Lake Martin Voice Realty
Lake Martin Foreclosure And Condo Sales In 2011
Here I continue my series of posts of the waterfront property sales results of 2011 on Lake Martin, Alabama. Earlier I have looked at residential sales in general, and yesterday I covered waterfront lot sales.
Today I would like to cover the effect of foreclosures and condominiums had on Lake Martin property sales in 2011.
Lake Martin Foreclosure Sales In 2011
The economists that advise shows like The View are a constant source to reassure us that the real estate market is terrible everywhere. They would have us believe that everyone in the nation is either in foreclosure, about to be foreclosed, or at the very least in a short sale. I find that hard to believe, though. I am sure that Whoopi and the gang consult with experts before they make broad, potentially very misleading comments about the economy.
However, here at Lake Martin we are well past the bottom of our market. I have blogged about this in the past. We have not seen a heavy percentage of our sales being foreclosures as in other markets. But I thought I would put a number to it, and see if my generalizations are correct.
Low Percentage: 7% Were Foreclosures
I combed through all of the residential waterfront sale for the last three years. I had to look at the “Owner” field in our MLS and just sort of guess whether they were foreclosures or not. This makes you inherently dependent on the listing agent to have entered correct info, but the same can be said for any aspect of the MLS. I think it’s materially correct.
I found that, sure enough, the Lake Martin waterfront real estate market had a relatively low percentage of sales that were foreclosures, REOs, or bank owned, however you want to phrase it. Fifteen were sold in 2011, equaling 7% of the market. Fourteen, or once again 7%, sold in 2010. Another fourteen or 7% sold in 2009. Comparatively, that is a very low percent of sales.
Just to put it into perspective, according to this article in the AJC on November 29, 2011, about 30% of home sales in Atlanta are foreclosures. That is more than four times the rate on Lake Martin. Ouch.
Lake Martin Condo Sales In 2011
It’s pretty natural to talk about Lake Martin condo sales for 2011 after the foreclosure section. This is because most of the condo sales in the last three years on Lake Martin were sort of foreclosures.
By sort of foreclosures, I am referring to two condo complexes: Crowne Pointe and Stoneview Summit. Both of these developments were taken back by banks, and then finished out by the banks and then sold. So they were not foreclosures in the traditional sense, but neither were they straight up civilian seller situations.
total 2011: 37 – 2010: 33, 2009: 59
Stoneview Summit sold 17 condos in 2010 and 17 in 2011. This was good for 46% of all waterfront condo sales in 2011 and 52%.in 2010. Crowne Pointe sold 43 condos in 2009, which accounted for 73% of all sales.
This high percentage of sort of foreclosures produced the highest pricing pressure for any other market segment. I think that Lake Martin condo prices dropped lower than homes and lots.
Looking Ahead
I don’t think the condo market’s prices will get any better for 2012. At this writing, there are 79 waterfront condos for sale right now on Lake Martin, and 20 of them are in Stoneview Summit.
The good news is that there are no condo developments being built in the forseeable future, so perhaps that will give them a couple o more years to sell off current inventory.
What About Your Property?
I have been blabbing a lot about the market in general. Do you wonder how all this applies to your home or lot? Or maybe you are searching for your own spot on Lake Martin and would like me to tailor these market reports to help you.
If so, please email me with this contact form or at [email protected] or call me at 334 221 5862. I would be honored to try and help.
Related Posts:
Lake Martin Lot Sales 2011
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2011 – Year In Review
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2010 – Lot Sales
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2010
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2009 – Year In Review
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2008 – Year In Review
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2007 – Year In Review
All Lake Martin Market Reports
(*)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 waterfront sales on Lake Martin, Alabama.
Lake Martin Waterfront Lot Sales 2011
Waterfront lots sold well at Lake Martin in 2011. We the members of the Lake Martin Area Association of Realtors MLS* reported 39 waterfront lots were sold, which was 44% better than 2010 and more than double the total sold in 2008.
If you missed my Lake Martin Year End Review 2011 post where I covered the basics of homes and condos sold last year, please click here. Back to lots …….
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Last year when I covered Lake Martin’s waterfront lot sales for 2010 in this post, I called 2010 the comeback year for lot sales. Any time you have a 42% increase (19 to 27), that’s a comeback. 2011 posted another huge gain – 44% – over last year. I guess that is a Secretariat-eque, shut the competition down, stretch run.
