The news this week is mixed. Some good, some not so much. Some ups, some downs.

So, as in mixed nuts where you have to take the peanuts along with the cashews, and mixed drinks where soda uses up perfectly good space that could be occupied by scotch, we must accept this mixed news for what it is -  mixed.

The numbers are:

• Total Listings  -  2850 (up 1.1% from last week)
• Avg List Price -  $241,868 (up .7% from last week)

So, higher price = the cashews . Higher inventory = soda.

But looking at the bigger picture, as you know I love, inventory is down compared to early December and prices are up. Scotch and cashews!

I’m suddenly hungry and thirsty.

Also, it has just been released the inventory in 29 major markets is DOWN. This is some of the first good news on a broad scale that we’ve seen since the whole debacle started.

Bottom, bottom. Where is that bottom?

Now, for the “graphfluent” readers among you:

As always, whether the news is good or bad, you’ll see it here.

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If you have questions, comments or a good joke to share shoot me an email.  I’m a full time Realtor®, I love what I do and would be thrilled to hear from you.

* All data from Triad Multiple Listing Service (MLS). “Single-family” does not include Duplexes or manufactured homes.

Again, hopeful news. And, no, I’m not cheer leading. Not my style (much to the consternation of some.)

What could be good about foreclosures? Not much. And nothing good for those who’ve lost their homes.

What is good is when there are fewer of them. And this week is specially good because of the 11 foreclosures which came on the market the week ending 1/11/09, three are already sold. And *sshhh* I sold one of them!

That’s right. And I haven’t seen any foreclosures go under contract the week the get listed since I’ve been tracking this.

First numbers:

Total new foreclosures listed: 11*

• single-family: 10
• townhouses:    0
• condos:           1

Then pictures:

As always, whether the news is good or bad, you’ll see it here.

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If you have questions, comments or a good joke to share shoot me an email.  I’m a full time Realtor®, I love what I do and would be thrilled to hear from you.

* All data from Triad Multiple Listing Service (MLS).

Well, it was a nice respite while it lasted. After a few weeks of declines in the number of new foreclosure listings in Greensboro, they popped back up.

The week’s new foreclosure listings were 15 compared to the previous 4.

And the breakdown for Greensboro’s foreclosure listings during 12/29/08-1/4/09*:

Total new foreclosures listed: 15

• single-family: 13
• townhouses:    1
• condos:           1

by Greensboro zip code:

And if we look at those zip codes comparing the most recent 3 weeks:

I was hoping the overall news, looking at the past rolling 12 week period would still have been an improvement.

Not this time:

Some more stats:

Of the 161 foreclosures listed in the 12 week period ending 1/4/0, their status are

• Active - 119 (74%)
• Pending – 20 (12%)
• Closed – 22 (14%)

The one bright point is that the number closed (22) is the highest that’s been for several weeks.

You demand more graphs so I give ‘em to you:

And in case you gave up pie for New Year’s:

As always, whether the news is good or bad, you’ll see it here.

If you have questions, comments or a good joke to share shoot me an email.  I’m a full time Realtor®, I love what I do and would be thrilled to hear from you.

* All data from Triad Multiple Listing Service (MLS).

OMG OMG OMG.

I pulled sales stats for the month of December and saw – dare I write it down? – some truly, for real, not for nothing, GOOD NEWS.

First, it looked as one would expect. That is, when comparing December 2008 with December 2007, the number of sales is down. But the number of sales compared with November are UP.

So far, not all that hard to predict and not glowingly upbeat:

But then, there are the figures about the average closed prices for the same time periods. Here things get more interesting.

The average closed price for the month of December 2008 was higher…yes, higher…than the average closed price in December 2007.

“Huh? What’s that, you say”, you might rightly ask. Well, here it is:

In case you missed that last point:

The average price was only $477 higher, but, hey, this the great real estate meltdown of 2008. Any improvement is an improvement. And this was the only month of the year where the average closed price was higher than the corresponding month of 2007.

And for the cherry on the Optimist’s Cake, the average days on market for properties that closed in December was lower than for December 2007.

Wow. This is all GOOD NEWS.

