When I put together the stats that I shared earlier this week about Montgomery, Alabama, sales for the month of June, I should have remembered that old and true expression, “The devil is in the details.”  Now here’s the rest of the story:

Yes, sales in our area are off substantially from June 2007—431 total sales in the Tri-County area this year vs 554 the same month last year.  And, on the surface it seems that prices are plunging:  $162,416 average sale price June 2008 vs $175,541 the year prior.   What this does NOT, however, take into account is the enormous impact of REO’s being sold in our marketplace.

In June 2008, 16% of the closed sales--68 of the total 431—were REO’s, with an average sale price of $61,125.  Non-REO sales totaled 363 at an average $181,391 sale price.  That’s only $2,404 or slightly more than 1% below the June 2007 average of $183,795. 

Clearly. REO’s are a real drag on the current market.  And of the 3314 properties for today in the Tri-County area, 301 are under right of redemption.  The average list price of those 301 properties is $97,957 and the media is $68,900.  So for months to come we may continue to see a wide gap in “average sale price” between 2008 and 2007.  This will no doubt continue until the inventory of REO’s declines substantially.

For investors, this is great news:  we have 301 “motivated sellers” who need to move properties.  The range of values runs from a low of $2,900 to a high of $699,900—something for everybody!

If you are ready to begin investing in Montgomery AL real estate, please call me at 800-HAT-LADY, or visit HomesForSaleInMontgomeryAlabama.com.