Lake Martin Waterfront Lot Prices
The next thing I wondered about Lake Martin’s lot sales was the price distribution. What are lot prices like? The careful reader knows that I confess an almost prideful love of the lovely bell curve that the line chart of homes sales prices makes. Does the phenomenon repeat itself with lot sales?
Sadly, no. I tried for like 2 hours to make an informative yet pretty and easily readable chart to display Lake Martin lot sale price distribution. I could not make it work. My chart skills with Apple’s Numbers program are lacking and I just don’t think such a small sample works. I guess maybe I have to break the sales bands down to a very small increment, say $20,000. But that felt like I was imposing a result on the chart, instead of just following where the numbers led me, so in the end I decided to merely post the chart with the source data. It is pretty easy to read, anyway.
I also think that when you have a small sample pool as we do with waterfront lots, it makes better sense to drill down to examples rather than looking at macroeconomic trends.
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Lake Martin Lot Sales Trends
When I look at the sales results since 2008, I think that I see the greatest change in the price range of $150k – $199k, and then also in the $350k – $449k range. Those price bands jump out at me as the ones with the most relative increase in sales.
The $150k – $199k range didn’t really surprise me. That is the meat of the market and one would expect good sales there in any good year. The spurt of 9 sales in the $350k – $449k range is interesting and worth a closer look.
It turns out, as I expected, that all nine of them are in deed restricted neighborhoods with covenants. That is not too surprising in that most people that buy a high end lot on Lake Martin would like the protection of neighborhood covenants. True, there is a fair contingent of lot buyers who chafe at the yoke of Architectural Review Committees, but apparently at this price range most prefer it.
Also, of the nine waterfront lots sold in this range, seven were in neighborhoods developed by Russell Lands. Does this mean lot buyers seek out their lots? I can’t tell for sure, but I doubt it. I think it is simply a function of numbers. Most Lake Martin lots above $200,000 are in Russell Lands neighborhoods, so odds are that they will show up in the sales results. For this particular range of $350k – $449k, four were in The Ridge, two were in Willow Point, and one was in River Oaks to round out the seven. The two that were not in Russell Lands developments consisted of one in Marina Marin and the other in a small neighborhood called The Overlook on Lake Martin. It is off of Old Tree Road near Martin Dam.
Effect Of Neighborhoods On All Lot Sales
Next I began to wonder about all of the waterfront lot sales on Lake Martin. How many of them are in deed restricted neighborhoods? How many lot sales were the quintessential quaint country lot, free of covenants, where every man is his own master?
The answer is –> not many. Of the 39 waterfront lots sold on Lake Martin in 2011, only 9 of them appear to be free of covenants and are outside of neighborhoods. Now, I must alert you to a huge warning – I am only guessing at their restrictions here. Of those 9, maybe some do have restrictions and I just can’t tell from the MLS or from prior knowledge. But of the 30 that I counted as having covenants, those I am positively sure that they are in neighborhoods.
Interestingly, the highest price lot sale that was outside of a neighborhood was $300,000. There were two in the $150k – $200k range, but the rest were under $150k.
A last thought - being inside a neighborhood doesn’t guarantee a high sale price. The lowest priced lot sold in 2011 was in River Oaks, a Russell Lands development, and sold for $45,000. Before you ask – yes, it was in the back of a slough and had minimal waterfront and minimal water depth. I referenced it when a builder called me yesterday. He wanted to spend $50,000 for a lot, but it had to have year round water, a good view, and over 100 feet of shoreline on a private lot. Sorry, I said. Not going to happen.
Effect of Foreclosures on Lake Martin Lot Sales
How many of the lots sold on Lake Martin in the last two years were bank owned, REO, or foreclosures? Was this responsible for the sales increases?
I think the answer is not so much. Sixty six waterfront lots were sold from January 1, 2010, to December 31, 2011. I searched the owner name on all of these and eleven appeared to be foreclosures. The reason I had to make guesses on owner names is that in our MLS, we didn’t have a field marked “Foreclosure” until 2011. Going forward we will be able to search by that field. But since this included 2010, I had to guess at the owner name and trust that the listing agents had them right.
Eleven foreclosed lots out of 66 gives us about 17%. While that is higher (I think) than the percentage of foreclosed waterfront homes that were sold, it’s not that much higher. My gut tells me that only about 10% of homes sold in 2011 were foreclosures. If we reduced the foreclosed lots down to 10%, it would only be a 5 lot reduction, moving the sales totals to 34 for 2011. Still an excellent year.
