yet recorded with the county. We won’t know the sale price until the deed changes hands and excise tax has been collected by the county.
| Model | Original Price | Asking Price | Days on Market | Elephant thoughts: |
| Townsend | $439,000 | $439,000 | 4 | Pending Inspection |
| Discovery | $445,000 | $445,000 | 8 | |
| Washington | $469,950 | $469,950 | 182 | |
| Nice | $685,000 | $685,000 | 40 | First Resell Ever |
| Hemlock | $729,000 | $729,000 | 17 | |
| Hemlock | $735,000 | $735,000 | 0 | 2nd time on market |
| Cedar | $795,000 | $795,000 | 3 | Golf Course |
| Cedar | $799,000 | $799,000 | 1 | Greenbelt |
| Redford | $838,000 | $838,000 | 260 | Discount Broker |
| Redford | $859,900 | $859,900 | 3 | Greenbelt |
| Monticello | $1,075,000 | $1,075,000 | 10 | Rare Luxury Home Site |
| Maryhill | $1,180,000 | $1,180,000 | 120 | Rare Mtn./Golf Views |
Homes in bold & green indicate the Elephant is working for our Sellers. Both are Cedar floor plans and both sold Full-Price for CASH in less than 72 hours. We spent careful time getting them ready and therefore no time getting them sold.
Please, keep in mind all the following data is as of May 31st, 2015 at midnight for month over month accuracy. Statuses of some of these homes have changed by the time you receive this report.
With Only Eight Homes to Choose From, It’s a Seller’s Market!
Here’s what’s available:
| Model | Original Price | Asking Price | Days on Market | Elephant thoughts: |
| Chelan | $410,000 | $410,000 | 12 | |
| Discovery | $465,000 | $465,000 | 11 | Record Resell Asking Price |
| Orchard | $474,900 | $474,900 | 3 | Twinberry Way |
| Washington | $519,500 | $495,000 | 98 | Greenbelt Home |
| Vashon | $514,900 | $500,000 | 111 | |
| Bainbridge | $569,000 | $549,000 | 3 | |
| Hemlock | $744,900 | $744,900 | 63 | Greenbelt Home |
Homes in bold & green; the Elephant at work.
The Match Tic
| Low – YTD | High – YTD | Prior Month | May |
| 26 | 41 | 36 | 35 |
The total amount of all Northwest Multiple Listing statuses measured 35 at month end. This is down a single point from last month’s number. We would normally be up over 50 at this time of year. The low figure is reflective of the lack of homes for sale at any one time and the fresh inventory that is coming available turning over extremely quickly.
Status may include Active (Homes currently available for sale), Pending Inspection (Homes under contract but still in the home inspection process), Pending (Homes that have worked through the inspection process successfully), Sold (Homes that have closed escrow), Contingent (Sold homes that are contingent upon the buyer selling their own home) and TOMK or BOMK (Homes that are either Temporarily Off Market or Back on Market after being temporarily unavailable.)
We have about two or three weeks of inventory in Trilogy which truly, makes this a Seller’s market. In some cases, owners are asking record prices and getting offers. Occasionally, they get more than one offer. Bidding wars, regardless of what some puffing sales people pontificate, are not status quo in Trilogy; our demographic is too seasoned to play games and we are not concerned with good school districts which can send proud, younger parents into crazy land. It’s my contention that the zero to three day sales times we’re seeing has more to do with sand-bagging listings than anything else. When you see the same broker or their affiliate representing the buyer and the seller, it’s possible, and I’m only saying, “it’s possible”, that is what’s happening. Attentive Brokers who are the first to react to a new listing, know it’s going to take a strong offer to secure it and, then present a strong offer, is the other reason for a quick sale. Sellers know a good deal when they see one and prefer to end having to keep the home ready at all times as soon as possible.
The NWMLS has strict rules about not marketing properties before the listing appears on the Internet to the other 20,000 or more Washington brokers who would possibly like to show the home. The idea is to get the Seller the best offer possible. The number of inquiries I get from other brokers asking if I have anything coming up tells me many are not following the rules and are willing to push the boundaries to secure a home for their buyer. Many are disappointed in my polite-as-possible response and my Sellers benefit greatly when they pick up their check.
Newsletter, Post Cards & Junk Mail Versus a True Market Report
We hope that you enjoy receiving “just the facts” regarding home sales in Trilogy. This “MARKET REPORT” is for you. We hope you find it straight to the point and our sharing of some of our service is not without results to back it up. We hope you see that this market report is a result of hours of research, data analysis and candid reporting, along with prognostications and/or observations based upon 13 years of serving Trilogy and hundreds of homes sold. We have been pain- stakingly accountable in bringing you this information every single month for years. We hope you feel you can count on us for the truth.
There’s a big difference in what we do from the cookie cutter templates newcomers to Trilogy use to send you a “NEWSLETTER” full of fancy graphs they produce with the push of a single button, recipes for grandma’s cookies or purchased news articles selected from a vendor’s list of “what you can send your mail list this month” selection. We’ve seen “I sold this in two days or I sold that in one day” post cards but what they don’t tell you is the home is still pending the close of escrow and it may have sold for well below full-price. You may have received a newcomer broker’s recent “Trilogy Real Estate News” calling herself a “Trilogy Specialist” yet she hasn’t sold a single home in Trilogy checking my detailed records back to at least January of 2014. Her expert Trilogy sales report doesn’t even include the names of the floor plans.
Why am I writing about this? Three reasons; we’re looking out for you and we’re looking out for ourselves; period. We might add that I just can’t stand misleading advertising.
If we may help you, honestly, in any way, just let us know.
That’s a wrap for May. We’ll see you next month.