OKC Real Estate Market

[AP]

http://journalrecord.com/2017/10/13/...own-from-2016/

I thought there was a similar thread out there but couldn;t find it. Can someone share the article?

[Richard at Remax]

Short answer is everything below $250K in average and up areas are doing just fine. Maybe up to $275K because that's where the FHA cutoff is. Anything above $275K might be sitting for a bit. Especially in the burbs. It's tough out there right now.

[FighttheGoodFight]

Short answer is everything below $250K in average and up areas are doing just fine. Maybe up to $275K because that's where the FHA cutoff is. Anything above $275K might be sitting for a bit. Especially in the burbs. It's tough out there right now.

Sounds about right. Any house in our neighborhood under 250k sells in less than a month. Anything above 300k looks like they have been sitting, some for a year or more.

[AP]

My neighborhood (Woodland Park) has been doing very well. Several houses on my street have sold recently in the 125/sqft range. Two years ago everything was in the 100/sqft range.

[BLJR]

Ditto to what the guys above said. Closing on a flip house this Friday. 1379 sq ft, and sold for $138,000. In a neighborhood that struggles to get $90 per sq ft. Mine was updated (except the bathrooms) and most in that neighborhood aren't.

[rte66man]

Location, location, location.

[warreng88]

OKC area home sales down from 2016

By: Molly M. Fleming The Journal Record October 13, 2017

OKLAHOMA CITY – Despite a busy summer for Realtors, Oklahoma City area home sales are down compared to the same time last year.

As of September, home sales were down 9.6 percent from the first nine months of 2016, according to data from Multiple Listing Service of Oklahoma.

Keller Williams Realty Elite Managing Broker Jennifer Arsenault said the office exceeded all of its sales numbers from the previous year.

“The summer was fantastic,” she said. “It’s still a very strong market.”

MLSOK has homes listed from Edmond, Altus, El Reno, Midwest City, Moore, Yukon, Piedmont, Elk City, Oklahoma City, Weatherford, Norman, Del City, Shawnee, Mustang and Nichols Hills.

MLSOK President Loren Coburn said he doesn’t expect the year-over-year sales total to improve, especially as daylight decreases. Fall and winter are typically slower months for home sales. But this year, as rebuilding starts in hurricane-struck areas, supply costs will rise, which could make homes more expensive.

He said he doesn’t expect home sales to get closer to positive until spring 2018.

There’s been an 18.6 percent year-over-year increase in homes listed for sale. The hottest product is properties that cost $225,000 or less, said Arsenault.

There’s only about three months of inventory in that price range.

Homes priced at $600,000 or more are sitting longer, she said. There are 544 properties listed at $600,000 or more. Yet, if the home is an attractive school district, like Deer Creek, the price doesn’t bother people.

“We had one home with multiple offers sell for $1.5 million in Nichols Hills,” she said. “But you’ll still have others that will sit for a year. It’s not about the price point. It’s about the location.”

Coburn said he’s seen a similar trend, with homes in more popular school districts getting higher prices, even more now than ever before.

Compared to September 2016, this year, there was a 13.2-percent increase in single family homes and a near 30-percent uptick in condos and townhomes for sale. The median home price in September 2017 was 3 percent higher than in September 2016, according to MLSOK.

For the month, September 2017 was nearly on track with the other months this year, with 1,896 homes getting new owners. In June, 2,351 homes were sold, making it the highest amount for the calendar. The lowest was in January, when 1,200 homes traded hands.

Coburn said if someone is looking to sell their home, and it’s priced at $250,000 or lower, now is the time to do it. If it’s higher, then people should expect the home to sit on the market longer. He called it a buyer’s market because of the influx of inventory.

But Arsenault called it a seller’s market for people marketing homes priced in the $225,000 range and lower, with properties still getting multiple offers.

[aDark]

I love these types of articles. I would love to see the data on home sales as compared to proximity to the urban core. I suspect that the market is much steadier the closer one gets to downtown, but I have no support for this theory. Is there a way to look into this?

[AP]

That would be nice to see. There are a couple of real estate agents on OKCT, but I'm not sure they have that data.

[Richard at Remax]

Yeah there are so many variables when looking at that kind of stuff. Let's just say as you get closer to the core, it is a sellers market. However, people don't seem to be overpaying for properties, so it's all about pricing. The ~$600K and below market within a few miles outside of downtown is def stronger than farther away. That being said the Nichols Hills market seems to be sitting longer than usual. There are 33 homes for sale over a million in there, and only 3 are pending. Total in the area there are about 69 for sale, and only 8 pending. Pretty interesting.

[Rover]

I think a lot of owners in Nichols hills saw the high $/ft and started doing remodels, additions, etc. with an idea to cash in. However, it is a niche market and I think they produced more for sale than normal, creating an excess. I would expect the prices to fall a little, especially since there are now a number of cleared off lots sitting empty and 2 new high end developments are underway. Plus, West Nichols Hills (outside of Nichols Hills municipality) has seen a lot of high end development. It may stay soft for awhile til inventory is worked off and/or oil is back over $60.

[bradh]

Sounds about right. Any house in our neighborhood under 250k sells in less than a month. Anything above 300k looks like they have been sitting, some for a year or more.

Yep, ours in Deer Creek Village has been on the market since 6/1 in that 250-275 range. Getting old paying for an empty house 12 hours away. It's a great neighborhood and good suburban location. Had someone recently choose The Grove over our house. Enjoy that miserable mess getting to any highways from there.

