Lake Martin Voice Realty
Archive for May, 2009
Lake Martin Waterfront Sales Sputter In April
After several consecutive months of meeting or beating prior year’s sales, waterfront homes sold on Lake Martin dropped in April 2009 to 9 total, 7 fewer than were sold in April 2008.
When I wrote about the number of Lake Martin homes sold in the first quarter of 2009 in this post, I commented that there were many homes with the status of pending, meaning that they were under contract to sell. I thought that if all those closed, we would easily beat April of 2008. But apparently many of those are still under contract. Maybe this means that May 2009 will trounce May 2008, because at this writing there are 28 pending and in May 2008 there were only 14 homes that closed. Granted, I am sure that some may be homes under construction, or condos with long due diligence phases. I do think that Lake Martin (like almost all other markets) is experiencing longer times between contract agreement and closing. Lenders (more specifically their underwriters) are requiring more and more red tape and documents during the process, so it is taking longer to close.
Here is the chart showing monthly waterfront sales on Lake Martin. You can see the drop in April 2009:
Once you add them up cumulatively, you can see that 2009 is already behind 2008.
We will have to wait and see if Lake Martin has a surge of sales in May to make up for the stall in April. Please keep in mind, these statistics are for the entire Lake Martin MLS, all realtors, all brokerages. Here is a look at the numbers only:
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Obviously a big part of the equation is the amount of waterfront homes and condos for sale, aka Active Listings. Take a look at this graph of the total waterfront listings in the Lake Martin MLS, starting in 2007:
You can see that in December 2007 and January 2008, the listings bottomed out at about 341, and then rose from there. It looks like we also found a bottom in December 2008 and January 2009, but at 421, which was a 23% increase from prior year. Will we continue to see more homes come on the market in 2009? Personally I do not think we will see as many homes come on the market in 2009 because as I stated in this post covering first quarter 2009 sales, there are virtually no new spec homes being built right now. Sure, there are a few here and there, but I don’t think they will be a big effect. Look at the huge leap from January to May 2008. We didn’t see that this year, but we ended up in the same place. My biggest question with supply is if we will have fewer new spec homes on the market, will they be replaced by Lake Martin foreclosures, short sales, and lender REO?
Looking Deeper
Since the late spring is such a crucial time in the Lake Martin real estate market, let’s take a deeper look at the numbers and answer some general questions like:
1. Of all the homes for sale right now on Lake Martin, how many are homes, how many are condos, and what is the price breakdown?
2. What is the price breakdown of homes and condos that have sold in 2009 so far?
3. What about Lake Martin waterfront lots for sale?
1. Lake Martin Homes and Condos For Sale Right Now
If you check the Lake Martin MLS, there are 851 residences for sale right now. 559 of those are waterfront. 557 are on Lake Martin. Of that 557, 158 are listed as condos or town homes. 7 are mobile homes. So that leaves 392 single family homes that are on the water. I think that is overstated, as I have seen many condos that are incorrectly designated as homes, but for now I will work with these.
Of the 392, only 23 are on leased lots.
The price breakdown of the 392 homes for sale on Lake Martin is:
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2.Sold Homes and Condos
Here is how that same chart looks if we apply it to the 31 homes that have sold through April 30, 2009:
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3. Lake Martin Waterfront Lots Breakdown
At this writing, if you run a search in the Lake Martin MLS, and you select “Waterfront” = Y, you find that there are 162 lots for sale. If you look more closely, you find that four of those are on Yates Lake, seven on Lake Tallassee, one on Lake Jordan, and seven are on private lakes or “other.” If we are focusing only on Lake Martin, that leaves 143 lots for sale on Lake Martin. Here is the price breakdown:
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In short, we have an big oversupply of lots for sale. To put it into perspective, look at it beside the sales and inventory statistics, as of April 2009:
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You read that right, yes, only 3 lots have sold through the MLS on the entire lake so far this year. 2008 was the same story. It is interesting to note that in May 2008 7 sold, the equivalent of 20 months of inventory, which is approaching a balanced market condition. It tells me that the market has the potential, in spurts, to act normal. So what’s holding it back? Price, I think. Sellers, especially lot sellers, need to take a long hard look at price because they have 3 times the relative amount of competition than do home or condo sellers.
APPLICATION
If you made it this far, you have to be wondering, what does this all mean to me?
Buyers- If you are interested in buying property on Lake Martin right now, the biggest problem you will have will be sorting through all of the noise. Yes, there are good deals out there, and yes there are still some overpriced dogs. When your perfect spot comes available, will you be ready? Call me, I can help you find your dream home or lot!
Sellers: Do not despair, you CAN still sell in this environment, but it requires extraordinary effort from you and your agent. Call me, I can help you address these 3 crucial aspects of selling: 1.) pricing, 2.) staging, and 3.) marketing.
Related Posts:
Lake Martin Sales – 2008 Year In Review
Lake Martin Sales – 2007 Year In Review
Or for every post I have done on the subject:
Lake Martin Market Statistics Category
(*)Disclaimers: All of the above info was taken from the Lake Martin Area Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service. Accuracy is not guaranteed but deemed reliable. The above does not include sales by FSBOs or developers that sell privately and not through the MLS. But, I do think that the above represents a very large majority of all sales on Lake Martin.
