The Original Trilogy at Redmond Ridge Market Report
February thru May Sales Breakdown…Buyers struggle to make offers in time…
Are you really saving 2% with a 1% Listing Fee?
Presented by: Devin Sanford︱Serving Trilogy Since 2003
You probably don’t need anyone to tell you that homes are turning over extremely fast and have been since early January. Many sellers have capitalized on what may be the hottest market ever in Trilogy and others are hopping on the band wagon. We’re experiencing record setting resale prices on many of the floor plans and supply cannot seem to keep up with demand. If you observe the year to date recap below, you’ll notice that “Pending” transactions (those waiting to close escrow) continue to rise while inventory remains fairly steady. That’s a dead giveaway of a fast turnover.
A big difference we’ve seen in 2016, that we’ve never really seen to this extent, is the price range of the homes on the market. The average price of a home for sale at May month end was $883,928.00. Part of that is because the lower end homes sell so fast but all actively available homes are averaging less than three weeks on the market.
Here’s the Current Inventory Available for Purchase
There were just nine homes available at month end:
| Model | Original Price | Asking Price | Days on Market | Elephant thoughts: |
| Vancouver | $734,950 | $739,950 | 14 | Near Club & Road |
| Hemlock | $759,000 | $759,000 | 47 | Vine Maple Way |
| Hemlock | $759,950 | $759,950 | 6 | Adair Creek Way |
| Hemlock | $769,950 | $769,950 | 12 | Greenbelt on Sunbreak |
| Maple | $839,000 | $839,000 | 6 | Greenbelt Home |
| Oakwood | $949,000 | $949,000 | 6 | Morgan Drive Greenbelt |
| Monticello | $1,099,000 | $1,099,000 | 6 | Close to Club |
| Maryhill | $1,099,000 | $1,099,000 | 35 | Twinberry Way |
*Homes in bold & Green; the Elephant’s Work representing Sellers.
Note: All currently available listings are posted at www.DevinSanfordHomes.com on the home page. Just scroll over to the Trilogy tab and select “Current Trilogy Listings” from the dropdown list. For all listings, “Click” the big green tab to the right. It says, “View all Trilogy at Redmond Ridge Listings.” Within this report, we share what is available at the first of the month for consistent and measurable month over month reporting.
With the build-up of upper end homes, days on market may stretch out a bit and Sellers who previously were getting to throw crazy prices against the wall and having them stick, may find themselves having to compete a little bit on pricing. One thing is for certain, everything is being looked at by agents with eager buyers. However, there’s a new trend us experienced Trilogy Listing brokers are having to deal with.
It seems this wonderful resort community we’ve all known as Trilogy for years, has finally been discovered by every non-Trilogy educated broker on the continent. The aforementioned growing days on market definitely has something to do with this and there’s a bit of abuse included for the Sellers. As the top listing broker in Trilogy, I prefer to take the calls, rather than the Seller, when a broker wants to see one of our listings. This allows me to qualify the brokers and their buyers a bit and increase the odds of a successful showing. However, of late, I have never heard so many agents saying “Oh, we’re just learning the floor plans” or “My buyers are in the early stages.” Brokers are “previewing” and trying to find that pot of gold, like never before, Pre-viewing means the broker just wants to see the home by themselves; another sign that more agents are trying to steal my Lucky Charms.
Yes, there are plenty of serious, willing and capable buyers but Sellers be prepared to show your home several times to those who may just be getting an education. I hope you get a quick sale but hiring an experienced Trilogy broker will increase your odds of not getting kicked out of your home more than necessary.
A recent DevinSanfordHomes.com Open House Visitor
New Team Member, Lucy Stephens, had an unexpected guest at our May 29th Sunbreak Way Open House!
She was calm enough to get this great shot.
Here’s a Recap of all sales since our last report for January:
(Sorry about that…. we’ve been busy and are grateful.)
Seven Homes Closed Escrow in February
| Model | Original Asking Price | Asking Price when Sold | Final Sale Price | Days on Market |
| Discovery | $449,950 | $449,950 | $449,950 | 2 |
| Whidbey | $625,000 | $612,680 | $600,000 | 86 |
| Whidbey | $625,000 | $625,000 | $617,500 | 70 |
| *Whidbey | $619,000 | $619,000 | $625,000 | 1 |
| Monticello – Greenbelt | $849,000 | $849,000 | $865,000 | 3 |
| Monticello – Golf Course 17th Fairway | $1,100,000 | $1,100,000 | $1,100,000 | 1 |
| Maryhill | $1,250,000 | $1,250,000 | $1,250,000 | 3 |
*Homes in bold & Green; the Elephant’s Work representing Sellers.
