Denham Springs Louisiana Real Estate Buzz!

Archive for September, 2010

http://www.batonrougerealestatebuzz.com/ – More Details Released About Baton Rouge Metro Areas First Video Real Estate Listings Website – brhomelistings.com!

On September 8th, Buzz delivered to you news about the Metro Areas “First” Video Real Estate Listings Website here: Baton Rouge Real Estate Buzz: Metro Areas First Video Real Estate Listings Website – brHomeListings.com! At that time, the only details Kevin DeLaune, with RealtyStudioHD, would offer was that the site would be launching in the near future and “brHomeListings.com is Baton Rouge’s first local real estate website to incorporate video as an essential component in real estate marketing online!”

The following details below were released from brhomelistings.com just prior to site launch. This will be a “beta version”. Kevin stated that, ” In the near future, as we continue to grow and receive feedback, there will be many more features added.”

“At launch, some of the site’s key features will be:

• Free listing insertion ( no charge to submit listings into the search engine )
• Free video embedding of user created video tours or professional video tours
• Free unlimited photo uploads
• Unified FSBO and Agent listing search
• Advanced single touch search to accommodate new touch-based mobile devices
• The ability for buyers to “watch” listings for price drops
• Management of the user’s submitted and “watched” listings will be via a familiar mlooking youtube-esque management system
• Listing pages will employ automatic google maps based geo-location by listing address
• Realtors can integrate their twitter accounts for automatic tweets of new listings to their twitter feed
• Realtors can create an exclusive non-competitive ( no competing realtors or ads ) “Realtor Spotlight” page with full listing search capabilities of the realtor’s active listings”

Buzz Perspective. From the Buzz perspective, the addition of video listings to the Greater Baton Rouge Real Estate landscape will be greatly welcomed by locals that start their search for their new home online. Instead of getting in the car and driving to a dozen homes on a Saturday with an Agent, now locals will be able to narrow their home purchase focus rather quickly!

And, from what Buzz has heard about this new site, it’s going to be highly intuitive in terms of navigation (ease of use) and is being built by Khris Woodring, a perfectionist that doesn’t want to launch, and has delayed the initial launch, to make sure the site operates perfectly. According to Kevin, there has been months of behind the scenes research into the site design, functionality and testing. This isn’t just going to be another local flash-in-the-pan FSBO site. This is going to be THE state-of-the-art Baton Rouge Home Listings site to be listed on!

A Site Built For Favorable Google Indexing and Search! It won’t take long for this site to gain traction with locals and with Google because Google loves to index “Video” for search, which is one reason why Google owns YouTube! Home listings which include indexable video will receive better attention in the search engines.

http://www.jubanparcappraiser.com/ – Denham Springs Home Appraisers: Juban Parc Housing Numbers For September 2010

Solds In Juban Parc from 1/2010 to 9/27/2010 revealed:

Average Sales Price: $159,943
Average Sold Price Per Sq. Ft.: $102.49/sf
Median Sold Price: $141,900
Number of Sales: 21
Low To High: $137,500 to $235,000
Average Days On Market: 103
Number of Sold REO/Foreclosures Noted In MLS: 0
Current # Listings: 13, 1 Foreclosure
Current Listings Prices: $138,900 To $239,900

NOTE: The 2009 Average and Median Sales Prices were $175,007 and $175,450.

The data within this report is used with the permission of the Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors, extracted on 9/27/2010 from periods 1/1/2009 to 9/27/2010.

http://www.jubanparcappraiser.com/ – Denham Springs Juban Parc Home Appraisers: Juban Parc building, principal brand new

Faimon A. Roberts, with The Advocate newspaper, has a report on the new Juban Parc Junior High School Principal and new building. The article is located here and a snippet is below:

“DENHAM SPRINGS — The first impression one gets upon entering Juban Parc Junior High School in southern Denham Springs is newness.

The building looks new, feels new, it even smells new. And it should. Juban Parc Junior High opened this fall, welcoming more than 500 students to its pristine campus on Brown Road.

That newness goes right to the top with Principal Jeff Frizell.

Though this is the first principal job for Frizell, his connection to Livingston Parish schools stretches back a ways.

He has been working in parish schools since receiving his bachelor’s degree from Southeastern Louisiana University in the mid-90’s, moving into administration after earning his master’s, also from SLU, in 2006. Before coming to Juban Parc, Frizell was an assistant principal at Denham Springs High School.

The principal then, Kelly Jones, said Frizell showed immediate promise.”

http://www.batonrougerealestateminute.com/ – Western Livingston Parish Home Appraisers Video: Easterly Lakes 2010 Update. Western Livingston Parish Home Appraiser, Bill Cobb, updates the housing market numbers for Easterly Lakes Subdivision in Watson Louisiana 70706.

http://www.denhamspringsappraisers.com/ - Western Livingston Parish Home Appraisers: August 2010 Market Data

The August 2010 housing numbers are in from the Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors from 8/1/2010 to 8/31/2010 and from 8/1/2009 to 8/31/2010, extracted on 9/16/2010. Property type searched was DSF or Detached Single Family Only.

Livingston Parish August 2010 Market Data
(For MLS Areas 80, 81, 82 & 83)

Total Monthly Sales: 56 (Lowest Number Of Sales In Period)

Average Listing Price: $164,295 ($162,914 in 8/2009)
Average Sold Price: $161,018 ($160,232 in 8/2009)
Median Sold Price: $140,900 ($152,500 in 8/2009)
Average Days On The Market: 92 (85 in 8/2009)
Listing To Sales Price Ratio: 98% (98.3% in 8/2009)
Current Inventory: 811 (703 in 8/2009)
Months of Inventory: 14.5 (Longest In Period, 5.9 in 8/2009)

Annual View From 8/2009 to 8/2010:

Total Monthly Sales: 1210

Average Listing Price: $167,849
Average Sold Price: $164,948
Median Sold Price: $152,147
Average Days On The Market: 90
Listing To Sales Price Ratio: 98.3%
Average Current Inventory: 719
Average Months of Inventory: 7.1

Accurate Valuations Group’s “MARKET WRAP”:

NUMBER OF HOME SALES DECLINES. Based on these numbers, home sales are slowing considerably from 120 in August 2009, 109 in June 2010, 83 in July 2010 to just 56 in August 2010, a decline of -53% since August 2009.

