Gillian Swanson's Livingston Montana Real Estate Blog » New Listings

Getting ready for the Spring surge!

Gillian — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 00:14:33 +0000

It’s been a really busy week for me: lots of phone calls from people thinking of putting their homes on the market in the next couple of months, wanting to get an opinion as to price and what should be done to get the place ready. It’s a very fine line to walk right now, in terms of pricing a property. Too high, and it will sit around for ages; too low, and the worry is that the seller is leaving money on the table.

I tend to stick to the comparable sales of the last six months when determining a list price range, and sometimes, sellers wince a little when they hear the number I give. But most people really have got that prices are not shooting up the way they were a few years ago — it’s sunk into all of our conciousnesses that the market has adjusted.

Nonetheless, I am tremendously optimistic about our market and the coming selling season. We have what people want, here in Park County — comparatively affordable housing, a safe and beautiful place to live and great communities. When I read the weekly reports from the virtual tours on each of my listings, I see that people are looking at Park County from every corner of the country — Texas, Colorado and California seem to like us the most!

With careful pricing and seriously focused marketing, any property can be sold. If you’re thinking of selling, it’s often a good idea to get a couple of agents from different companies in to look at your property — the more informatuion you can gather the better. Remember that nine times out of then, the most important decision you’ll make when selling is who you will use as a Realtor. There are really marked differences between the local companies agents in this area — more than you might imagine!

Here’s a house at 806 Nebula, in the Northern Lights area, that’s a little ahead of the Spring rush — just came on the market this week. It’s a really spacious house with loads of bedrooms, great indoor/outdoor flow with a good sized yard and deck. I would have taken a photo, but there was a brief snow storm when I was up there today! If you’d like to take a look at this new listing, call me at 556 6829 for an appointment.

New Listing
806 Nebula
$244,000

Great fixer opportunities for investors/first time buyers!

Gillian — Thu, 31 May 2007 20:40:46 +0000

I recently listed a couple of sweet little Victorian era (c1900) one bedroom, one bath homes at 417 & 419 North B Street. 417 is listed at $92,000 & 419 at $87,000. To find them, go on Main Street through the underpass in town, turn right on Chinook, turn left onto North B, and the houses are up a little on the left hand side. They’re old, and need some work but could be very cute, either as a first time home, or to resell at a profit. There’s a really pretty yard at the back, and they are on a quiet cul-de-sac …

Oops, sorry, only one is available now — 417 just sold! It’s virtually impossible to find anything under $100,000 in Livingston, so call me immediately if you’d like to take a look!

Another great fixer listing is located at 306 South K Street… it’s been empty for a while, & so looks a little tired & definitely needs some work but it’s on the up-&-coming East side of town, where a lot of small,older homes have been renovated, and is on a sweet lot with some lovely, older trees. At $129,000, it’s one of the least expensive homes in the Livingston real estate market. This one’s vacant & easy to show! Check back tomorrow for my weekly update on all the last week’s listings & sales.

The facts about Park County real estate..

Gillian — Sat, 26 May 2007 01:08:59 +0000

Right now, everyone has an opinion about the real estate market; national media coverage of the drop in prices in various parts of the country has put everyone a little on edge, and every day I’m asked how our market is, here in southwest Montana.

So instead of just another opinion, here are the facts about the market in first five months of the year in Park County. I’ve compared these first months of ‘07 to January through May in ‘06. Information is taken from the Gallatin Association of Realtors MLS.

So far this year, we have had 37 closings for single family home sales on one acre or less, with an average list price of $203,000 and an average sales price of $195,000, while for the same period in 2006 there were 64 closings, with an average sales price of $175,000 — prices appear to have risen by about 10% in this category, but the number of sales has dropped over 60%.

As far as the out-of-town residential market goes, so far this year there have been 15 sales for properties with one or or more acres. The average list price of these properties is $503,000, with an average sales price of $472,000. In 2006, there were 17 closings by this time, and the average sales price was higer by 5% at $497,000.

One of the biggest changes is in the number of townhomes/condos that have sold this year: from January to May ‘06 4 sales were recorded, with an average price of $139,000 — this year, there has been a total of 16 closed sales, with an average price of $165,000 — a jump of almost 20% in price.

So what does this mean to buyers & sellers in Park County? It means that if you’re a seller, your property must be priced competitively to have a chance of selling. As of today, there are 105 homes on less than an acre on the market in Park County, with an average list price of $226,000. That’s a lot of competition.

If you’re a buyer, do these statistics mean that it’s a buyer’s market? Not entirely. This year, homes have been selling within about 4% of the listing price — a good indication that Park County’s market is strong.

Interested in a set of statistics that I haven’t presented here? Let me know.