It happened again! For the second time this year, the average sales price in the Pocono Mountains region increased over the previous month. Here is how the average sales price(s) look YTD, January – $107,560, February – $126,324, March – $123,153, and April – $134,745.

The good news about our real estate recovery is the very fact that we had 2 months of increases, the last 6 years it had basically been decrease after decrease. A recovery will have periods of decline; the key is the strength, length, and amount of the increases.

What is even more reassuring is that the average sales price was $129,354 for 2012. So this bump up to $134,745 in April was significant.

Pending Sales remain up, 18% year over year and closed sales remain up, 16% YTD.

Foreclosures do continue to enter the market; new listings were up 26% in April over the previous month. The good news here is that due to an increase in the sold foreclosures, the market welcomes the new inventory and foreclosed homes shouldn’t sit on the market too long as foreclosures are selling in hours and days on the market (when priced right and in good condition). The average foreclosure rate is down from 49% in February to 39% YTD.

The momentum of this market recovery has been gaining strength since the beginning of the year and doesn’t show any signs of slowing down as we approach our selling season, July-Sept.

If you have any questions on Pocono Mountain real estate market data and/or would like to receive a FREE electronic/written MONTHLY report, please contact Dominick at dominick.sacci@pmreinc.com or 570.402.7767.

Dominick J. Sacci has been a real estate professional since October 25, 1994. He started as an award winning REALTOR® and quickly graduated into management and operations where he has been reporting on market data/statistics since 2000. He has been a guest real estate columnist for the Pocono Business Journal. He worked his way up through the rankings of the largest real estate company in the Pocono Mountains and parted at their President in September 2011. Today he is the Associate Broker for Pocono Mountains Real Estate, Inc. and is known by his fellow REALTORS® as the “numbers guy”. The data that Dominick reports on is compiled from the Pocono Mountains Association of REALTORS® – Multiple Listing Service System and run on a rolling 12 month/YTD period.

With 3 months of data now closed on the local market, we can have a very good idea of where we stand and what the rest of 2013 will look like.

Everyone is so focused on property values and are asking, have they finally stabilized? The answer is, they appear to. After coming off the January decline of $107,560, values did bounce back in February to $126,324, and adjusted mildly to $123,153 in March. Areas that were first to decline in property values nationally, have been reporting increases for several months now. Our region is typically 3-7 months behind surrounding markets such as NY & NJ.

Overall inventory remains 5% lower than this time last year and pending sales are up 21% along with a 17% increase in closed sales (YTD).

The amount of foreclosures that came on the market as new inventory dropped for the first time in 6 months, and the amount of foreclosures closed dropped from 49% in February to 38% of total sales in March.

The overall market is experiencing an increase in activity and many homes are seeing multiple offers when priced within the market. 2013 should continue nicely and be a year where everyone moves on from thinking we are in a recovery to knowing that we are.
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If you have any questions on Pocono Mountain real estate market data and/or would like to receive a FREE electronic/written MONTHLY report, please contact Dominick at dominick.sacci@pmreinc.com or 570.402.7767.
Dominick J. Sacci has been a real estate professional since October 25, 1994. He started as an award winning REALTOR® and quickly graduated into management and operations where he has been reporting on market data/statistics since 2000. He has been a guest real estate columnist for the Pocono Business Journal. He worked his way up through the rankings of the largest real estate company in the Pocono Mountains and parted at their President in September 2011. Today he is the Associate Broker for Pocono Mountains Real Estate, Inc. and is known by his fellow REALTORS® as the “numbers guy”. The data that Dominick reports on is compiled from the Pocono Mountains Association of REALTORS® – Multiple Listing Service System and run on a rolling 12 month/YTD period.

It was very exciting to see that when I ran the average sales price numbers this morning that we rebounded from $107,560 in January to $126,324 in February. The reason that this is so exciting is, not only did we increase month over month, but we finished the month pretty close to our annual average sales price of $129,354 for 2012.