Verdict: foreclosures affected lot sales only a little. I was surprised on this, I thought it would be more.
Do You Have Any Questions?
As I continue to break the numbers down for waterfront real estate sales on Lake Martin, please feel free to email with this form or at [email protected] with questions. I get my best ideas from my readers and clients so please feel free.
I think next I will look at residential sales again, and study the effects of foreclosures and condo sales.
Related Posts:
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2011 – Year In Review
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2010 – Lot Sales
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2010
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2009 – Year In Review
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2008 – Year In Review
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2007 – Year In Review
All Lake Martin Market Reports
(*)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 waterfront sales on Lake Martin, Alabama.
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2011 – Year In Review
Lake Martin waterfront home sales finished 2011 in style, selling 207 waterfront residences on the entire lake.
This total gives Lake Martin the highest home sales since 235 were sold in 2006. That’s not bad once you think about it. We posted the highest sales in five years. The statistics I quote are taken from Lake Martin Area Association of Realtors’ MLS*, and represent all real estate agents, all brokerages, over the entire lake.
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The significance of this strong year of home sales cannot be understated for Lake Martin. I have said it many times here on this blog, but it bears repeating: the Lake Martin waterfront real estate market is at least three and a half years past its bottom. Since July of 2008, everything has been uphill with regards to numbers of homes sold.
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Lake Martin Waterfront Home Sales By Month
If you would like the source data for the chart above, here below are all waterfront home, condo, and town home sales on Lake Martin, broken down by month:
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Below please find a line chart showing the same data for Lake Martin homes sold, I just removed 2005 through 2007 since I was getting too many lines on my chart and it was becoming hard for me to read. I feel that 2008 is an appropriate year with which to start this chart since it was the bottom.
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I think it is also notable that 2011 is the year that the market once again broke the 200 homes sold barrier. This is the first time we have broken 200 since 2006. Back then, Lake Martin was still firmly in the sales boom, although numbers of waterfront homes sold were dropping, prices were still rising. We didn’t quite realize that it was turning down. Those trying to sell their Lake Martin homes should have gotten out then if they wanted to perfectly time the market.
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This year, I think that Lake Martin is in just as pivotal a year. Sales increased by about 6%, but I think that prices still have not risen at all. I think that may change in 2012.
Lake Martin Waterfront Home Pricing Trends
I only look at prices of homes sold once a year on Lake Martin. This is because we have such a small number of homes sold, relative to large metro markets. It doesn’t make sense to look at it monthly because two or three abnormal homes can skew it too much. You sometimes see a 100% increase or decrease from month to month. Too volatile. Similarly, I do not track Lake Martin home prices by calendar quarter because we are a seasonal, second home or vacation home market. Check out the monthly sales chart above and you can see that the bulk of home sales happen in warm months.
I attempt to solve our small market problem by breaking the homes sold into categories, in increments of $100,000 to start with, and then observing what percentage of the total sales that each $100k band represents.
Without further ado:
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I think the above chart shows very clearly, and confirms my gut’s suspicion, that waterfront home, town home, and condo prices did not decrease on Lake Martin in 2011. They held steady with 2010 and 2009. While some sellers may interpret this as bad news (no sales increase) I think they should count their blessings.
At least there was no dip or decrease in prices. I would be shocked if there were. After all, Lake Martin is in a rising sales environment and has been for years.
So What?
So what does this chart mean? I think it means that once again, as in 2009 and 2010, the largest percentage of homes sold on Lake Martin were in the $200,000 – $299,999 range. Right at 25% of the waterfront home sold in 2009, 2010, and 2011 sold in that range.
If we had seen the entire bell curve shift forward towards the blue line of 2008, we could say (in my opinion) that we have evidence of price increases. But it didn’t.
I am tempted to say a price increase shift is starting in the way the $300k – $399k and $400k and $499k bands are bulging out a bit, straining in the chute, if you will. 2011 had a lot more sales in the 400s than did 2010, but the prior year beat 2011 in the 300s. I will call it a draw.
Why do I think there is a chance that we might see price increases in 2012? Because the home sales results keep chipping away at inventory. At the end of December, there were about 359 waterfront homes and condos for sale, after 207 sales in 12 months or a ratio of 1.73. Sure, December is the lowest listing period. But in December 2010 that number was 394 / 195 = 2.02.
