I was at the bank last week waiting in line behind a young man.He was wearing his college fraternity sweatshirt and the teller asked him, "Back so soon?"He replied, "Yeah, my grandfather gave me another $200.00!Boy are we going to have a party this weekend!And my other grandparents are visiting on Saturday!I'm going to hang around and see if they will give me some money too!". The teller was very excited for him and said, "You should have a great weekend!"
As I approached the teller, I told her when I was a boy my grandfather, who was the foreman at the Bar Harbor bus garage used to pay me $5 to sweep out the school buses.And my other grandparents paid me $20 to mow the lawn at their business, The Northern Lights Cabins in Salisbury Cove, Maine. I can still feel my hands, arms and shoulders shake after pushing that lawn mower for 5 hours! It was striking to me, how different the lessons I learned from my grandparents were from what this young man was getting from his grandparents!
The final reports are in for 2017’s real estate market.305 single family homes sold in South Portland.The average length of time on the market was 9 days and the selling price compared to the listing price on average was 98%!There were also 88 condos that sold after an average of 44 days on the market at 98% of list price on average.
Looking at the details, there were many homes that sold over their original list price and a bunch that sold under the listing price.Where would you want your property to fall on that list?Above or below?After studying the whole market, I found a very distinct pattern. Most of the homes that sold below asking price were listed with less experienced agents.Many of the homes that sold above asking price were sold by experienced agents mostly from this area. And of all the agents that sold homes in South Portland in 2017, only 3 of them listed more than 10 homes each.I am proud to say we were in that top 3 again!
The lesson I learned from my grandparents at a young age was, if you work hard, you get paid well.That lesson holds true in the real estate market.
Many less experienced agents get a listing, take pictures, put the property on the MLS, install a for sale sign, hold an open house and the homes sell!Mostly because we’re in a strong seller’s market.More experienced agents do a lot more and work very hard to maximize the sale price for their client.
Last year we sold 88 Scamman Street.The home was in need of major updates and renovations.Our initial analysis showed the value to be in between $270,000 and $280,000 based on it's condition and the most recently sold homes in similar neighborhoods.We put together a strong marketing plan and promoted the home extremely hard.The first day on the market, we received multiple offers and we were able to sell the home for more than $50,000 above our initial analysis! I'd love the opportunity to share what we do differently than most realtors to get such a great price.
At what price would you like to sell your home?An average realtor will get you an average price. We’ve all heard the phrase, "You get what you pay for."We are not average and we believe strongly in our obligation to maximize our client’s return on one of their largest investments! Call to learn about our marketing and what we’ll do to help you sell for much more than the average agent.
Enjoy 2018! It's going to be another very strong year for South Portland real estate!