Coeur d'Alene Idaho Real Estate & Property Management

Apparently, the entire USA has 'the cold'.  You know the one.  It starts with a throat tickle, or a running nose, or a stuffy head, or some other mundane symptom.  It might even lead you on and let you think it's just going to brush over you. That's part of the 'slow to hit you' that defines a cold.  It's a tease, that's all it is.

HA!  No such luck here.  I had the dubious honor of being the 3rd person at the office, and the first person at home to be blessed with the congestion monster.  Oh yes.  If I get it FIRST in the family, you can bet your sweet bippie I'll get it last as well. And, since I work with family members, it's just a vicious cycle.  I do have to say, my brother-in-law Kraig actually brought this baby to the office first (ha, it really wasn't my fault this time).

Bah Humbug.  I had it last week, started getting cocky and feeling good, even got things accomplished early on this week.  Then presto blamo, Thursday hit.  Sore throat time.  Didn't have that one before.  Hum.  And then, I swear my nose has turned into a centipede - it won't stop running.  I do believe I have gone through at least 3 boxes of kleenex!

Well, alrightly then.  Real Estate still must go on.  While I haven't truly been able to talk for the past 2 days (any amount of noise coming out of that general region sends me into coughing fits), I am still functioning and getting your properties marketed and sold :D (you knew I'd bring this back to real estate somehow, someway).

TTFN 

Thank you for letting me know what information you would like to be kept up to date on.  As requested, here is a snapshot view of the entire Kootenai County Residential Real Estate Market.

Here are currently active properties:

Here are the sold properties (since January 1st 2007):

Stunning brick front colonial with over 2,500 spacious square feet of living space.  Home boasts 4 gorgeous bedrooms, 3 full bathrooms, spacious eat-in kitchen, formal living room . . . Learn more about this gorgeous Post Falls home for sale on our website.

Not the home you are looking for?  What home are you looking for?  Let us know and we'll keep you up to date, minute by minute. 

Happy Monday!

I just wanted to take a moment to update everyone.  When you are searching for a home for sale in Coeur d'Alene, Post Falls, Hayden Lake or Rathdrum (in other words Kootenai County and North Idaho), you can start on our featured properties for sale page.  We have restructured the page to make it much more navigable and allowing us to include more information, photos and details on each property.  We're not done, but we are heading in the right direction.

For example, check out this beautiful Spirit Lake home for sale and this gorgeous Hayden Lake home for sale.  This is the direction we are going with all of our featured properties.  We still have a couple dozen more properties to add to this site, so keep checking back.  We promise to promote each of these properties here on our blog as well.

We've also done some serious updating of our Coeur d'Alene Idaho MLS statistics page.  Not only will you be able to access the association distributed reports on real estate in Kootenai County, you'll also be able to access additional information on homes for sale that we compile.  Information we know is relevant to you and your real estate purchases in Kootenai County.  We are tracking listing inventory levels, keeping you aprised of how many months of inventory we have and providing commentary on this information. 

We've also refreshed our main page for Spring. We've made it easier for you to access the information you want, quickly.  It is our goal to be your resource for buying and selling real estate in beautiful North Idaho. 

As always, please feel free to call or email us at anytime.  208.769.9464 or 208.819.2965 or dreamteam@nidt.com

What is your homes value?  Find out here.  Value information available only on homes located in North Idaho.

Since January 1st, 2007, 13 homes have sold in Fieldstone.

Prices are holding steady, with the lowest sold price at $174,900 for a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom 1,158 square foot single story home and the highest sold price at $282,343 for a 5 bedroom, 3 bathroom 3,550 square foot ranch style home with a full basement.  The length of time on the market ranged from 32 days to 220 days.

The overall sold averages are:

• Sold price: $212,317
• Days on market: 106
• List price to sales price: 98%
• Sold price per square foot: $116.99

When it comes to current homes available for sale in Fieldstone, things look very similar.  As of today, there are 18 homes for sale in Fieldstone in Post Falls Idaho.  17 are currently active and 1 is pending (which means it has an accepted offer without contingencies and is waiting to be closed and recorded).