Sellers - please hear me out. It is NOT time to raise prices like it was 2006. I am just saying that I can see the easing of downward pressure if sales continue.
Please stay tuned, I plan to write a lot more about 2011 Waterfront real estate sales on Lake Martin.
Related Posts:
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2010 – Lot Sales
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2010
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2009 – Year In Review
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2008 – Year In Review
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2007 – Year In Review
All Lake Martin Market Reports
(*)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 waterfront sales on Lake Martin, Alabama.
Aliant Bank Auctioning Water’s Edge Development On Lake Martin
Aliant Bank is auctioning the Water’s Edge neighborhood.
Water’s Edge, formerly known as Eagle Point, was a proposed waterfront development on the Big Kowaliga section of Lake Martin. It was (by my unscientific estimation) one of the largest, if not the largest, waterfront loan in Aliant’s history. It is located at the end of Coosa County Road 20, directly across the water from the old Veazey’s Marina near Willow Point.
Aliant loaned the money to real estate developers that tried to market it as Eagle Point, but the bank ended up taking that land back, and now has hired auctioneer JP King to auction off the whole shebang.
I have read JP King’s promotional materials and also called and emailed them for more information. At the time of this writing, they did not have a location map, neighborhood covenants and restrictions, but did have about 15 photos. Here are the major points:
Date: Saturday, March 10, 2012
Time: 10:00 AM Central Time
Place: “On Site” – I don’t know which part of the property that means, but if you take Coosa County Road 20 all the way east, surely they will have signage up.
Disclosure Of My Extreme Bias
I have a lot of personal bias when it comes to both Aliant Bank and Water’s Edge, nee Eagle Point.
Firstly, growing up in Alex City, I either know or am related to just about everyone that works there. Fine folks and experts at Lake Martin lending. In fact, they are about the only source that I know of right now that will loan on Alabama Power leased lot homes.
Secondly, I have a lot of personal history with Water’s Edge / Eagle Point. I helped Aliant do much of the homework (market studies, comparable sales, realtor stuff, etc.) when they first foreclosed. I also listed two of the spec homes that they had for sale. I had those homes listed during the construction phase and for several months after they were completed.
However - and this is a big however - I never listed any of the lots nor the Island parcel. Not the lots close to the spec houses (which the auctioneer is calling “The Cottages at Eagle Point”), nor the “island” portion (which the auctioneer is calling “Narrows Point at Water’s Edge”).
The only time (to my knowledge) that Aliant has put any of these lots on the market was when they listed lots 3 and 4 with Rhonda Gaskins at RealtySouth, the brokerage that listed the homes on lot 1 and lot 2 after my listing period expired. As was apparent in our Lake Martin MLS, they listed the lots for $195k and dropped the price to $159k before that listing expired late this fall.
Why The Water’s Edge Auction Will Be Interesting
I think Aliant’s auction of the foreclosed Eagle Point / Water’s Edge waterfront development will be interesting for three major reasons:
1.) Waterfront auctions on Lake Martin homes, lots, and other property have not gone well in the past. Foreclosed or not, I can only think of one auction where a sale has been consummated in the last five or so years. I sell Lake Martin real estate for a living, and that’s the sole example of success, but I can also recall five or six aborted attempts. One in particular, the auctioneer allegedly marched off in a huff after no one submitted an opening bid.
2.) The auction is not absolute. This may change, but as of this writing, according to auctioneer JP King, none of the parcels is being sold absolute. Selling absolute means, essentially, if you bid $1, and you’re the high bidder, you get to buy it at that, regardless. If it’s not absolute it means that the bank has a minimum price, and if the bids don’t meet their minimum, they are not compelled to sell to you. Granted, this may change. When I talked to the auction company, they admitted that their information was incomplete right now. (Sidebar – the auction is in about 10 weeks. When will it be complete? Who will bid without complete information?)
3.) Only two of the lots have ever been on the market. As mentioned above, they last asked $159k each for lots 3 and 4 on the “Cottages” parcel. They have never – repeat never – put the island portion on the market (that is the parcel they call The Narrows).
Would you like to bid on waterfront lots or homes at Water’s Edge? Please contact me using this form or call me at 334 221 5862.
More Information about Water’s Edge At Lake Martin
I have written extensively about Water’s Edge in the past and also taken tons of video. PLEASE KEEP IN MIND that these are old posts from when I had the homes listed, so the pricing etc. NO LONGER APPLIES:
Does Ceiling Color Keep Away Bugs?
