81 Homes Sold Year to Date
14 Closed during September
Only Five new Contracts
Just 16 Homes for Sale
There are big goings on in Trilogy. Finally, the last “lingering” Shea home has closed escrow after a year in Pending status. It’s the Washington floor plan where Shea’s manufactured home served as their final sales office. I don’t know why but a familiar tune from a popular movie keeps popping into my head. Notwithstanding some ongoing warranty work for the next year or so, Trilogy at Redmond Ridge truly is in the hands of its Members.
It seems Trilogy has hit the news once more. If there’s one thing the past has proven it’s this lifestyle is too good to pass up and unaffected buyers will continue to invest here regardless of what they read. Others are more fearful and thus there will be a slow down for sure. Baby Boomers on up are wise enough to investigate things for themselves. I’ve received several inquiries as to my thoughts about this latest publicity. Here’s how I answered one gentleman’s email who gave me a name but nothing else: “Hi XXXX. Please, read my market report which will be out by Tuesday. I love Trilogy and I choose to live here. I have my opinions which I choose to keep to myself. I think anyone who would like to live here would really enjoy it and, like every home in every community, a buyer should have their individual choice for a home professionally inspected prior to purchase.”
Please, keep in mind all the following data is as of September 30th, 2014 at midnight for month over month accuracy. Statuses of some of these homes have changed by the time you receive this report. We’ll serve no wine before its time. Add the appropriate days per the month of October for time on market of available homes.
The Match Tic
| Low | High | Prior Month | September |
| 8 (January) | 68 (June) | 51 | 44 |
The total amount of all Northwest Multiple Listing statuses measured 44 at month end. 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.)
September Results for Sold Homes
August’s 15 homes that went under contract set us up for a big sales month in September with 15 total homes closing escrow. The average sales price was just over $515K, the average dollars per square foot just snuck over $300.00 and the days on market were right on six weeks. Only one home closed over $700K, a Hemlock. There’s nothing wrong with Trilogy’s upper end inventory; there are just fewer qualified buyers. With merely five homes finding mutual agreement between buyers and sellers in September, expect October’s closings to be dismal. Low to lower mid-range priced homes dominated the sales yet, as of October first, there were exactly ZERO homes for sale in Trilogy under $550K that were not affordable housing. If you are thinking of selling and you are in the mid $500s or below, now would be the time. There is pent up demand and no competition. If you have any questions whatsoever, call me. That’s what I’m here for and we don’t care if you need to sell immediately or two years from now. We’ll need business then too. In other words, we’d love to be your real estate resource without the pressure.
Here’s What Sold
| Model | Original Asking Price | Asking Price when Sold | Sale Price | Days on Market |
| Chelan | $385,000 | $344,000 | $344,000 | 119 |
| Townsend | $398,000 | $388,000 | $381,000 | 90 |
| Chelan – Represented Seller | $398,000 | $398,000 | $398,000 | 25 |
| Discovery | $430,000 | $430,000 | $428,000 | 7 |
| Union – Represented Buyer | $464,900 | $454,900 | $450,000 | 69 |
| Union | $489,900 | $489,900 | $473,000 | 21 |
| Union – Represented Seller | $489,000 | $489,000 | $485,000 | 11 |
| Washington | $539,500 | $539,500 | $530,000 | 42 |
| Whidbey | $569,900 | $569,900 | $560,000 | 33 |
| Bainbridge | $599,500 | $599,500 | $590,000 | 3 |
| Bainbridge – Represented Seller | $599,000 | $599,000 | $599,000 | 6 |
| Maple – Represented Buyer | $739,900 | $699,800 | $699,800 | 54 |
| Hemlock | $740,000 | $740,000 | $740,000 | 27 |
*Homes in bold; the Elephant’s work. The average number of days on market was 44. The Elephant’s listings spent an average of 30 days on market; over 30% faster. The average sales price, excluding the Elephant’s listings sold for 97.33% of original asking price. The Elephant’s sold for 99.57% of original asking price. It may not look like much but, when you take that 2.25% and apply it to the average sales price of $515,343, that’s another $11,498.00 in the pocket of our sellers. That’s a nice vacation or a decent contribution to your grandchild’s college fund. By the way, those three listings set the bar for pricing for a Chelan, Union and Bainbridge for all of 2014. Some Sellers listen; not all do. There is a difference in the way we prepare, promote, price and present and it works. We measure our success by how well we serve others.
For upper end Buyers, there are some great deals right now and it definitely is the time to make a move. We have an absolutely gorgeous, Golf Course Redford offered at $50K below its recent Million Dollar appraisal. This is a hard to find floor plan and it has around a quarter of a million dollars in upgrades. It hosts beautiful views of the 16th green, the fairway and the Cascade Mountains and there’s no one on three sides. We, also, have a hardly lived in Golf Course Cedar with terrific upgrades for $795K. The Maryhill, Monticello and Hemlock listed above are all great deals, as well.
New Pending and Under Contract!