The lowest priced home currently available is a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1,066 square foot single-level home for $164,900.  The highest priced home available for sale is a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom, 3,786 square foot two-story home with a basement.  Currently the length of time on the market for these homes runs anywhere from 16 days to 269 days.

The overall currently active averages are:

• List price: $242,348
• Days on market: 102
• List price per square foot: $128.80 

The comparison between the two shows a couple of interesting details. 

1. The average price of homes that are currently available is 11.6% higher than the average price of homes that are actually selling in Fieldstone right now.
2. The average cost per square foot is 8.2% higher for currently active homes for sale vs. homes that have sold since January 2007.
3. The price range of currently available properties is wider than the price range of sold properties.

We have had a tremendous amount of showings on one of the properties we have currently available for sale in Fieldstone. We expect to see an offer in the next few weeks.  This property is currently one of the lowest priced properties available within Fieldstone.

Visit us to find out what the value is of your Fieldstone at Prairie Falls Post Falls Idaho home.

© 2007 Christina Ethridge
David Swarat’s North Idaho Dream Team LLC
Full Service Real Estate & Property Management
“Let Our Family Help Your Family”

I have been reading, with great amusement, the various comments on a local real estate blog hosted by our local newspaper, the Coeur d'Alene Press.  I kid you not, my reactions have gone from... hum, this 'might' be interesting, to 'what in the world', to 'do these people have an actual brain between their ears' to 'ok, I get it, it's class snobbery and zealot desire'.

Now, I know that harkening your attention to this particular blog and these particular issues is going to bring it right to my front door.  But I'm beyond remaining quiet and anonymous.  It's absurd that the people spotting off about the real estate market don't know a pickin thing about the flippin market.  They think that reading something about a single city in Michigan or a town in Florida is a direct correlation to our local real estate market.

WHAT???

I mean, the title of the blog includes "Bubble" in it.  Does it get any better?  Comments go on to express how snobby your neighbor will be if you buy in a particular new sub-division.  Then, it progresses to how a listing agent is going to 'have' to be open to negotiating their commission with the buyer, just to get a property sold.

Again, WHAT???

The problem with most of these comments and 'opinions' is that they aren't based on anything other than anecdotal thoughts and meanderings.  There isn't a single solid piece of stats or evidence to support most of these comments. 

 When stats are produced to support the 'negative, bubble, slump' our area has supposedly become, the stats aren't even usable.  They don't jive with anything the MLS or OFEHO have distributed and, they don't show more than one previous year.  How in the heck is that going to show you anything?  You can compare year to year, but you can't say it's getting worse if you don't look at a multiple year history.  That is precisely why we provide stats throughout all of Kootenai County's recorded real estate history.  You must be solidly informed. 

Here's the blog, and over the next few days and weeks, I'll be attempting to address all of the comments within this particular blog.  Folks, it's imperative that you get factual information, not someone's hope and dream that real estate crashes.  Believe me, they will look for anything they can to make it appear that the market may possibly, if the right person does the right little dance and we all pray 10 times a day, depreciate.  Thing is, they are flat out wrong.

Something has come up that I find especially important to update you all about. 

If any REALTOR(R) says anything negative about another REALTOR(R), be very wary.  We have noticed a pattern with one particular 'colleague' that has managed to sell to one of our buyers and convince one of our sellers to cancel their listing with us and list with this particular 'colleague'. 

It has come to our attention that this 'colleague' has been speaking negatively about us and our team.

What I find particularly interesting is that we have never had one single transaction with this colleague.  I wonder, where are they getting their negative information, because it certainly isn't first hand. 

I also wonder, why in the world they've decided to 'gossip' about a colleague to that colleagues clients.

Hum. 

Trustworthy?  I don't think so.