[HangryHippo]

Yep, ours in Deer Creek Village has been on the market since 6/1 in that 250-275 range. Getting old paying for an empty house 12 hours away. It's a great neighborhood and good suburban location. Had someone recently choose The Grove over our house. Enjoy that miserable mess getting to any highways from there.

You left OKC?

[oklip955]

I am watching the market. It seems to me the higher the price property, the less they are selling. I have an Edmond acreage that I am looking to put on the market, but I am not seeing very many of them selling, so I'm holding off. I'm a bit surprised that properties under about $300K are not selling. bradh sorry to hear yours is not selling.

[LakeEffect]

You left OKC?

Yeah. Totally missed that!

[LakeEffect]

I am watching the market. It seems to me the higher the price property, the less they are selling. I have an Edmond acreage that I am looking to put on the market, but I am not seeing very many of them selling, so I'm holding off. I'm a bit surprised that properties under about $300K are not selling. bradh sorry to hear yours is not selling.

Yep. We had ours listed for 7 months total (3 months the first time, 4 months the second). Lots of views, a few really interested buyers, and no eventual sale. Being over $300,000 really starts to limit the buyers. Rough times.

[bradh]

You left OKC?

We did, over educational opportunities for our daughter.

[Richard at Remax]

In this HGTV generation we live in, if your home doesn't fit a specific mold, then it will get overlooked by a big chunk of buyers. It's hard to explain but they want all the grays and clean lines, ect but don't have the vision, and usually the extra cash after closing costs, ect, to buy an under priced dated home and make it that way. As a seller if you don't want to invest in sprucing up the home then a neat option is virtual staging. Someone comes in and takes pictures of your home, edits them as if it's been updated/remodeled, then puts the pictures on easel in each of the rooms to show what it COULD look like. It all comes back to pricing though, esp in this (except small pockets) buyers market.

[Rover]

Am also seeing lots of asking prices on homes needing remodeling the same per foot as those that already have been remodeled. Sellers need to be realistic. All comps aren’t the same and realtors seem to always over promise what they can get so as to get the listing. If something is not moving then the price or realtor needs to be changed.

[OKCretro]

for any realtors on the site,

has the emergence of zillow helped or hurt sales?

Do sellers or buyers have unrealistic expectations b/c of zillow?

[Martin]

^
my mom's a realtor who's been in the business 30 years... the biggest gripe she has with zillow is that they scrape listings from mls (which she pays for) and will show other realtors' contact information on her listings unless she pays zillow.

[T. Jamison]

Another complaint I've heard is their "Zestimates" leading to potential buyers having unrealistic expectations regarding the market value of the property which can make it more difficult to sell.

Here is an article from Reuters about the topic, if anyone is interested. I disagree with the ruling but that's just me.

[Richard at Remax]

before I was a realtor I really enjoyed Zillow. Now that I am on the other side it is a pain in the rear. The Zestimates need to go. You wouldn't believe how many arguments I've been in when I show someone the TRUE value I think they could get vs what the Zestimate says. There are so many variables they don't factor in. It's basically this zip code for 3 bed 2 bath house should go for X amount, and apply that to ALL neighborhoods, creating unrealistic numbers. In my own house right now it is probably $50K over what it is in reality because Traditions to the east is bringing up values. I had a listing, in which the Zestimate said it was $490K. My numbers told me best case scenario was in the mid 430s to 445k. You have to do what your client tells you so they put it on at $490K, although we got showings, we never got offers. Sold 7 months later for $435K.

Another big gripe of Z is that there are too many "ghost" listings. Listings that have already gone pending or sold but the agents are too lazy to change the status's. Some do it on purpose so when someone calls them they say "well that one sold but we have others!". I get it, but to me that's too bait and switch for my tastes. Also, someone above said that listing agents over promise just to get a listing. This happens way more than you think and it hurts everyone involved when you know they will never get that price. Don't get me started on the new $999 listings you hear on the radio either

I am now a proponent of having our MLS stop feeding them our data. Even now that zillow is talking about getting into the brokerage business. Basically someone wants to go see a house, as a zillow agent i would just show them, write an offer, and get paid my commission, but split a finders fee with Zillow. Same with listings. Some realtors would say that they would lose business if we stopping feeding them our data because that's all that people use. My argument is that if you take away the data and steer the public to where our own up to the minute data is, then they would use that. Shameless plug here but www.MLSOK.com is our new search engine and it's terrific

[Stew]

The entire process of selling houses needs to drastically change. The commissions are too high and some of the closing costs are ridiculous. In 2017 it shouldn't be so cumbersome selling real estate. It's a racket.

[Richard at Remax]

First of all commissions ARE negotiable and there is no set rate. I will also say that the "standard" rate everyone knows needs to probably be reevaluated. With the evolution of zillow and the internet in general, we keep giving out our information and still expect to be paid really well like we hold all the cards. People used to earn that rate when you would have to take people house to house without ever seeing any pictures or anything. Now with all the pictures and info you need the role of the agent has significantly decreased. I will never cut the rate of the selling (buying side) due to the fact that I think the buying side is a bit more difficult than the listing side. Going from house to house, getting people qualified, inspections, ect is a lot of work. But I will say yes it can be a lot, but all the advertising we do, postcards, open houses, professional pictures, ect and everything else we do to get a listing exposed comes out of our commission at the end. Plus all the paperwork and negotiations to protect our clients is invaluable, esp to a home owner who has no idea what is going on. But I am a minority in my positions. Some agents just have zero wiggle room.

Second, I agree with closing costs. It's almost extortion. I also don't like when the seller is paying both realtors AND the buyer asks for thousands of dollars in closing costs. I think that has become too the norm and needs to change.