Now, I’m not one to pull only the good data and ignore the bad. Never wanted to be a cheerleader for the sake of cheering.

“Blunt as a spoon” is the way some have described me, with no compliment intended.

But this is better than expected.

Yes, there were fewer properties that closed. But can it be that we are nearing the bottom in regards to price decreases? Have we found the limits of sellers’ tolerance for pressure?

If so, then it is only a matter of time until buyers will find that the idea of  ‘waiting another month or so and the prices will be even lower’ is not going to serve them well. And then is when we may seem some real changes in the real estate market.

As oft repeated on this blog, Greensboro isn’t southern California or Florida or Michigan. So our recovery will probably come sooner rather than later. We just weren’t as impacted as other areas in the first place.

So my little charts aren’t to indicate that the tide has turned for the Big Picture Economy. Just for out little corner of the world.

Maybe.

For now.

_____________________________________________________________________

If you have questions, comments or a good joke to share shoot me an email.  I’m a full time Realtor®, I love what I do and would be thrilled to hear from you.

* All data from Triad Multiple Listing Service (MLS). It doesn’t include For Sale By Owner properties.

Here’s the weekly update on new foreclosures that have come on the market in Greensboro. As in previous posts, the information is drilled down tozip code, property type, weekly historical data as well as the current status of foreclosures that have come on the market.

The good news: There were fewer new foreclosures that came on the market the last week than the previous AND fewer in the rolling 12 week period ending 12/14/08 than the 12 weeks ending 12/7/08.

Let’s hope this trend continues.

For Greensboro’s foreclosure listings during 12/8/08 – 12/14/08*:

Total new foreclosures listed: 10

• single-family: 8
• townhouses:    4
• condos:           0

by Greensboro zip code:

• 27401: 1
• 27403:
• 27405: 4
• 27406: 2
• 27407: 2
• 27408:
• 27409:
• 27410: 1
• 27455:

And of those they break down by property type:

• Single-Family: 130 (81%)
  
• Townhouses:    19 (12%)
  
• Condos:           11  ( 7%)

Over the last 12 week period: (10 fewer listings than the previous week. *yeah!*)

Comparing rolling 12 week periods for foreclosures listed since 9/15/08:

Total foreclosures listed since 9/15/08: 327

• Active: 216 (66%)
  
• Pending: 72 (22%)
  
• Closed: 39 (12%)

* All data from Triad Multiple Listing Service (MLS)

If you have questions, comments or a good joke to share shoot me an email. I’m a full time Realtor®, I love what I do and would be thrilled to hear from you.

Having written repeatedly that there is plenty of inventory in the housing market, I have decided to start monitoring how many houses are on the market and how many are pending (under contract for sale) on a weekly basis. I’ll be looking at Greensboro by zip code. I’ll also be breaking this down into property types (single-family, townhouse, condo). Finally, we’ll see listings that are categorized as foreclosures and non-foreclosures.

For the week of December 9, 2008:

• 2980 - Total properties for sale in Greensboro
• 2543 - Active Listings (85%)
• 437 - Pending Sales (15%)

Breaking down these numbers into Greensboro zip codes:

Active & Pending Listings in Greensboro by Zip Code*

* Data per Triad MLS (Multiple Listing Service) as of 12/9/2008, about 15 minutes before my bedtime.

The average list price of properties currently on the market in Greensboro is $225, 417.

Again, by zip code:

Average List Price in Greensboro by Zip Code

By the numbers, all that comes down to, by zip code:

• 27455 – $336,369 average price; 325 (active), 39 (pending)
• 27410 – $282,444 average price; 489 (active), 78 (pending)
• 27409 – $141,517 average price; 111 (active), 21 (pending)
• 27408 – $414,168 average price; 216 (active), 17 (pending)
• 27407 – $236,054 average price; 311 (active), 68 (pending)
• 27406 – $150,507 average price; 407 (active), 78 (pending)
• 27405 – $115,585 average price; 402 (active), 84 (pending)
• 27403 – $157,890 average price; 109 (active), 32 (pending)
• 27401 – $167,288 average price; 173 (active), 20 (pending)

Next up, this weeks listings in Greensboro by property type…..