Tour Lake Martin’s Ridge Homes And Help Out Children’s Harbor
Will you be at Lake Martin this Saturday, May 16, 2009, and enjoy touring waterfront homes on Lake Martin?
Then you may be interested in the Third Annual Lake Martin Tour of Homes. Proceeds from the tour will benefit Children’s Harbor. Children’s Harbor serves seriously ill children and their families at the Family Center at Children’s Hospital in Birmingham and at Lake Martin, which is just south of Kowaliga Bridge on Highway 63
Last year the tour was of homes in Trillium. This year the tour will visit four homes in The Ridge designed by architects Bill Ingram and Bobby McAlpine.
The tours will begin at The Ridge Club from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Tickets are $25 in advance and can be purchased in Alexander City at MacDavid & Company, Cloud Nine, The Shoppes of Queens Attic, and Catherine’s Market. Tickets will also be available the day of the tour at the Ridge Club.
To learn more about Children’s Harbor, an extremely worthy cause, visit www.childrensharbor.com.
Clean Up Lake Martin Tomorrow
If you are looking for last minute things to do around Lake Martin this weekend, I remind you that the annual Renew Our Rivers Cleanup is happening tomorrow, May 9, 2009.
As always the event is sponsored by Alabama Power – details here.
Volunteers will meet at DARE Park in Dadeville at 8 a.m. The cleanup will end at noon.
Contact: Denise Walls at 256-215-4404, e-mail dwalls@lakemartineda.com, or sign up through Facebook.com, search for Lake Martin.
Usually they have a sign in post at Kowaliga Bridge, but I haven’t noticed that among the promotional items this year. It only mentions the DARE park as a sign in post.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the DARE park, it is on the eastern side of Lake Martin, off of County Road 34. Here is a google map:
Lake Martin BBQ Fans – Check Out The Red Hill Cottage Cafe
Cotton’s BBQ has some competition.
Last week I ate at the Red Hill Cottage Cafe with my fellow Lake Martin realtor John Christenberry. He had been there before, and claimed that their barbecue was as good as Cotton’s. I laughed at him and accepted the challenge.
Verdict:
John was right, it is really good. Apparently their angle is that they cook everything on Green Egg Grills. They are also distributors for the Green Egg and you can get related supplies there, as well as a bunch of other lake home decor and furniture. It all looked nice, but I was there on a mission for Q.
I am an admitted stickler for good BBQ, therefore I am really tough on Q restaurants. The Red Hill Cottage Cafe passes easily.
Method: As stated before, they cook on Green Egg Grills, so that means their Boston butts are directly suspended over the coals. The good thing about this is that when the fat is rendered out, it drips down into the coals, sizzles, and returns as flavor bombs that return to the butt. Yum.
Presentation: I ate a sandwich, and the meat was of the pulled persuasion as opposed to Cotton’s that chops. No judgement here, to each his own. But I do think that the pulled method helped Red Hill expose the fabulous job on the meat.
Sauce: The sauce was good. Tomato based, sweet yet not overwhelming. They also did not put too much on it to hide 
the meat. That’s one thing I don’t understand about some places, they purportedly spend 12 hours cooking the meat and then smother it in sauce that they cooked in 30 minutes. Personally I like Cotton’s tomato based sauce better. One suggestion – I wonder how good Red Hill’s pulled pork would fare with a vinegar based sauce that can penetrate every nook and cranny on that sandwich? Plus they would be the only ones in the area with a vinegar based sauce.
Cost: It was cheap. $2.95 for a sandwich. Every lunch gets free dessert. I would say that the same meal at Jim N Nicks would be $15 pre-tip and it would not be 1/2 as good.
The Last Word: Great – a welcome addition to the list of Lake Martin restaurants. Their barbecue is so good that I wonder why they do anything else. It is every bit as good as Cotton’s, and for me that is saying a lot. I think they will benefit each other, because they all help traffic, which helps all area restaurants. In fact, Red Hill, along with Green Valley, Cotton’s, and Catherine’s, are worthy foils to the east side eateries of Niffer’s and another of my prime favorites – Oskar’s. But thankfully Red Hill’s menu is different enough from each of them that I think all can peacefully coexist. Johnny G’s, however, had better step it up.
Where: The Red Hill Cottage (I guess it’s the name of the decor store) and Cottage Cafe are located on Alabama highway 229, just south of the intersection with Highway 50, by Castaway Island Road. Official address is 4068 Red Hill Road, Tallassee. Phone is 334-857-2233.
When: According to their menu, they are open 7 AM to 7 PM Wednesday through Saturday.
What: DOWNLOAD RED HILL’S MENU HERE – they serve a lot more than BBQ. Even breakfast. In fact, I went back the day after the Q meal and ordered 2 smoked turkey sandwiches, 1 smoked ham sandwich, 3 bags of chips, 3 co-colas, and got 3 free desserts (nanner pudding, bread pudding, and strawberry cobbler). My bill total was like $15 pre-tip. Not bad, and the sandwiches were great – a worthy “chick option” to the Q.
Hey Reader – what’s your take? Leave a reply below and let me know about your experience! If you don’t see the “Leave a reply” below this, click on the word “Comments” and leave one so we can all benefit.
