June 24th, 2009
Okay, so let’s figure this out together. There were 212 average sales per month in Mercer County real estate over the past year. They sold for an average of $338,901 and spent an average of 89 days on the market. A quick check of the membership roster in our local Multiple Listing Service reveals 1664 members in offices with zipcodes in Mercer County. The average total commission rate for a sale probably comes in around 5.5%.
That is a total of 2544 sales (1.52 per member) or a total sales amount of $862,164,144. This should result in total commissions of about $47,419,027.92.
With there being two members working on each transaction, each member would receive an average $14,248.50 in commissions for the year, which is generally split between the member and the company they have their license with. Assuming 52 weeks per year — 5 days per week — 8 hours per day, for a total of 2080 hours per year, that works out to $3.43 per hour. And then you have to take out the 15% for social security taxes, your multiple listing, membership and license fees, your Errors and Omissions insurance, car expenses, etc.
Even if you assume the agent is only working while the listing(s) are on the market (89 days x 1.52 listings), that is still 1082 hours or $6.58 per hour, before expenses.
The federal minimum wage is set to rise to $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009.
It would appear that we need either higher commissions, more sold houses, or fewer agents in order to meet the requirement of the Federal Minimum Wage.
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June 6th, 2009
Statistics kept at DeltaNet, our Weidel website provider, show that over the past number of weeks our West Windsor NJ Homes for Sale website has provided the most traffic to our Weidel webpage.
Websites ranked in order of performance
This trend has proven resilient over time. Google and Yahoo know that the Weidel page exists but it does not rank very high in their rank of importance.
Posted in Township, general | No Comments »
June 4th, 2009
We have updated the West Windsor NJ Homes for Sale site with a page offering to help sellers find out how much their home is worth. Setting the value of the home is extremely important in the current market situation.
Posted in West Windsor | No Comments »
April 27th, 2009
Yes, it was that long ago, that a group of seniors graduated from West Bend, Wisconsin’s high school. Former Badgers’s such as Sue Atwood, Pat Hoeft, and Sandie Weiler along with myself, have joined a group at Facebook. Anybody else looking to catch up with old classmates?
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
April 15th, 2009
Checking on statistics to see where visitors are clicking through from to get to our Weidel site, still shows a close race between East Windsor and West Windsor NJ Homes for Sale sites. More people from Google than I would have thought. And the traffic has picked up this year.
Posted in East Windsor, West Windsor, general | No Comments »
March 21st, 2009
Yesterday, we put together a contract, this morning we are putting together another contract, should have another one for tomorrow. Not complaining at all. Another client says they are ready to buy, and we are looking at houses Monday evening. The mortgage representatives are saying they are extremely busy, and with rates approaching 4.5%, why shouldn’t they be? Also met with someone yesterday from the old neighborhood that was referred by an attorney. Red Hot Sale tomorrow. And the beat goes on…..
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March 20th, 2009
Snow on our patio on March 20, 2009
We awoke to this snowy scene after having put up the umbrella, put out the chairs, and generally prepared ourselves for spring.
!@#$%^& groundhog!!
Posted in Active Adult, Hightstown, Lawrenceville, general | No Comments »
March 11th, 2009
If you’re wondering how much house your budget will purchase in West Windsor, New Jersey, here is a chart detailing the breakdown of the number of homes sold in various price ranges during the year 2008.
The homes in the $200,000 to 300,000 are primarily condominiums. While the majority of the homes priced from there up to $500,000 are mostly townhomes, there are some townhomes priced up to $600,000. Single family homes start generally around $500,000, and the lower range are generally 30 years and older, starting around $700,000 you will find some of the 20 year and newer homes.
Information originates from TReND Multiple Listing Service. All information, regardless of source, is not guaranteed and should be independently verified.
Posted in West Windsor | No Comments »
March 4th, 2009
While preparing market statistics for a recent request, the following was observed: Over the past year, the average sales price dropped only about $10,000 (from $358,553 to $348,480). That would be about a 2.8% decline in sales price, which compares quite favorably with what you are hearing about the national trends in the national news.
The number of homes sold in Lawrenceville dropped from 366 to 286 over the same time frame, as did the number of homes for sale (from 647 to 535). This means the ratio of homes sold versus marketed only dropped 3% from 56% to 53%. This would mean that for people trying to sell their homes it has not gotten harder over the past year, just that fewer people are trying. This is further illustrated by the fact that the time to sell a home (Days on Market) has only increased by 2 days year over year (83 versus 81).
Posted in Lawrenceville | No Comments »
February 25th, 2009
Have you noticed that some websites have larger favicons than others do?
How do they do that?????
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »