Highlands County Talk

I'm in a small rural market. We have somewhere around 2249 active residential (including mobiles on rented land) listings today. Despite all the products available these day, most residential listings are still without Virtual Tour. In fact, there are only 509 listings with a Virtual Tour of some kind. WHY???

Of course, it makes it so much easier for us to fetch those expired listings if they didn't have a Virtual Tour provided by their previous agent. Buyers will spend more time looking at a listing if it has a Virtual Tour. Buyers might not even click on a listing that doesn't have one. It's easy for us to make the case as to why we are the agents to work with.

Yes, there are listings where a Virtual Tour can backfire. We have one of those: overgrown courtyard, interior needs serious cosmetic work. We're not able to get a hold of the seller to get written confirmation to hire someone to fix up the place. Soooo, we do not have a Virtual Tour on that property. Other than that, all our listings have a tour. It's standard these days, or is it?

Oct 2 Lake Placid Annual Banquet

Oct 2 - Oct 4 Apple / Harvest Festival 

Oct 2 18 Hole Clergy / Ministers Tournament

Oct 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 Heartland Idol on the Circle in Sebring

Oct 3 - Oct 5 Run to the Heartland

Oct 3, 5, 10, 11, 17, 18, 24, 25, 31 Terror Trail - Humane Society

Oct 3 Highlands Art League - Sunset in the Villages

Oct 3 RHYTHMS

Oct 4 5th Annual Charity Bass Tournament

Oct 6, 13, 20, 27 Horse & Pony Rides

Oct 6, 13, 20 Sebring Recreation Club

Oct 7 Event at CROWN POINTE of SEBRING

Oct 7 MOMS Club of Sebring Open House

Oct 7, 14, 21, 28 Bingo - Sebring Lions Club

Oct 7 Discover Wellness - Affinity Health Professionals

Oct 8 Ladies Lunch Club Wednesday

Oct 9 Leadership Highlands Alumni Luncheon

Oct 9 10th Annual March of Dimes Signature Chef's Auction at Four Points by Sheraton

Oct 11 Master Gardeners of Highlands County

Oct 11 Family Fun Fair - Faith Lutheran Church

Oct 11 Saturday Night Cruise Car Show

Oct 11 Highlands Shrine Fund Raising Dinner

Oct 12 Fly-In Breakfast 

Oct 13 Woman's Club of Sebring

Oct 14 Sebring Chamber of Commerce Membership Breakfast

Oct 16 Tri Chamber After Hours Business Mixer

Oct 18 Lake Placid Chamber Annual Golf Tournament

Oct 18 Harvest Moon Sidewalk Sale and Farmers Market

Oct 18 Arc's A Nite at the Races

Oct 21 EDC Annual Banquet

Oct 23 Woodlawn Elementary Fall Fun Fest 

Oct 23 Economic Development Center Annual Banquet
Oct 25 American Red Cross Garage Sale

Oct 25 Sebring Historical Society Quarterly Luncheon Meeting

Oct 25 YMCA Haunted House

Oct 27 Sebring Recreation Club - Ice Cream Shuffleboard

Oct 31 HALLOWEEN DOWNTOWN

Oct 31 - Nov 1 Woman's Club of Sebring - Huge Annual Flea Market 

Oct 31 Halloween Trick or Treat

Avon Park:

Days on the Market: 134
Number of Sales: 13
Average List Price: $114,473
Average Sale Price: $108,763
Sold to Original Ratio: 86.85%
Sold to List Ratio: 90.01%
Absorption Rate: 26.50

Amount of Sales* by Price Range:

Under $100,000:                  8
$100,000-$150,000:           4
$150,000-$200,000:           -
$200,000-$250,000             -
$250,000-$300,000             -
$300,000 and up                  1

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Sebring:

Days on the Market: 148
Number of Sales: 49
Average List Price: $132,060
Average Sale Price: $119,854
Sold to Original Ratio: 82.70%
Sold to List Ratio: 90.76%
Absorption Rate: 25.99

Amount of Sales* by Price Range:

Under $100,000:                  20
$100,000-$150,000:           8
$150,000-$200,000:           6
$200,000-$250,000             3
$250,000-$300,000             1
$300,000 and up                  1

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 Lake Placid:

Days on the Market: 182
Number of Sales: 14
Average List Price: $229,100
Average Sale Price: $207,640
Sold to Original Ratio: 84.81%
Sold to List Ratio: 90.63%
Absorption Rate: 31.63

Amount of Sales* by Price Range:

Under $100,000:                  4
$100,000-$150,000:           5
$150,000-$200,000:           3
$200,000-$250,000             2
$250,000-$300,000             -
$300,000 and up                  -

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Highlands County:

Days on the Market: 168
Number of Sales: 66
Average List Price: $134,937
Average Sale Price: $122,418
Sold to Original Ratio: 81.89%
Sold to List Ratio: 90.72%
Absorption Rate: 27.86

Amount of Sales* by Price Range:

Under $100,000:                  27
$100,000-$150,000:           16
$150,000-$200,000:           11
$200,000-$250,000             5
$250,000-$300,000             1
$300,000 and up                  2

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The absorption rate for all three cities as well as county wide has gone up for the first time since January 2008. While the number of For Sale By Owner's has gone down dramatically since last year, we find there are more and more sellers willing to list their homes at fair market value. 

The bulk of sales still happens in the "Bargain Area", around $100K.