Most people know that the summer is the best time to sell a home. The kids are out of school and people want to find a place to live before school starts back up. If you are thinking about selling your home, now is the right time. Why?
1. The inventory of homes on the market in the Cabot area has decreased substantially from what it was two years ago. Sure, home sales are also down from what they were two years ago, but sales are not down as much as the decrease in inventory.
2. More home buyers are out during the summer months. The kids are out of school and the whole family can go out and looking for a home.
3. The Little Rock Air Force Base seems to do more rotations during the summer months. Since the summer began we have been working with several more military buyers looking in the Cabot area.
These are only a few reasons of why to list your home for sale right now. The market in Cabot is down, but not even close to how bad the national news makes it sound. Feel free to contact us at www.cabot4sale.com for a free market analysis.
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With Little Rock Air Force Base so close to Cabot, we get several out of State and overseas buyers. It is our job to familiarize buyers about the Cabot area before they get here and after they get here. One service that we offer to buyers is video taping homes they like and posting them to Youtube. Video footage seems to help someone better visualize a home then pictures do.
We also offer many other services to buyers coming to the Cabot Arkansas area. If you are moving to the area soon and would like assistance with your move write us a letter at the Contact Us page on www.cabot4sale.com .
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There are currently 33 foreclosures and short sales listed on the MLS in the Cabot Arkansas area. They range in price from $76,000-$329,000. Some of them are good deals and others are not. There are several of the foreclosures and short sales that are move in ready. If you are interested in getting a list of foreclosures and short sales visit our Cabot foreclosure page.
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On my last post that I wrote that there were 85 homes that had sold in the Cabot area during the month of May. Since then there have been five more homes listed as sold during the month of may. That brings the total up to 90 homes that sold during may of this year in the Cabot area. Here are the price ranges of the sold homes in the Cabot area.
0-100K 18
100-110K 8
110-120K 16
120-130K 5
130-140K 10
140-150K 4
150-160K 6
160-170K 5
170-180K 3
180-190K 2
190-200K 2
200-210K 0
210-220K 0
220-230K 2
230-240K 2
240-250K 2
250-300K 2
300K & above 3
One thing that I have noticed is there are more bigger homes in the Cabot area that are selling. Lately there have not been many homes selling in Cabot that are 250K and above. If you have any questions about the Cabot real estate market feel free to visit www.cabot4sale.com and go to the contact us page.
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Cabot homes sales were up this May. There were 81 Homes sold in the Cabot area during May. That number is up from last year's May. There were only 75 homes sold in the Cabot area in May 2008. Home sales this May are also up compared to this year's April home sales. In April there were only 65 homes sold in the Cabot Arkansas area.
Hopefully home sales will continue to rise throughout the year. Many economist believe the national real estate market will recover by the end of this year. As of today the Cabot real estate market is down 15.4% from this time last year. Compared to other parts of the state and the nation that is not to bad.
My next post I will write about the different price ranges that sold in May.
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You all have heard the bad news about the economy and the housing market. It is shoved in our face daily. No, it's probably not the best time to sell a home. The same reasons it's bad to sell, makes it a great time to buy a home. Here are the reasons why it is a great time to buy a home in Cabot Arkansas.
Interest Rates- Buyers that I have been working with lately have been getting around 5%. Some get quite a bit lower and some get a little higher, but most are around five percent. That is an incredible interest rate considering in 2007 they were in the 6%-7% range.
Foreclosures- Cabot has several foreclosures that are great deals. Some of the foreclosures on the Cabot market right now are move in ready.
Home Prices are Lower- Luckily, the Cabot area has not seen some of the decreases in home prices like other areas, but prices are lower then a couple years ago. Sellers are more willing to negotiate. Sometimes they can't negotiate on the price so they will find other ways to make up for it. They will throw in the fridge you ask for. They may be willing to go the extra mile to hang on to the buyers they have.
$8,000 Tax Credit to First Time Home Buyers- That speaks for it's self. That is $8,000 in your pocket for next years taxes if you are a first time home buyer and buy before Jan. 1 2010.
The Housing Market will Recover- A home is first and foremost something you live in, but it is also an investment. Right now, when the market is down is a great time to make that investment. Most all economist agree the housing market will recover. Here is a link to an article on msn money about the outlook on the U.S. real estate market.
This year there have been 12 homes in the Cabot area that have sold for more than 250K. That number is up from last year at this time. Last year there were only 10 homes sold in the Cabot area for over 250K.
That is surprising that the number of larger home sales is up when the over all market is down. There have also been changes made in lending since then that would make it seem like larger home sales would be down.
Although up from last year at this time, we are still down from 2006 numbers. At this time of the year in 2006 there were 26 homes sold in the Cabot area over 250K.
As you can see, we still have a ways to go to get the market back up to where it was.
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February was the last month that I wrote about the number of active homes for sale in the Cabot area. There were 428 actively listed when I wrote that post.
As of today there are currently 419 homes currently listed on the Cabot real estate market. The Cabot inventory of homes for sale have been steadily decreasing since Dec. of last year. This is a good sign, economist say shrinking inventories will help demand increase.
I will continue to keep you updated with the number of active homes in the Cabot area.
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In my last post I mentioned there were 60 homes that sold in the Cabot area during the month of April. Since that last post there were 5 more homes recorded as sold during the month of April. Here is a highlight of the price ranges that Cabot homes sold in during April.