Overall inventory (amount of homes on the market for sale) remains lower than the same time period the year before; we have 8% less homes for sale at the moment. Homes that have been on the market for awhile, if price within the market, should be realizing some new activity/showings due to the lack of competition.

The other good news is that closed sales in the first 2 months of 2013 are up 26% when compared to the first 2 months of 2012. The pending sales are also up 23% over 2012, I should also mention here that the in 2012, pending sales were up 20% over 2011. Both of these market indicators continue to trend in the recovery direction, I have witnessed this now for the better part of the last 16 months.

The first 2 months of the year are proving very interesting in the Short-Sale and Foreclosure segments; I will break these numbers down in my next report.

Dominick J. Sacci has been a real estate professional since October 25, 1994. He started as an award winning REALTOR® and quickly graduated into management and operations where he has been reporting on market data/statistics since 2000. He has been a guest real estate columnist for the Pocono Business Journal. He worked his way up through the rankings of the largest real estate company in the Pocono Mountains and parted at their President in September 2011. Today he is the Associate Broker for Pocono Mountains Real Estate, Inc. and is known by his fellow REALTORS® as the “numbers guy”. The data that Dominick reports on is compiled from the Pocono Mountains Association of REALTORS® – Multiple Listing Service System and run on a rolling 12 month/YTD period.

I will caution you as you read this market update that we only have one month of data for 2013, and usually the data from the first month or two in the New Year can be volatile and not a true reflection of the marketplace.

The main reason for this is that you need a minimum of 90 days to articulate a “market trend” and the first quarter doesn’t not take the “season” into account. Our “season” is July-September. In this time period, we have the highest amount of sales when compared to the other 3 quarters.

That having been stated, the average sales price dropped from $125,647 in December to $107,560 in January. Due to investors making up the sales market around the holidays, the average sales price always drops in the first quarter of each year.

The amount of homes on the market for sale is down 10% when compared to January of last year, this could be good if traditional sales increase, but bad if we cannot accommodate the needs of buyers in the current market. We will have to wait and see what the inventory does through August, where it usually hits the annual high.

As far as sales, we continue to move in the right direction. Closed sales for the month are up 15% when compared to the same month last year, and pending sales are up 31%.

As I stated, this is only one month of data and I do not see anything here that concerns me. This is, however, only part of the conversation. In my next market update, I will discuss what the Foreclosure & Short-sale segments are looking like. Enjoy every day; I look forward to sharing some more “market conversation” with you soon.
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If you have any questions on Pocono Mountain real estate market data and/or would like to receive a FREE electronic/written MONTHLY report, please contact Dominick at dominick.sacci@pmreinc.com or 570.402.7767.

Dominick J. Sacci has been a real estate professional since October 25, 1994. He started as an award winning REALTOR® and quickly graduated into management and operations where he has been reporting on market data/statistics since 2000. He has been a guest real estate columnist for the Pocono Business Journal. He worked his way up through the rankings of the largest real estate company in the Pocono Mountains and parted at their President in September 2011. Today he is the Associate Broker for Pocono Mountains Real Estate, Inc. and is known by his fellow REALTORS® as the “numbers guy”. The data that Dominick reports on is compiled from the Pocono Mountains Association of REALTORS® – Multiple Listing Service System and run on a rolling 12 month/YTD period.

We should all be able to comfortably and finally agree that the 2012 activity in the real estate industry here in the Pocono Mountains region can be summed up into two words, “Text-book Recovery”.

If the market continues to move in its current direction, consumers will look back on 2012/2013 with certainty that they made a fantastic purchase or should have.

When comparing 2012 to 2011, home sales were up 17% – year over year, sales in 2011 were 2336 vs. 2725 in 2012. This is actual and real growth fueled by consumer confidence because there were no artificial stimulants in the market place like a home-buyer tax credit.

The future (60-120) days, continues to look promising as 2012 finished with pending sales being up 16% compared to the same time period in 2011.