Our *Whidbey was the first to sell at a high of $625,000, although others had tried within days and weeks. Presentation and hard-working, cooperative sellers was key.
11 Homes Closed Escrow in March:
| Model | Original Asking Price | Asking Price when Sold | Final Sale Price | Days on Market |
| Union (ARCH Home) | $420,252 | $420,252 | $420,252 | 2 |
| Discovery | $449,950 | $449,950 | $449,950 | 5 |
| Discovery | $449,950 | $449,950 | $460,000 | 3 |
| Washington | $519,000 | $519,000 | $519,000 | 0 |
| Bainbridge | $685,000 | $670,000 | $665,000 | 29 |
| Bainbridge | $699,900 | $699,900 | $695,000 | 8 |
| Cedar | $739,440 | $739,440 | $739,440 | 1 |
| Cedar | $899,900 | $899,900 | $899,900 | 11 |
| Monticello | $962,000 | $962,000 | $920,000 | 84 |
| Maryhill | $995,000 | $995,000 | $995,000 | 6 |
| *Maryhill | $1,350,000 | $1,350,000 | $1,295,000 | 14 |
*Homes in bold & Green; the Elephant’s Work representing Sellers.
Although shocking, the $1,350,000 asking price for the +Maryhill pretty much established what the ceiling is for this home, at least for now. It was a newer home and about as nice as they come with a spectacular mountain and golf course view. It was a nice presentation. Just a point of interest, the highest price Maryhill to sell to date in Trilogy was sold by yours truly while working for the Developer out of the old Tour Center. It was involved in the Shea Homes Luxury Home Tour and sold for 1.62 Million back in 2005.
Seven Homes Closed Escrow in April:
| Model | Original Asking Price | Asking Price when Sold | Final Sale Price | Days on Market |
| Townsend | $429,900 | $429,900 | $431,000 | 2 |
| Townsend | $$469,000 | $469,000 | $462,000 | 4 |
| *Chelan | $498,500 | $498,500 | $498,500 | 4 |
| ***Hemlock | $769,000 | $749,950 | $710,000 | 47 |
| Cedar | $739,950 | $739,950 | $739,950 | 9 |
| **Hemlock | $819,900 | $819,900 | $819,900 | 24 |
| Monticello | $965,000 | $949,900 | $949,000 | 46 |
The *Chelan is a real mentionable here and yes, even to me, a surprise! Notwithstanding, the home was nicely presented and features a double sized, corner greenbelt lot and a deck you could land a 727 on. Sale number six, the *Hemlock, had a substantial and wonderful view of the Cascade Mountains. The *** Hemlock (sale #4) was, literally, the worst presentation of a home for sale I’ve seen in my dozen plus years selling in Trilogy. A $59,000 price drop and over six weeks on the market was the result. I bumped into the new owners who could see through the poor display and they are enjoying the nicely appointed home after a little bit of effort.
Nine Homes Closed Escrow in May:
| Model | Original Asking Price | Asking Price when Sold | Final Sale Price | Days on Market |
| *Discovery | $465,000 | $445,000 | $445,000 | 35 |
| Discovery | $463,000 | $463,000 | $463,000 | 6 |
| Vashon | $569,950 | $569,950 | $535,000 | 57 |
| Union | $549,000 | $549,000 | $552,000 | 2 |
| Union | $539,950 | $539,950 | $554,500 | 3 |
| Whidbey | $559,950 | $559,950 | $559,950 | 37 |
| **Union | $555,000 | $555,000 | $611,000 | 7 |
| ***Whidbey | $625,000 | $625,000 | $625,000 | 2 |
*Homes in bold & Green; the Elephant’s Work representing Sellers.
The **Union is a lovely home on the golf course and a bidding war ensued. I was surprised the ***Whidbey accepted a full-price offer so quickly. It’s a newer built home and has a lovely sitting area out front to take in really terrific mountain and territorial views. The *Discovery has me baffled a bit. Lower priced homes are flying off the market yet this one took over a month to sell and suffered a $20,000 (4.3%) price reduction. This raised a question…Are you really saving 2% with a 1% Listing Fee?
The uber-popular *Discovery is one of four homes to date a local discount broker duo, who claims to save you 2% marketed. I’m not getting it. When you lower an original asking price by $20,000 (4.32%), especially in a market like this, where are the savings? This prompted me to do a little research on the Northwest Multiple Listing Service which tracks all listed sales. Statistics are easy to find. I don’t want to spout off without knowing the facts so I’ve stored them in soft copy in my files.