0-100K 15
100-110K 6
110-120K 8
120-130K 4
130-140K 6
140-150K 6
150-160K 3
160-170K 3
170-180K 4
180-190K 0
190-200K 1
200-210K 1
210-220K 4
220-230K 0
230-240K 0
240-250K 0
250 and above 4
If you are trying to sell a home in Cabot you should have a good idea of how homes in your price range are selling. If you would like more information about your home specifically visit the Contact me page at Cabot4sale.com.
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This April in the Cabot area there were 60 homes sold. That is a 21% decrease in sales from the previous year during April. Here are the April home sales in Cabot over the past five years:
2009= 60
2008= 76
2007= 69
2006= 83
2005= 92
As you can see, 2005 and 2006 were substantially better for Cabot home sales. My next post will highlight the sold home prices during April of this year.
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My last post mentioned the number of homes that were sold in the Cabot area during March. There were 75 homes sold in the Cabot area that month. Here are the price ranges and number of Cabot homes that sold in each price range during that month.
0-100K 15
100-110K 8
110-120K 7
120-130K 13
130-140K 7
140-150K 3
150-160K 4
160-170K 2
170-180K 2
180-190K 2
190-200K 0
200-210K 2
210-220K 2
220-230K 2
230-240K 1
250 & above 5
One thing that sticks out this month compared to the last few months is there were more bigger home sales in Cabot during March. Out of the 75 homes sold 16% of them were priced over 200K. That is a good thing to see if you are a seller with a home over 200K. My next post will focus on the current inventory of Cabot homes for sale.
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This March has shown a little improvement from previous months this year. Jan. and Feb. were rough months for the Cabot real estate market. March was not great, but better than the other two months.
This March the Cabot real estate market was still down in total number of sales compared to last year' March. There were 75 homes sold in the Cabot area this March. That is still a 12.7% decrease from last year's March. Here are the total number of March sales for the past four years:
2009: 75
2008: 86
2007: 88
2006: 100
As you can see the numbers are still down compared to previous years. This still is not as bad as other months that I have seen 30%-40% decreases in year over year sales. My next post will give the price ranges that the sold March homes were in.
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My last two post have been to inform home buyers of some risks in buying new construction homes. The risks that I have been pointing out are observations that I have made in homes that I have sold in the Cabot area. The last risk that I am going to point out is one that is hopefully not very common.
I have had a couple builders in the Cabot area become very difficult in honoring their one year builder warranty they offer with a new home. The builder warranty generally covers everything in the home for one year. The buyer is supposed to be prepare a list of problems, call the builder and they will come out and make the needed repairs. Since the recent downturn in the economy a few builders in the area have been difficult in honoring that warranty.
Luckily not all of the builders in the Cabot area are like that. The majority of them honor the warranty and follow through with the repairs. I did not write these past posts to discourage anyone from buying a new home. More often than not, buyers will buy a new home in Cabot and not have any of the problems mentioned in these posts.
I feel it is part of my job to make people aware of the possible risks that are associated with buying and selling. There are several risks in buying an existing home also. That is for another post though. I hope this has helped to inform potential buyers of what could possibly happened when buying a new construction home.
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My last post I wrote about a serious risk when buying a new home. Settling was the topic of my last post. I discussed about the soil in Cabot and how settling and foundation problems can be a risk in buying a new home.
This post I am going to talk about buying a brand new home in a Cabot subdivision. I am not trying to discourage anyone from buying a new home, but trying to educate buyers about the risks. Buying a new home in a new Cabot subdivision can be a risk. Why?
If you buy a new home in a new subdivision and have to sell before they finish building homes in the subdivision; you may have trouble with your resale. Nobody would want to buy a home that has been lived in when they can get a brand new home for close to the same price. Many people would be willing to pay the extra money to buy a new home instead of buy one that has been lived in.
We have had sellers have problems with this. They were transfered out of the area because of a job and they could not sell their home. Most of them end up dropping the price way down a bringing money to the table.
Just another issue to be aware of when buying a new home in Cabot or anywhere.
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Buying a brand new home is always tempting to anyone buying a home. Everything is brand new. Nobody has scuffed the walls, stained the carpet, or dirtied the oven. Many times buyers have the builder build a custom home just how they like it and want it.
New construction homes can be a great deal and fulfill all of the buyers expectations in a home. There are a few important issues to be aware of when you are buying a new home in or around the Cabot Arkansas area. Today I will focus on one and the next couple post will lists the others.
Settling- The soil around the Cabot area is not the best kind of soil to build homes on. Different areas of Lonoke County do have different kinds of soil, but the majority of soil around the Cabot area is clay based. The clay based soil in the area makes foundation problems a factor when building in the Cabot area. Don't get me wrong, there could be foundation problems anywhere a home is built.
That is why I wanted to caution anyone buying a new home that there is a risk to buying a brand new home. You could move in and a couple of months later have tile cracking and doors not shutting. Some of it may be common settling and some of it may be major foundation problems. You do not know, that is the point of this post. If you were to buy a home that was three or four years old there may be an indication of settling problems and you would have an idea of what to expect.
There is a precaution that can be taken. You can be sure that your new home has what is called a 2-10 warranty. That is a warranty the builder pays for to cover items in the house for two years and the foundation for ten years. From my own experiences with 2-10 warranties, it is hard to get them to pay out a claim. It would still be better than nothing.
I am not writing these posts to discourage anyone from buying new construction homes. I am just listing things to be aware of when buying new construction homes. I believe that everyone should know the risks of any investment they make. If you have any questions, feel free to email me. There is an email me link at www.cabot4sale.com
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