The overall amount of homes on the market/inventory was down 2%. This market indicator has held some regularity over the last year. When sales increase and inventory stabilizes/declines, the increase of property values is not too far behind.

These 3 market indicators, sales, future sales, and inventory could not be moving in a better direction. As property values find their bottom, they should realize an appreciation by the end of 2013. Though it may be a small percentage increase, any step forward in the recovery will be appreciated by all consumers of real estate moving forward.

In my next market update, I will report on the foreclosure and short-sale activity and what it means to the traditional sales.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
If you have any questions on Pocono Mountain real estate market data and/or would like to receive a FREE electronic/written MONTHLY report, please contact Dominick at dominick.sacci@pmreinc.com or 570.402.7767.
Dominick J. Sacci has been a real estate professional since October 25, 1994. He started as an award winning REALTOR® and quickly graduated into management and operations where he has been reporting on market data/statistics since 2000. He has been a guest real estate columnist for the Pocono Business Journal. He worked his way up through the rankings of the largest real estate company in the Pocono Mountains and parted at their President in September 2011. Today he is the Associate Broker for Pocono Mountains Real Estate, Inc. and is known by his fellow REALTORS® as the “numbers guy”. The data that Dominick reports on is compiled from the Pocono Mountains Association of REALTORS® – Multiple Listing Service System and run on a rolling 12 month/YTD period.

The amount of homes on the market for sale in the Pocono Mountains region declined 7% from November of 2011 to November of 2012. This drop in overall inventory is a good sign, (should it continue), because the homes that remain on the market will appreciate an increase in activity and thusly an expedited sale.

The amount of pending sales adjusted down from last month but remains up 26% over this time last year. Future business has remained higher each month for the better part of the last year. This is a good sign in the slower time of the year for new business (last quarter).

Sold homes are up 17% YTD, and when we compare November of 2011 to this November closed sales are up 31% month over month.

The average sales price finished around $138,000 last year, and it looks like we will finish around $130,000 this year, a 6.1% adjustment. Not concerning, when we consider that the rate of decline of property values is slowing and many surrounding areas are seeing double digit declines. We should start to see a 1-3% adjustment in the first half of 2013, with a stabilization to increase to occur by next year’s end.

In my next market update, I will report on the good news in the foreclosure and short-sale segments.

If you have any questions on Pocono Mountain real estate market data and/or would like to receive a FREE electronic/written MONTHLY report, please contact Dominick at dominick.sacci@pmreinc.com or 570.402.7767.

Dominick J. Sacci has been a real estate professional since October 25, 1994. He started as an award winning REALTOR® and quickly graduated into management and operations where he reported on market statistics since 2000, he was also a guest real estate columnist for the Pocono Business Journal. He worked his way up through the rankings of the largest real estate company in the Pocono Mountains and parted at their President in September 2011. Today he is the Associate Broker for Pocono Mountains Real Estate, Inc. and is known by his fellow REALTORS® as the “numbers guy”. The data that Dominick reports on is compiled from the Pocono Mountains Association of REALTORS® – Multiple Listing Service System and run on a rolling 12 month/YTD period.

Pocono Mountains – Kim Wells, REALTOR® with Pocono Mountains Real Estate, Inc. hopped into a bus on Tuesday, November 13th and with members of her church group from Pocono Community Church in Tobyhanna, headed to Corner Point Church in Long Island, New York to help a community in need.

Kim begins to tell the story, “Our Head Pastor Dave knew Pastor Todd of CPC and had heard of the damage that their church and surrounding homes sustained due to Sandy. Pastor Dave asked who would like to spend the day in NY helping out a community there and I immediately said, I would.”

One full size bus, 2 vans, and almost 80 members of the Pocono Community Church in partnership with Convoy of Hope, left Tobyhanna at 6 AM and spent the entire day helping the Corner Point Church and homes in Bellmore – Long Island strip their basements, remove debris, and fill dumpster after dumpster with damaged personal items.