LOCAL HOUSING INVENTORY SWELLS. With the number of home sales declining, this resulted in an increase to over 14 months of inventory. The good news is that in August, it still took an average days on the market of 92 days to sell a home.

MEDIAN SALES PRICE DECLINE. The median sales price declined sharply from $152,500 in August 2009, $149,000 in June 2010, $155,000 in July 2010 to just $140,900 in August 2010, a decline of -7.6% since August 2009. This shows that this market continues to favor the more affordable housing options over that of the higher end homes market. Area home builders have reacted and are building smaller homes to accomodate this market demand.

WHY WE USE MEDIAN SALES PRICE OVER AVERAGE SALES PRICE? NOTE: Why Median Sales Price is a better indicator than Average Sales Price! Median Sales Price is the barometer by which the National Association of Realtors uses to report on national housing markets. Average Sales Price tends to take all of the home sales prices from the lowest, say $50,000, to the highest, say $1,000,000, and state the average of them all, sometimes skewing the numbers because of the extreme highs and lows. Median Sales Price tends to focus more on the middle of where the bulk of home sales prices are taking place. Generally, the Average Sales Price is going to be higher because it includes the extreme high sales prices in a given market.

http://www.denhamspringslarealestate.net/ – The Importance of Denham Springs Curb Appeal When Selling Your Home!

Baton Rouge Real Estate Agent, Glenda Daughety, had published a helpful article on the importance of Curb Appeal with some tips on how to improve your curb appeal to sell that home. Read her entire article here: The Importance of Curb Appeal. Buzz is providing a couple of snippets from her article:

“Most potential homebuyers make a decision about a house within the first 30 seconds. For example, simply driving by a well-kept single family home for sale in the Baton Rouge, Prairieville, Denham Springs Louisiana areas is often enough to cause people to pull over and make an immediate call to their realtor. That’s because an inviting exterior promises an inviting interior.”

Tips To Look Out For

“Look out for:

Visible mold or mildew on the house, roof, or sidewalks
Outdated exteriors
Yard clutter
Dirty gutters, siding, or windows
Chipped paint
How your home appears at dusk or even at night
Overgrowth in the yard or on the sidewalks
Dead plants or leaf piles
Overly personalized doormats”

Check Glenda’s Blog below!

Tags: denham springs, denham springs homes, denham springs homes for sale, denham springs houses, denham springs housing, Denham Springs Real Estate, Curb Appeal Denham Springs, Denham Springs Curb Appeal

http://www.denhamspringsappraisers.com/ – Denham Springs Real Estate: How Much Value Does Converting Garage To Living Area For A PCC or DR Horton Home in Subdivisions Like Richmond Place, South Point, Woodland Crossing and Westminister Estates?

If you’ve driven through the PCC Homebuilders and/or DR Horton Developments around Denham Springs, it’s likely that you’ve seen homes just like the one above with the garage converted to living area. As I drive through these developments for home appraisals, it seems like it makes sense to convert into this manner because a lot of these residents use their garages for storage and don’t park their autos in the garages. BUT, Is this a wise investment in terms of re-sale?

Continued. Let’s investigate here! This home was built new in 2002 and sold with 1,751sf. From the interior photos, the living conversion appears to have been completed “properly” to where this addition area was counted as living area, ie., the slab was raised to original home sale height, the flooring matches flooring in home, walls are sheetrock, decor is similar to original home and the central heat/air was upgraded for this additional 360sf to 400sf. There doesn’t appear to be a window unit in this living area.

Continued. After the “proper” conversion, this home has 2,131sf living area and recently sold for $164,900 or $77.38/sf in June of 2010. NOTE: It took over 295 days or approx. 10 months on the market to sell this home because the listing price began at $189,900 and was reduced to $178,900, $174,900, $171,900, $168,900 and finally $162,900. Apparently, the sellers had quite a sum invested into this home with the “proper” living area conversion cost. While the actual cost of the enclosure isn’t known, an estimate is somewhere in the $6,000 to $8,000 range.

Continued. I did some research of similar quality homes in similar developments noted in the title of homes in the 1675sf to 1775sf range and found an approximate value of $154,900 for a similar 1,751sf home. By this home in the photos selling for $164,900, this leaves a $10,000 spread. If the cost for the conversion was $8,000, then the seller might have either broke even or profited by $2,000, which may or may not have been worth the effort. NOTE: This appraiser could only find 2 examples of home re-sales with a similar conversion.

Continued. This South Point home with a similar conversion sold in elevated Post Hurricane Katrina era of 2007 for $167,500, when the market was stronger. This home originally had 1,613sf and sold with 2,010sf.

Continued. I did some research of similar quality homes in similar developments noted in the title of homes in the 1580sf to 1700sf range and found an approximate value of $148,000 for a similar 1,613sf home in that era of time. By this home in the photos selling for $167,500, this left a $19,500 spread, which indicates seller made a good profit. However, this was a different housing market back then in 2007.

Conclusion. Based on these two examples above, it appears that “properly” converting your garage to living area has resulted the sellers at least selling for enough to cover their cost and possibly even making a little extra for their effort.

Bill Cobb, Appraiser