Welcome to the first-ever Irvine Team real estate blog!  I was a journalism major in college so, although rusty, I plan to add to this “blog” weekly — so you, too, can be well-informed on real estate in St. Louis, St Louis County, and St. Charles County! And we intend to include other interesting area things, like movies, restaurants, things to do with kids.  All real estate all the time can get overwhelming! And if you are relocating to the St. Louis area, please use our complimentary MLS search for all your needs. 

First of all, we are seeing — FINALLY — some good news in the field of real estate sales!  Monthly home resales (as opposed to new construction) rose the most in five years in September, according to figures just released.  What does this mean for us in Middle America??  Well, first, to be cautious, it may not be a permanent turnaround, as getting a loan is getting more difficult and interest rates have gone up. However, the Irvine Team has sold 150 homes so far this year — that’s a home every 2 days!  So homes are selling, despite what the media would have us think. 

The other lesson we are learning is that price is king!  Adjusting your price and making your house look like a display does work, when it comes to getting a contract!  At the Irvine Team, we have a Certified Home Stager  to help our sellers present their homes in the best possible light.  If you would like to learn more about staging, contact our client care manager, Kate Thompson, Kate@The IrvineTeam.com.   And we do monthly updates on specific areas that compete with our listings — so sellers can see quickly what is selling — and not selling — in their neighborhoods and reflect that in their homes.  After all, while a home is a lot of things to a homeowner, to a seller it is a commodity, just like a car.  And that buyer is looking for the best “deal” he can get out there.  In fact, sellers are really scared they might overpay…so we find they are taking a much longer time to make up their minds!

So why do I say this upswing is a good thing?  It means we are finally starting to sell homes — sales were up 5.5% over the previous 30 days and 1.4% over the last 12 months. And it also means that affordability is coming into the market — and that is good news, no matter where you live!   The median price of existing homes in September was down 9% over the previous 12 months and a whopping 18.5% in the West.  Glad we don’t live out west!  While we do not have the depth of foreclosures in the St. Louis marketplace that they have in other parts of the country, the National Association of Realtors estimates last week that 35-40% of the resale homes nationwide were distressed sales.  If a home in a neighborhood has a foreclosure within 1/8 of a mile of it, it could affect the price by 1%.  And, if there are more than one, it can add to that figure!

At the Irvine Team, we have just been certified to handle “short sales” and “foreclosures”.  And it isn’t as difficult as one might think.  The CDPE designation means we are experts at assisting home sellers in distressed situations as well as expediting transactions for motivated buyers.  For more information, just call the Team at 636-391-2100.  Or contact us here.

Now, on to fun stuff!  Bos and I saw the movie “The Duchess” last week and thoroughly enjoyed it — getting out of the real world and back into the 18th century! The Duchess of Devonshire is, by the way,  an ancestor of Princess Diana.  What I didn’t know is that the Duke of Devonshire, who was a very powerful man second only to the king, had a mistress who lived with he and his wife for 25 years! 

And we also heard that Agostinos, which was at the corner of Manchester and Clarkson, is moving into the restaurant quarters where “Tsunami” used to be on Long Road in Chesterfield Valley.  Don’t know when it will open, but maybe we will get our own “Little Hill” in West County! 

Remember, if you need advice on housing, staging, distressed sales, we are at your “beck and call”. 

Kathy

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