Kim says, “I was very happy to help out a community in need, but when I saw street after street of piles of damaged personal belongings sitting at the end of the street in front of home after home after home, I was very humbled and losing power in my home in Arrowhead Lakes for 5 days all of a sudden seemed insignificant.”

The group of 80 members of PCC from Tobyhanna consisted of skilled workers, volunteers, and community minded individuals. The effort was supervised by Pastors Emilio and Pastor Ron of Pocono Community Church. Members were split up into teams, one team for the exterior of the church, one for the interior, and 5 teams were designated to assist 5 families in the Bellmore community.

The teams shared in prayer before they began their assignments of the day and the 5 teams that were sent into the community were warned that they would be entering homes that are angry, sad and possibly confused. They may not know God, so enter their homes respectfully and with God in your hearts, physically help these families, and God will do the rest.

When asked who would like to supervise the interior and exterior teams, Kim Wells stepped up again. Associate Broker with Pocono Mountains Real Estate, Inc. Dominick J. Sacci explains, “It doesn’t surprise me one second that Kim would step up consistently to help others, she does that on a continual basis in the real estate industry. We are honored to have such a great humanitarian on our team. I understand that she was overheard working on her transactions on her cell phone on her breaks and impressed those around her.”

While the work of the day was going on, members in need from the community visited the upper level of the Corner Point Church in Long Island for food, shelter, cloths, and buckets filled with cleaning supplies.

Kim concludes, “I am thankful for this experience and glad that God put this on my heart. I look forward to the recovery process for all of our communities and hope that I can inspire more people to get involved and appreciate what they have; it could have been a lot worse for us here in the Pocono Mountains. When we take our eyes off of ourselves, God gives us the will to help others.”

“We Know how to SELL the Poconos” Pocono Mountains Real Estate, Inc, provides enhanced real estate customer services primarily to the Northeast Pennsylvania territories. The company takes pride in their unmatched knowledge and expertise in handling Short Sales, Foreclosures, Rentals, Estate Sales, and Land Sales. Experience the difference at 570.402.7767 or www.pmreinc.com
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With an average sales price YTD of $129,751, property values in the Pocono Mountains appear to be increasing.

The average sales price (month over month) has been higher than the YTD average six times in the last 10 months, with the monthly average remaining higher than the YTD average in 5 of the last 6 months. The trend looks like this, May – $129,398, June – $131,739, July – $133,151, August – $131,118, Sept – $136,815, and Oct – $131,215.

I am comfortable saying, that if trends stay the course, the property values in our region should appreciate 1-3% next year.

Sales continue to move in the direction of a “textbook recovery”, closed sales YTD are up 16%, and pending sales (future business) are up 39%.

Overall inventory remains 8% lower than this time last year, and the days on the market appears to have stabilized around 6 months for the homes that are selling.

As we journey into the slow time of year for our local real estate industry, the market data could not be more promising.

In my opinion, absolutely not! All of the market indicators are moving in the right direction, that of a textbook recovery. It is a matter of time before we see a mild and stabilized increase in property values, year over year.

Overall inventory is down, pending sales and closed sales are up, AND the average sales price in the Pocono Mountains Region has increased in 4 of the last 5 months (therein lies a market trend).

More importantly, as the foreclosure activity decreases/stabilizes and the short-sale activity declines, we are not seeing an increase in either of one of these categories in line with sitting/stale inventory, and the foreclosure prices are increasing overall, NOT declining. It is getting harder and harder to find a foreclosed home in price ranges where they were abundant one year ago.

It is my professional opinion, having been a REALTOR® professional in our region since 1994, and having reported on market data since 2000, that 2012 will be the year that consumers wished they purchased a home and/or are motivated to NOT let this market recovery pass them by – to the point that they will be priced out of the market again.

Remember, successful “minded” people see opportunity that others do not! Here is to all consumers of real estate taking advantage of the current purchasing opportunities.