Water’s Edge Featured In Lake Magazine
Lake Martin Seawall Construction
Lake Martin Waterfront Home Sales Beat Prior Year
It’s official, Lake Martin waterfront home sales in 2011 will be better than 2010.
Through October 31, 2011, 195 waterfront homes were sold on Lake Martin. If you check the Lake Martin real estate market for the entire year of 2010, you see that it took the full 12 months to reach the 195 level, and 194 were sold in 2009.
Since unofficial November 2011 results show that at least a few waterfront homes sold, one can confidently say that we beat the prior year of 2010.
My conservative guess is that the Lake Martin real estate market will finish 2011 with about 205 waterfront home sales. That equals an approximate 5% jump from 2010, and about 49% up from the post bubble low in 2008.
Lake Martin Waterfront Home Sales By Month
The below chart shows Lake Martin waterfront property home sales by month. It is from January 1, 2008 to October 31, 2011. You can see that 2011, at a monthly level, beat 2010 at almost every month. Please keep in mind that these numbers come from the Lake Martin MLS*, and reflect only waterfront home, condo, and town home sales by all members of the Lake Martin MLS, all brokerages.
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Cumulative Lake Martin Waterfront Home Sales
If you take the monthly sales numbers for the Lake Martin real estate market and add them together, you get the cumulative sales results. To me it is a bit easier to judge at a glance on this chart to tell how the year in total is trending versus prior years.
Please see the below chart. Here again I start at the post bubble low year of 2008 and bring it through October 31, 2011.
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Lake Martin Home Sales Versus Same Month Prior Year
Of all the numbers I crunch, of all my nerdly charts, the below one is the one I watch the most. It tracks how each month fares versus the same month in the prior year. For example, in October 2011, 15 waterfront homes were sold on Lake Martin. October 2010 saw 13 sales, all agents, all brokerages. That gives us a +2 rating for the current month.
Any positive number here is good. If I see several months in a row of negative numbers, I know that Lake Martin is in danger of stalling again. If we had been watching closely in 2006, we could have seen this coming.
The second home market here at Lake Martin has been on a win streak since since mid 2008. Has 2011 kept it rolling? The answer is yes.
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Lake Martin Waterfront Lot Sales
Has the momentum in home sales been mirrored in Lake Martin lots?
The answer for 2011 has been yes.
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While October 2011 itself racked zero waterfront lots sold, the year in total has been a runaway success. Through October 31, thirty three lots have sold in 2011. Compare that to 27 for all of 2010, and you see a hefty gain. Consider that 2010 was the lot comeback year, and you can appreciate the gravity of 2011′s success.
With the benefit of hindsight, we can see that 2008 and 2009 represented a two year divot for Lake Martin lot sales.
I like lot sales because they are a general barometer of construction potential. Let’s hope that our construction industry feels the trickle soon.
Related Posts:
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2011 – Through May
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2010 – Lot Sales
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2010
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2009 – Year In Review
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2008 – Year In Review
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2007 – Year In Review
All Lake Martin Market Reports
(*)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 waterfront sales on Lake Martin, Alabama.
Bluto – The Lake Martin Bear Market is Over!
"Zero point zero..."
Bluto Blutarsky might not want to admit it, but the bear market in Lake Martin waterfront real estate is over! As I have said many times on my various posts about Lake Martin Market Reports, I think the tide turned in the middle of 2008.
People keep talking about it, though, and that is understandable. So I covered the topic in my latest article in Lake Magazine. Here’s the link:
Nothing’s Over Until We Decide It Is
I am very grateful to publisher Kenneth Boone, aka Mr. Perfect, for allowing me to write these columns this year for his excellent Lake Martin Magazine. I have really enjoyed the different medium of writing that his magazine offers, and also relished the crossover discussions I have had with those who read his magazine more than they read my blog.
So if you are a Lake Martin Voice blog reader who is unfamiliar with Lake Martin Magazine, please check it out online and in print. They have the best photography around, and (present company excluded) some of the the best writing as well.
Movie References
When I think of the phrase “it’s over” – I always think of Animal House. However, as I was working on this article, I initially wanted to reference a different movie that also uses “it’s over” but in a much more dramatic way:
There’s that scene where the hard core Green Beret Colonel Trautman comes to the hick town to reign in his master warrior John Rambo, played of course, by Sly.
