What's the deal?
Owner/ Broker Sherlyn Waghalter discusses the ups and downs of the Northwest Florida real estate market

Waghalter

Everyone hears all of the national news media. But we all want to know "What's the deal with the local real estate market?" Sherlyn Waghalter, local Owner/Broker of Remax on the Coast answers some questions.

Q. Give me some statistics on the state of our local real estate market.

A. The latest "metro market trends" show that Gulf Breeze residential single family home sales are down about 25% year-to-date from January 1, 2007 through September 30, 2007 compared to 2006 numbers. Pensacola Beach is down 34% from the same time period last year. One of the hardest hit areas seems to be vacant residential lots in our area. Those sales are down about 40% from the same time period last year. There are so many choices and great deals on existing homes that the need for new construction on vacant land has taken a back seat.

Q. How can buyers find those "great deals" out there?

A. There are some awesome deals, and realtors are privy to information not available on the public mls website. The Pensacola Association of Realtors just added a special field on listings for realtors to identify "foreclosed" properties. Also, the "agent notes" on a listing can indicate whether the bank will consider a "short sale." We are seeing many short sales rather than foreclosures. This helps the seller salvage their credit, and the bank doesn't have to take the home back. Some banks are more acceptable than others to this process. I think it's a great compromise in a bad situation. We have several agents that are very knowledgeable about this processes.

Q. Sherlyn, how is your office handling this tough real estate market?

A. The tough market has helped our office in many ways. Two years ago, anyone could sell a home by placing a sign in the yard and posting the home on the MLS system. Today's market requires a knowledgeable realtor with a strong brand name that offers additional resources. With a brand like RE/MAX, we can offer an international presence through the over 100,000 agents referring their customers that are relocating. Website presence is crucial in today's savvy market. Approximately 70% of homebuyers begin their search online. According to recent Google trend statistics (www.google.com/trends), remax.com has a commanding first place position of consumer users among all of the major real estate companies.

Q. What do you attribute the success of RE/MAX on the Coast to? (According to Pensacola MLS statistics, they are the number one office in the Gulf Breeze area).

A. Having the RE/MAX brand is great. However, I feel like the strong group of agents in our office has made us successful. We have been very selective about the agents we take on. All of our agents truly care about their customers, conduct business professionally with integrity and are very knowledgeable about the local area. We have a great time together, and I am proud to call everyone there my co-worker.

Q. Do you see a recovery any time soon?

A. The winter months could continue to be a little rough. I believe we'll begin a slow recovery in the spring. Many factors are working in our favor:

* We made it through hurricane season (whew!)

* The Fed seems to have a mindset for cutting interest rates

* The working person with good credit can easily get a mortgage in the 6.5 percent range

* Most home prices are very good now and sellers are making creative concessions.

The sales are still there - just at a slower pace. It's the amount of inventory that is unbelievable (approximately 7000 homes for sale now compared to around 1500 in 2004 or 2005). Everything has its season. I am optimistic that our real estate market is suffering through the cold, dreary winter now and that spring is just around the corner.