I recall why I decided to stay and serve Trilogy members when I no longer worked as a sales Rep. for Shea Homes. I witnessed resale agents, nice as they may have been, giving out inaccurate information about the community and pricing homes either too high or too low. I knew the community inside and out so I decided to stick around and look out for my members and others throughout the community. Someone needed to know what they were talking about. I began to put out the facts in a monthly market report and to simply reported accurately. Sometimes the truth helps and sometimes it hurts. Here are a few TRUTHS about our friendly 1% newcomers.
As of May 31st of this year, this so called money saving duo, has had three transactions combined close escrow that were listed for sale within Trilogy on the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Their average days on market for the three sales were 14. The average percentage of closed sales price of these homes is 1.969% under asking price. There goes your 2% savings! The fourth sale for this team was sold unlisted and therefore spent no days on market and had no measurable asking vs. realized sales price.
To be fair, I ran stats on myself too. I, also, have one unlisted sale so we won’t count mine either. Although there’s only one of me, my publicly listed sales total exactly twice as many closings at six, with another six “pending” in escrow. Although a larger number or sales tends to drop your percentages, my ultimate Sales Price averages 101.36% of asking price. Oh, my listings average days on market? How about THREE days!!! Also, “for the record”, I pulled statistics on two of the other three highest ranking listing brokers in Trilogy, their sales average 99.5 % and 99.2% of asking price and they too, have a higher number of sales than our discounting brokers.
“How much is your fee?” is a fair enough question but don’t be misled by a tricky offer, an offer that openly shuns “all other brokers” in their adverting by the way, when they have no idea what we may be charging per individual listing. A better question for you to ask your prospective Listing Broker is “How much can you put in my pocket?” It seems the lower fee doesn’t really accomplish that but that’s just the numbers; just the facts. My recommendation? You get what you pay for. I wouldn’t worry so much about how much the broker is making, I’d worry about how much you are making. Just hire the best; those with a proven track record, not a new to the neighborhood gimmick. Discount brokers have been trying to take the easy way out by offering a lower fee for decades. If they’ll do that for you up front, might they, also, do it for your buyer? It doesn’t work. Oh, “full service” is very subjective but certainly not in my case. Based upon our advertised promises and theirs, the Elephant offers a whole lot more!
Home Status Year to Date Recap:
| Jan. | Feb. | March | April | May | ||||||||
| $old | 3 | 7 | 11 | 7 | 8 | |||||||
| Pending | 9 | 11 | 11 | 15 | 18 | |||||||
| Active | 5 | 8 | 2 | 10 | 9 |
11 Homes Await the Likely Speedy Close of Escrow
Here’s what’s currently “Pending” the Close of Escrow
| Model | Original Asking Price | Asking Price when Offer Accepted | Days on Market | Notations |
| Union | $420,252 | $420,252 | 2 | ARCH Housing |
| Discovery * | $449,950 | $449,950 | 5 | Homes above but nice |
| Discovery | $449,950 | $449,950 | 3 | Greenbelt- close to Novelty |
| Townsend | $469,000 | $469,000 | 4 | Large Cul-De-Sac Lot |
| Bainbridge | $685,000 | $670,000 | 29 | |
| Cedar | $739,440 | $739,440 | 1 | |
| Hemlock | $779,950 | $759,000 | 38 | |
| Cedar | $899,900 | $899,900 | 11 | 17th Fairway Golf Lot |
| Monticello | $962,000 | $962,000 | 84 | Greenbelt, Lovely Home |
| Maryhill | $995,000 | $995,000 | 6 | Greenbelt Home |
| Maryhill | $1,350,000 | $1,350,000 | 14 | Golf & Mountain Views |
Homes in bold & green indicate the Elephant is working for our Sellers.
*Pending Inspection
It’s just another beautiful season in Paradise. Let’s all do our best to make 2016 one of the most enjoyable years in Trilogy ever.
Alternatively, if you’re thinking of selling, please, reach out to us and see why the Elephant Way is a sensible way. We open our checkbooks and roll up our sleeves to help you get the best price possible for your home.
Before you contact us, check out what your neighbors have said about our service by scrolling all the way to the bottom of our website. There are numerous testimonials there and more reviews of our Five Star service on Zillow. Just go to www.Zillow.com and click on the “Agent Finder” tab at the top, enter my name (Devin Sanford) and click search. Scroll down and read away. If reading on line, you can copy and paste this link: http://www.zillow.com/profile/Devin-Sanford/. If we may serve you in any way, just let us know. We’d be honored.
That’s a wrap through May of 2016. We hope you found something of value in this report and will give us a call when you have a real estate need. We measure our success by how well we serve others.
Devin & Team
Trilogy Specialist – Serving Trilogy Since 2003
Devin Sanford, Managing Broker, Realtor®
425.501.8424 Direct + Text
[email protected]
If your home is currently listed with another broker this is not intended to solicit that listing.