It really is a much better scene to convey the shake-them-into-reality feel that I wanted.
He hollers at Rambo:
“It’s over Johnny!”
I even was going to let that be the headline. But I thought it might confuse the reader into thinking he was screaming at me. Plus, Vietnam is not really a good comparison to second home real estate on Lake Martin. I didn’t want to stir up images of that.
Stallone fan or not, you have to admit that was a great movie, and an even better scene.
Even more, it launched an entire sub industry of survival knives.
I bought one at the Santuck Flea Market when I was 11 or 12. I still have it. I didn’t use it to fight any commies or even cauterize my own wounds but we do use it to dig up weeds in our yard.
My Barber Gives Cuts And Google Earth Tips
As a Lake Martin realtor, I am often guilty of a one track mind. I constantly bend every experience, every encounter in my life back to Lake Martin real estate. I admit it. So forgive me if you think this is stretching, but..
The other day I was early for my haircut appointment. My barber had another gentleman in the chair, snipping away. It’s a one chair “salon,” so I couldn’t help but overhear their conversation.
It was about Google Earth.
What? Yes.
El barbero, or master hair cutter (I think of him as the guy who has the misfortune of dealing with my ‘fro once a month), was trading Google Earth tips with his patron.
He is in his mid 50s. The customer is 70.
They were going back and forth with nuggets of wisdom about the online mapping service. I was listening pretty hard as I am a Google Earth newbie. They were talking about how easy it is to create custom maps, spots, and the like.
If they wouldn’t have thought me creepy, I would have videoed it on my iPhone.
It just goes to show you that this whole “internet” thing isn’t just for young people, unless you define young as under 80. These results are typical.
A Thank You Note To YouTube
2011, in my mind, will be the year that I should write YouTube a thank you note. I do a lot of online marketing on Twitter, Facebook, Posterous, Flickr, and the like. But my videos on Youtube are a huge blessing and are, pound for pound, the best return on my efforts aside from this blog.
“That’s great, John,” you may say. “But the only people watching videos on YouTube are kids.”
Wrong.
We at Lake Martin Voice Realty have uploaded so many videos about Lake Martin real estate, area events, restaurants, marinas, etc., that we have had almost 86,000 views of them at this writing. Phenomenal, and we have you to thank. We have uploaded over 200 of them. My average video length is about 3 minutes so that is 258,000 minutes that people have spent watching. Amazing and humbling.
86,000 – that is more than a couple of national real estate brands have. Check me out and see if I am wrong. Go to the YouTube channels of any national brand and see how many views they have. Then compare it to ours, and keep in mind that we (currently) have two agents doing all of this.
When you get that many views, YouTube starts courting you and asking you to put ads on your videos. They also give you perks like being able to see your demographics.
Check out the age range of who is watching my videos:
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Observe that over 60% of my video views come from people that are 45 and older. Amazingly, more views come from people 55 and older than do those who are younger than 35.
And that’s a good thing. This is proof positive that I am hitting the sweet spot, demographically. Well, I take that back. The ultimate proof is when I hear from buyers that call me and say, “hey, I saw one of your videos on…” or a seller that says “I love your video home tours.”
Thank you, I still need your help
I thank the Lord, and also you, dear reader and viewer, for the eye popping numbers. But I still need some help from you.
What do you like to watch or read about?
I have noticed that my highest read blog posts and most highly watched videos are on subjects that were originally suggested by readers. So please, please, keep those suggestions coming. Please contact me through this form or directly at [email protected] or [email protected]
Also – how can I increase my female viewership on YouTube?
Thanks!
New Foreclosure Field In Lake Martin MLS
Those interested in waterfront foreclosure homes or lots for sale on Lake Martin, Alabama, should take note of an interesting development.
The Lake Martin Area Association of Realtors’ MLS has made a new rule that any waterfront foreclosure home, lot, or condo should be designated as a foreclosure by selecting “Yes” in a new field of input in the MLS called “Foreclosure.”
Click here –> to request the Lake Martin Foreclosure List
FAQ related to this new development in Lake Martin waterfront foreclosures:
Photo By: randrflyfishing.com
1. What is a “field” in the Lake Martin MLS? A field is just an area of input. List price is a field. Number of bedrooms is a field. Number of baths is a field, etc. Now, Foreclosure is its own field, with the only possible answers being Yes / No.