I am not concerned about the buyer and seller we 'lost' to this individual.  If they are willing to listen to someone speaking negatively about another person, that's their problem.  They've made their decision and will benefit from the consequences later. 

We've already seen the consequences with the buyer, they were convinced to buy an investment property that they closed on just a couple months ago and what do you know, it's not getting the rents that the REALTOR(R) told them it was going to get.  It's also requiring repair work that the REALTOR(R) didn't get in to.  In other words, this 'colleague' of ours didn't know the best investment options for this buyer.  Of course, the buyer didn't want to listen to what we advised, they chose to do their own thing.

Just a word to the wise, if someone is willing to speak harmfully and negatively about another person, be careful.  It is not likely that they are an honest person and it's not likely that they will truly serve your best interests. 

Just a brief update on the homes that are available for sale in Fieldstone at Prairie Falls.  Learn about the Fieldstone sub-division and why it's the perfect place to buy your next home. 

If you are interested in purchasing a home in Fieldstone, give us a phone call 208.769.9464 or 208.819.2965 or send us an email.

As many of you know, I track our north idaho real estate homes for sale inventory on an almost weekly basis.  It's been 12 days since I checked out what has been happening.  On March 12th, the Coeur d'Alene Multiple Listing service had a total of 5,459 properties available for sale.  These available properties included residential homes, multi-family properties, vacant land for sale, commercial properties and businesses for sale.  It's our total 'inventory' if you will.  I also track the numbers individually, because as we all know, looking at the overall picture is just one slice of the pie.

On March 12th we had 2,983 residential homes for sale in Kootenai County. Today we have 3,146 homes available for sale.  I've been communicating with all potential north idaho real estate sellers that it will be like a light switch in the middle of March.  People will suddenly flood the market with the homes they want to sell.  In less than 12 days, we've gained another 191 homes for buyers to choose from.  This makes it all the more important that you determine what the true value of your home is, not last years value, not next years value, not the value you hope it's worth, not the value you perceive it to be worth, but the true market value, a value that will sell your North Idaho home with all of the competition that is on the market.  You can sell your home at a solid price without giving it away.  Overpricing in this market will cost you a lot of money, and it's likely you'll either not sell the property, or, if you do sell, you'll get less for the property than it's truly worth because you didn't price it right to begin with.  I am an expert at pricing properties to sell.  Let me help you.  Don't lose money, make money.

Overall, we are up 414 properties as compared to just 12 days ago.  Historically, the numbers will continue to rise until sometime in July/August, at which point we will plateau and the numbers will start to decrease again.  The absolute best time to sell your home, at the highest possible price, is right now.  We are in the thick of it right now.  Total available properties for sale as of today, March 24th is 5,873.  We are already close to last years highest inventory level, which was 6,150 and was hit August 30th.  We are going to surpass that level early on this year it looks like.

Give me a call (208.769.9464 or 208.819.2965), drop me an email.  Let's talk about your property and see how I can help you achieve your real estate goals.

Visit us to find out what the value of your Coeur d’Alene Idaho home is.

© 2007 Christina Ethridge
David Swarat’s North Idaho Dream Team LLC
Full Service Real Estate & Property Management
“Let Our Family Help Your Family”

Beautifully built 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom home with 1800 square feet.  Price reduced yesterday to $220,000, best price in the neighborhood and you can move in tomorrow. View photos, details and more information on this gorgeous Post Falls home for sale here. 

This Post Falls Idaho home is located in Avalon Estates, central to shopping and an easy commute to Coeur d'Alene and Spokane. 

Looking for something else?  Check out these North Idaho homes for sale. 

Thinking of selling your Post Falls Idaho home?  We can help you.  Contact us today to find out what your home is worth and what is needed to get it sold.

© 2007 Christina Ethridge
David Swarat’s North Idaho Dream Team LLC
Full Service Real Estate & Property Management
“Let Our Family Help Your Family”

This home has been sold