Martin Acres Boulder Real Estate – Heart, Charm and Potential
This neighborhood of just about 1200 homes is located in the heart of south Boulder. Bordered by Table Mesa, Broadway, Hwy 36 and Baseline Rd, it is a pocket of houses, condos and “other stuff” that might easily be overlooked as valuable Boulder real estate.
I did not overlook it. For the last 11 years, this neighborhood was my home and I have enjoyed it’s proximity to Whole Foods and a 24 hour King Soopers supermarket, as well as Indian, Thai, Italian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Mexican and American style restaurants. I have walked to breakfast at the Southside Walnut Cafe and The Egg and I on Sunday mornings and I have grown addicted to having 5 different coffee shops and 5 different liquor stores a short distance from home. That’s right… I like a little glass of red wine with a neighbor or friend, under the starry evening sky with the Flatirons looking over me and remain grateful for this location with it’s unique and exquisite geography.
Do you need convincing that south Boulder’s high performing schools, challenging and beautiful trails, meandering bike paths, proximity to CU Boulder, NOAA and NIST and easy commuter access also contribute to it’s increasing popularity among families, professionals, athletes and students?
For years I have watched my real estate perform well even when the real estate market was challenged in other parts of the city and in other price points. Martin Acres has in fact, grown in desirability with every passing year and I feel fortunate to have secured my little slice of heaven.
Ok, sure… I sound bias. I’m a Realtor, investor and lover of Martin Acres, so of course I’d like to oversell it to you, right? “Show me the data” I hear you say. Fair enough! Here goes…
A couple of points to mention before you check out the charts below.
- The charts are LIVE. Check it out today and it will look like what you see now. Come back in a month or two and you’ll notice it has updated itself with new monthly data.
- The charts are interactive. Scroll your mouse over the lines to see the actual data points become visible. Awesome huh!? You’re welcome!
- Some of the charts are a “rolling 12 months” style. Meaning the data is averaged over 12 months to negate the seasonal affect of our market. February data is the average of the 12 months leading up to the end of February 2016. January data point is the average of the 12 months leading up to the end of Jan 2016, etc. (This is sometimes harder to visualize so feel free to call me and I can walk you through why this is a better way to get a trend overall for some types of data.)
Chart 1: Martin Acres Boulder Real Estate Analysis
Martin Acres was originally developed between the mid 1950’s and the mid 1960’s. Like many new developments the builders offered several models of home, but by no means would you have considered this a custom neighborhood. Style ranged from the 950+ square ranch homes (north end of the neighborhood), to those with full basements south of 38th St, tri-levels along Moorhead Ave and the more easterly streets and some Cape Cod style houses on the south end of the neighborhood.
Over the years many homes have been added onto and remodeled to include more square footage and these days square footage ranges from a few of the existing 1000 square foot homes to larger and newer homes up to about 3000 square feet.
As such, the first chart breaks down the sold homes into 3 distinct sizes to give you an idea of how different sizes are performing and their sold price trend.
The following charts do not break down the data into size brackets but instead give you a visual of the overall Martin Acres real estate market.
Chart 2: Martin Acres Boulder Real Estate Inventory levels
How may homes are for sale in any given month? An important consideration if you are the buyer trying to estimate how long it might take to find the right home in this neighborhood and just as important to the seller who is attempting to gauge just how much competition his house might have. A rolling 12 month total for this statistic would count a home for sale in January and February as 2 listings… Not accurate. So in this case each data point tells you how many home were for sale that month – Remember this figure is different from the number of new listings (Even more so when not in a fast paced sellers market like February 2016).
We are experiencing low inventory, in case you hadn’t already worked that out! (LOW SUPPLY)
Chart 3: Martin Acres Boulder Real Estate Under contract
Common sense alone tells us that with a limited supply of houses to buy, the number that could possibly be under contract is also going to be smaller than when there is more available to buy. I used a rolling 12 month total to show a more accurate trend line for this statistic.
Chart 4: Martin Acres Boulder Real Estate Sales
In a market where few deals end in termination before closing, it makes sense that the chart for closings closely resembles the under contract trend line. Look closely and you’ll see that closing numbers follow under contract numbers by about a month. This is about the time it takes to go from “under contract” to “closed”.
Why do most deals go all the way to closing?
- Realtors – experienced, knowledgeable professionals are guiding the process.
- In order to be more competitive in this sellers market, buyers are dropping a number of contingencies from the Contract to Buy.
- Buyers understand the challenges involved in getting a contract accepted and are less likely to terminate it knowing there is another buyer chomping at their heels to take their place.
Chart 5: Martin Acres Boulder Real Estate Median Days on Market
Just a few years ago the median hovered around 60 days, now we see 40 as normal. Consider this… It takes about a month to get a loan, so the property had to have gone under contract in the first 5-10 days. Of those 5 days, several were spent allowing buyers to get their showings done and for listing agents to “collect offers”. Another day or so to present offers and for the seller to make a decision, then it’s off to closing! (HIGH DEMAND)
Chart 6: Martin Acres Boulder Real Estate Months Supply of Inventory
In short, how many months would it take to sell all the houses currently for sale? This is the supply of inventory. The benchmark for a balanced market is 6 months. Less than that is considered a seller’s market and more than 6 months is a buyer’s market.
Yeah… It’s definitely a seller’s market in Martin Acres! (SUPPLY VS DEMAND)
Chart 7: Martin Acres Boulder Real Estate Percent of List Price to Sold Price
Note: There are two types of data that could be used for this calculation. The original list price to sale price, or the list price (possibly after price reductions) at the time the listing went under contract. This chart uses the original list price, offering you a better insight into the demand side of the market.
A 2-3% discount from asking price in Martin Acres real estate used to be fairly common prior to the beginning of the sellers market in March 2012. These days we wonder what went wrong if the house sells for less than asking. The answer of course, is fairly simple:
- Overpriced to start with.
- Showing condition drove buyers away.
- Marketing and strategy failure.
- Appraisal or inspection issues that demanded a renegotiation of price.
Any type of market will be unforgiving of a seller/listing agent who doesn’t know the market and/or doesn’t have a strategy based on data and comps. You never get a second chance to make a first impression!
In short, there is not enough supply to meet demand in Martin Acres but just plugging a “For Sale” sign into your front yard is not the way to ensure that you get the highest price, most qualified buyer in the quickest time period. For that you need an experienced hand to guide you, a professional to provide the listing with the most exposure to the right buyers and someone who can leverage relationships and negotiation skills to help you, seller, get where you want to be.
For more information about the Martin Acres or Boulder real estate market or just to chat about possibilities, call me: 303-746-6765. I’d be honored to get the opportunity to earn your business!