2. So what? Why should I care that Foreclosure has its own field? Anything that has its own field can be searched easily and accurately. An easy search that yields good results is a good thing. Just ask Google. This will allow you, if you like, to view only waterfront foreclosures by searching in the MLS and looking for 3 criteria: 1. Status = Active, 2. Waterfront = Yes, 3. Foreclosure = Yes. This is how I search now instead of combing through each new listing and looking at the seller’s name.
3. How does this affect Lake Martin Voice’s foreclosure list? I have switched the search results now to show any waterfront homes or lots for sale that have Yes in the Foreclosure field. So – if you have requested my foreclosure list in the past – THERE IS NO NEED TO RE REQUEST IT. Just go to that same web address I gave you before. It will still work.
4. Are the same homes and lots that were on the old foreclosure list, now showing up on the new list? Mostly. There are a few lots on the old foreclosure list that the listing agents have not properly changed that field. But it’s mostly accurate. Obviously, any MLS is only as good as the agents that use it, so it is still possible for a listing agent to enter a new home for sale and accidentally click “No” in the Foreclosure field. But it’s not very probable.
5. How often is your Lake Martin waterfront foreclosure list updated? Whenever any realtor enters a new listing, or changes an old one, my new list is updated almost instantly. That is the beauty of a field driven search list versus the old list where it depended on me going in there and designating each waterfront foreclosure by hand. Again, if you have requested this list before, THERE IS NO NEED TO RE REQUEST IT. Just go to that same web address I gave you before. It will still work.
6. If it is so easy to search for waterfront foreclosures on Lake Martin now, why do I need you or your stinking list? Well, since you put it like that – you don’t. You can search for yourself as described in #2 above. Of course, I don’t need a trout fishing guide. I know how to get to the river. I know how to cast. Sorry guides don’t help me at all. But great guides – well, I hire them because they teach me. They tell me which fly is working today, and the 90% of the water I can skip to get to the 10% that’s the best. When it comes to my own deal, I haven’t set my business up to tell that tired old real estate tale that we agents guard this secret treasure of info. That is so pre 2002. Hogwash. Information is out there and free. You don’t need me for mere raw data. You can search here in the Lake Martin MLS and call me with your whittled down list and I can advise you then. Or you can contact me through this form or call me at 334-221-5862 and I can save you the trouble. Either way, I aim to more than earn my keep.
7. How can I request to see Lake Martin waterfront foreclosure list?
Fill out THIS FORECLOSURE REQUEST FORM. Feel free to comment on this post, but please note that COMMENTING ON THIS POST DOESN’T GET YOU THE LIST. You must fill out THIS FORM. Thanks. Again, if you have requested this list before, THERE IS NO NEED TO RE REQUEST IT. Just go to that same web address I gave you before. It will still work.
8. Where is the entire list? I requested and received your list, but there are not many on there. Joe Biden, Matt Lauer, AND Ryan Seacrest all told me that every home for sale in America is a foreclosure and costs 10 cents. What gives? Despite the collective economic wisdom of those guys, there are some areas that are NOT still being rocked by foreclosures. Lake Martin is one of them. We are averaging about 5% of waterfront homes for sale being foreclosures, not 30% like in other markets.
Please stay tuned to this blog for later posts where I will try to make some how to videos to help you search. In the meantime, please call me at 334-221-5862 if I may help.
Attack Of The Accountants
In my opinion, real estate advice that is based on folksy anecdotes is for chumps.
I mean to say – buying any sort of real estate, much less a waterfront home or lot on Lake Martin, is a big decision. You shouldn’t rely on other people’s whimsical stories or vague opinions as evidence to buy or not. In fact, this is one of the main reasons that I started this blog back in 2007 – to give hard facts…. verifiable evidence… the real story of what is going on with Lake Martin waterfront home, condo and lot sales.
That being said, please allow me to indulge in an anecdote once in four years. Please don’t take it seriously:
Accountants are attacking Lake Martin!
A couple of weeks ago I had a stretch of seven days where I showed homes to five different accountants. Two of them were actually married to each other. That’s right, a husband and wife CPA team. One of them joked that the CPA stands for “Can’t Pass Again.” Maybe, but in her case I doubt it. I majored in Accounting in college and after I graduated I didn’t sit for the CPA exam. I took and passed the CMA – which for me stood for “Scared of the CPA Exam.”
Spending college and the first phase of my career in the accounting world taught me that the cliches are mostly true. We accountants are a nerdy, math-brained, hyper analytical, careful with money bunch.
