January 2010 Sales Up Greatly Compared to January 2009

by murray balkcom
dreambigproperties.com

Wow! It seems like the first month of 2010 blew past rapidly, but the warm weather of Spring cannot get here soon enough. Before you know it, May will be here and many of you will be able to board a SouthWest Airlines jet and fly directly to the beach. I’m not sure whether or not that will spark sales, but it should add a few extra trips to the beach each year for many South Walton beach lovers.

January falls in the heart of winter. Our nation’s capital was recently blanketed with signs of winter, and here at the beach, I had to find some socks to wear with my sandals — ah, winter isn’t too bad, if you live in paradise.

Winter keeps many people away from the beach and typically, that means slower sales for real estate in South Walton. So when I inform you that sales slipped from those unusually high levels in the month of December, you shouldn’t be too surprised. However, we are seeing a little twist — Though sales (both quantity and dollar volume) decreased compared to December, pending sales for Homes, Condos, & Town Homes (combined) increased 24% compared to December.


Also, to see longer term trend comparisons, these three charts compare the...
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WaterColor, FL – a perspective of sales through 2009

by Murray Balkcom, GRI, Realtor
www.dreamBIGproperties.com
The Premier Property Group


Located near the center of Scenic Hwy 30A in South Walton, the St. Joe development, WaterColor, has some interesting happenings in the way of sales. In the graphs below, we will look at sales of single family detached homes in all phases of WaterColor, which extends from Western Lake, across Scenic Hwy 395 to the Pt Washington State Forest.

As median sales price decreases… >>>CONTINUE READING<<<

2009 Ends With Fireworks

by Murray Balkcom, GRI, Realtor
The Premier Property Group

In 2009, WaterColor and Seaside joined together to round out the year with a midnight display of fireworks displayed over the Beaches of South Walton. Unbeknown to many, there were other fireworks closing out 2009, in the way of real estate sales in South Walton. Many people focus on big displays such as a real show of fireworks, but bit by bit, they are missing smaller signs of life in the real estate market.

What People Are Buying:




Where People Are Spending Money:






WoW! There are several graphs to look through in order to get the full picture of real estate sales in South Walton. The graph above shows the South Walton 2009 sales quantities compared to 2008, for Homes, Condos and Townhomes. As you can see, sales quantity in 2009 was far ahead of 2008, and for the year, it looks like the reported totals are 33% higher than 2008... (CONTINUE READING)

by Murray Balkcom, GRI, Realtor
murraybalkcom@yahoo.com
dreamBIGProperties.com


HOME SALES ARE UP!?
It really depends upon your comparison. In November 2009, the quantity of homes (detached) sold in South Walton increased 58% over sales in November 2008....(continue reading)

by Murray Balkcom, GRI, Realtor
murraybalkcom@yahoo.com
dreamBIGproperties.com

In our area, everything typically comes to a halt in the winter time. Long pants and shoes replace swimsuits and flip flops. After all, we are mostly a seasonal beach community. It should be no surpirse that real estate sales also decrease as winter approaches. Thanksgiving week tends to throw everyone off schedule and out of routine for a week. Then, Christmas season hits, with similar results. People simply have other things on their minds than buying real estate. While November sales are somewhat down as we expect, the real surprise we've had this year comes in the way of <!--more-->higher sales in August, September and October, when typically, real estate sales have been slow.



For the first time since July, sales for Homes, Condos, and Town Homes in South Walton, actually... (continue reading)