Rehoboth Beach Real Estate Guide

The Andy Staton Group

The Andy Staton Group advanced in their performance into the Top 10 Rehoboth Beach and Sussex County real estate sales agents during 2011.

Group Leader, Andy Staton, attributes the increased success to their focus on meeting the specific needs of their customers.  Staton adds, “We set attainable goals for our group, focusing entirely on customer service, providing consistent management across all of our listings and sales transactions, establishing an effective pricing strategy, improving our negotiation techniques, and most of all, consistently communicating key market information that our clients need to make decisions”.

Demonstrating performance growth in the soft real estate market is truly an accomplishment for The Andy Staton Group and their clients.

“We felt that our performance was a direct result of our consistent approach to customer service and lowering the number of days on market for our sellers.  When someone is focused on selling their home, we do exactly that, prepare them for the sale.  The strategy for a sale starts with planning, positioning, and pricing the property to show well to prospective clients and priced in line with the current market conditions.” Staton continued.

The Group was recently recognized at the Prudential Gallo Realtors annual awards banquet for being the top performers in their Rehoboth Beach sales office.  The Group’s selling performance success increased 42% in 2011 and is expected to expand further in the 2012 sales year.

According to Staton, “Being the best in the business is our passion. Accomplishing successful sales results for our clients is our commitment.”

When listing or buying property in the coastal Delaware area, the Andy Staton Group invites you to join in their success.  Give Andy a call at 302-841-2127, visit www.andytoday.com, or send an email to info@andytoday.com.

Andy Staton Group moves into top 10 real estate teams in Sussex.

   Short Sales and Foreclosures – Yes, they are having an impact on value! But what about the future?  When talking real estate, we are often asked; Can I get a good deal on a short sale or foreclosure?

2012 buyers are plentiful and they are focused first on the increase in short sales and foreclosures in our market, and this is having an impact on property values from Ocean Front to residential neighborhoods throughout the Coastal Region. On land, there has been as much a 50% depreciation in value from 2005, and for residential properties, our analysis offers a decrease in value of more than 25%.

However, the good news for the overall market is that there is not a large inventory of these properties on the market, and, buyers are focusing on other properties, and inventory of the entire market has been on the decline since 2011.

Short sales and foreclosures have been on the rise in Sussex County over the last year.  Sussex County short sale closings increased from 54 in 2010 to 141 in 2011, and currently, there are 166 short sale listings on the market, and 87 bank owned properties (those that have been foreclosed on), about 6% of the properties listed for sale.

The increase in short sales and foreclosures will be a key factor in pricing properties for sale in 2012.  Many homeowners that have held back from selling in hopes of market price improvements may not be able to hold on any longer.  Others will realize the need to move on and pursue a short sale in 2012.  And those selling outright will have to understand the value of real estate has been impacted by the short sales and foreclosures that have occurred.

The Andy Staton Group stays committed to working with all types of buyers and sellers and has developed significant expertise in the short sale and foreclosure markets.  We have structured the sale of dozens of short sales for both sellers and buyers, and recently for bank sales, or foreclosed properties. Almost every prospective buyer we encounter today asks about short sale and bank owned property opportunities.

In the past, a short sale was quite a daunting challenge.  Fortunately, short sales have now become considerably easier, depending on the financial institution and the number of loans that encumber the property.  Bank sales of foreclosed properties are even more efficient, with the buyer often getting an answer on offers in just a few days.

For sellers involved in short sales, the transaction is not as difficult as you might expect.  Few lenders allow approval of a short sale listing price in advance of receiving an offer from a potential buyer.  Most lenders require an offer before they will consider a short sale request.  Our extensive expertise in the short sale process also allows us to assist buyer clients who are interested in purchasing a short sale property.  Knowing the process from both sides, gives buyers and sellers an added advantage in this type of transaction.

Give us a call if you would like more information about how we can support you in the short sale process.

For the first time in many months, we are seeing a strong positive momentum in the Sussex County housing market.  That translates into seeing buyers, who have been waiting on the sidelines, beginning to inquire about the many market opportunities.  This uptick in buyer activity may be the result of a belief that the market has bottomed out.  Coupled with historically low mortgage rates, buyers are beginning to feel that now is the time to consider the remarkable opportunities in this market.

This sentiment has translated into inquiries and actual sales that are increasing, great news so far for 2012. We have experienced a fourfold increase in sales contracts over the same period in 2011.  Yes, a phenomenal improvement!

There are other positive signs supporting an upturn in home sales performance in 2012.  First, there is the status of inventory, or the number of homes on the resale market.  The current inventory of improved residential properties, or resale homes, for Sussex County stands at 4,300, or 9% less than last year.  Having fewer choices can be a good thing.  Whenever there is a glut of houses on the market, buyers shop around and are hesitant to buy, waiting for prices to drop further.  However, when inventory drops, prices firm up and savvy buyers act.

Although these market indicators point to positive performance, expect improvement to be gradual, not robust as we experienced in the recent past.  Economic uncertainty will continue to impact price, with little or no price appreciation expected in the year 2012. Instead there may be a much desired bottoming out of prices, giving some long needed stability to the market.

The good news: buyer momentum will take us in the right direction.