Here comes the anecdotal advice:
If a bunch of unrelated CPAs think that Lake Martin is a good buy, isn’t that a good sign?
Sure, it’s folksy, I know. But it’s a cute story. Think about it – isn’t it a good testimonial for Lake Martin? Like if your doctor actually exercised as much as she nags you to do? Like if your insurance agent actually bought those awful whole life policies at full retail prices instead of trying to sell these “great investments” to you? Like if the Turtle Man said, “Wow – there’s no way I’m swimming in that nasty pond,” would you swim in it?
Sit on the sidelines if you want, but, as your CPA will tell you, The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth.
Lake Martin Spring 2011 Real Estate Sales Results
Lake Martin has seen strong waterfront home sales for the first four months of 2011.
Forgive me for the boring title to this post, but sometimes straightforward is better. It’s also tough to make up a headline that encompasses a four month period (January 1, 2011 – April 30, 2011). The reason I wait so late to give the first Lake Martin MLS* real estate market report is that sales are typically low in January and February. Plus, I around that time I am compiling the much more statistically significant 2010 year end review. This year is no exception.
I am pleased to see that the overall Lake Martin real estate market reflects my gut feeling of a very swift sales season for waterfront homes. Personally for me, and also for my fellow Lake Martin Voice Realty agent John Christenberry, 2011 has been a year of tremendous blessing thus far. We have been able to help more buyers and sellers this year than ever before, and we thank you for that!
2011 Looks Like Another Strong Year
I read and watch a lot of so called real estate experts that predict a “double dip” – or another wave of foreclosures, or some such other phantom menace that will upend the market once again. Who knows? Maybe they are right. But one thing’s for sure – if it does happen again, we will see the fundamental market indicators start to weaken. By “fundamental market indicators” I simply mean the important statistics we all should be watching: homes sold versus last year and average prices. We haven’t seen those indicators weaken since their low of approximately July of 2008.
Since we are in such a small real estate market here at Lake Martin can only look once a year at pricing trends in order to have any degree of certainty. And when we look at homes sold versus last year, we see a strong market.
In the first four months of 2011, 56 waterfront homes were sold through the Lake Martin MLS – this is almost 8% over the 2010 total of 52.
If you look at the waterfront home sales by month, you see that 2011 beat 2010 three out of four of those months:
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I realize with so many years’ worth of Lake Martin MLS sales on this graph, it’s starting to be a bit busy looking. I might drop anything pre 2008 in the future, just to make it more readable.
Here are the same monthly numbers in a chart, in case you are more of a numbers person than a graph person:
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When you look at cumulative sales, you can see that 2011 is already way ahead of the trough year of 2008, and the comeback year of 2009:
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Here are the numbers, once again taken from the Lake Martin MLS and filtered for waterfront home sales only:
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Obviously, it is way too early in the year to say for sure that we will beat 2008 again. But at the pace that Lake Martin is on currently, and when I look on the MLS now and see how many sales are pending, I think it’s pretty safe to say that 2011 will be a good year for home sales, at least as many as 2010. And, when a market, whether we are talking about Lake Martin homes or yearling thoroughbreds, beats the previous year, that’s the definition of a rising market.
Number Of Waterfront Homes For Sale On Lake Martin
Over the last six months Lake Martin has seen the typical, seasonal rise and fall of homes on the MLS that are “Active” – aka For Sale. At April 30, 2011, that number stood just under 500.
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It’s a total guess, but my feeling is that we will peak out at the low to mid 500s in 2011. We don’t have any big condo projects that are about to dump a lot of units on the market at once, that I know of.
Lake Martin Waterfront Lot Sales
As of April 30, 2011 has been the best year for waterfront lot sales since 2006 at Lake Martin.
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A total of 15 waterfront lots have been sold on Lake Martin in 2011, through April 30.
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In short, it looks like 2011 will be another good year for Lake Martin real estate. Barring a huge blip in the road, we look to avoid the low of 2008 and continue to look like a post real estate bubble market.
I am not sure what kind of evidence people need to finally move past the mentality that we are in a crisis market. If three straight years of strong sales don’t do it, what will?
Related Posts:
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2010
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2009 – Waterfront Lots
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2009 – Year In Review
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2008 – Year In Review
Lake Martin Real Estate Sales 2007 – Year In Review
All Lake Martin Market Reports
(*)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 waterfront sales on Lake Martin, Alabama.