Buyers are scant so do it right! Pay attention to every detail, don’t turn down a showing and listen to your broker. Trust yourself that you did a good job in hiring who you hired. They know what they’re doing, if you did a careful job of interviewing and didn’t get your ego in the way of hiring a good broker. It’s not important that they are “really nice” which is how someone recently described their listing broker outside of Trilogy. It’s more important that they are “good” and respect your wishes. Your home is spic and span now, you know how to prepare the lighting, the music, the aroma and the stage is set. Keep the flyer box full and don’t miss a single opportunity because, it could very well be the one that matters and there isn’t a lot of traffic this time of year. A good broker can sell a good house anywhere, almost any time of year, they just need to know what they’re doing and care. For you, it’s the little things you do, when you don’t have to, that will make all the difference of where you’ll be when you can no longer help it.
Here’s What’s Currently Pending or Pending Inspection:
| Model | Original Asking Price | Current Asking Price | Days on Market |
| Discovery – P.I. | $435,000 | $435,000 | 6 |
| Oakwood – P.I. | $797,950 | $779,950 | 136 |
| Orchard | $433,888 | $433,888 | 47 |
| Whidbey | $529,000 | $515,000 | 75 |
| Vancouver | $619,950 | $569,000 | 119 |
Yes, that’s it. Average days on market are 77 for these five pending homes. It’s nice to see an upper end home reach mutual acceptance. Credit that to a nice presentation and proper pricing. Congratulations.
What’s Available for Sale?
| Model | Original Price | Asking Price | Days on Market | Elephant thoughts: |
| Chelan | $318,691 | $318,691 | 182 | ARCH Home |
| Union | $439,000 | $427,500 | 75 | ARCH Home |
| Whidbey | $559,000 | $552,900 | 95 | |
| Vancouver | $569,000 | $555,000 | 56 | |
| Washington | $559,950 | $539,000 | 96 | Just Reduced |
| Bainbridge | $599,950 | $589,000 | 97 | |
| Bainbridge | $599,900 | $599,900 | 39 | |
| Vancouver | $599,950 | $599,950 | 12 | |
| Cedar | $709,000 | $709,000 | 81 | |
| Maple | $750,000 | $725,000 | 40 | Now Pending |
| Hemlock | $748,850 | $729,980 | 61 | Corner Greenbelt |
| Cedar | $769,950 | $730,000 | 117 | Now P.I. |
| Cedar | $850,000 | $795,000 | 150 | Golf Course Home |
| Monticello | $920,000 | $850,000 | 95 | |
| Maryhill | $940,000 | $879,000 | 214 | Corner Greenbelt |
| Redford | $1,025,000 | $950,000 | 83 | Golf Course Home |
*Homes in bold; the Elephant’s listings.
The average home had been on the market over three months at the beginning of the month. I can remember, at the peak of summer, the average listing had been on the market 12 days. As I’ve stated many times, “Trilogy peaked early.” If you missed the peak, yes, pricing did drop slightly, especially in the upper end. The good news at the end of the rainbow now is that we’ve reached normalcy. Pricing seems to have stabilized, even in our little piece of Paradise, and you can count on normal appreciation from now through 2015 barring a major crisis.
Note: Within this report, we share what is available at the first of the month for consistent and measurable month over month reporting. To view all currently available Trilogy listings CLICK HERE
Some Interesting Tidbits From a Bit of a Statistician:
- Of the 81 sales from January first through the last day of the third quarter, none of them were short sales or foreclosures; a sure sign that the gloom and doom is far behind us. Two of the sales were ARCH homes (a regional coalition for affordable housing.) One of those was sold by yours truly.
- There is a selling broker side and a listing broker side to each of those transactions for a total of 162 individual sides. Among nearly 90 agents involved in Trilogy sales this year, we’re honored to have represented the buyer or seller in nearly one-third of the overall transactions. It’s truly a whole lot of fun and we are very grateful to have been able to serve. Thank you to all concerned.
- Trilogy makes up more than half of the listings we handle each month but did you know we can apply the Elephant way to helping your friends and family outside of Trilogy? With that in mind, we’ve developed a team of brokers and a marketing specialist who can handle just about anything. We know Western Washington extremely well from the Canadian border to about the Kent/Renton area. We are willing to take care of any need from about Mt. Vernon to the Kent/Renton area. This corridor allows us to serve effectively. Please, feel free to contact us should you have any questions whatsoever.
- According to the NWMLS, all of Redmond dropped from 120 sales in August to 91 this year, which is a 24% drop; less inventory is evident. However, the same report shows an increase of 13% year over year with average pricing rising from $611,146 last year to $687,386 this year. Not too shabby!
- Did you notice the hard copy of this report did not come to your door last month? Hey, shoot me. Sometimes we just get busy. Its life, isn’t it? I report consistently; sometimes there’s no time to format into hard copy but we do our best. To be sure you get the full scoop each and every month, all you need to do is sign up at HERE and we’ll email it to you! We promise to not be like so many others and bombard you with other minutia. Just the facts, is what we’re all about so you’ll get the report once a month and that’s it!
We Love Feedback
Your emails are very welcome. If you have anything you’d like us to address, by all means, drop us a line! Of course we are not perfect so mentoring is very welcome, as well. We love growth in any facet. Thank you, in advance.
Seeking Homes
If you have a Madison with at least a reasonably sized back yard where grandchildren could play, a home below $800K with a fenced back yard for Fido, or home under $439K, we may very well have a buyer for you, please let us know. Perhaps we can help one another.
That’s a wrap for September. I’ll do my best to work October’s report up much earlier in November before we take a little R & R. Enjoy the beautiful fall weather and God bless!