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Coldwell Banker real estate agent Lynne Koy, specializing on Longboat Key and waterfront properties, had a golden week in early June, when she had three closings that totaled $6 million in sales.
“This ranks right up there,” says Koy, who once also closed $12 million in deals in one week and posted $45 million in sales volume last year.
But the stellar week might not foretell a continuation in the housing market rebound. “I'm seeing a reduction in prices,” Koy tells Coffee Talk. “We aren't seeing the appreciation we saw in prices even a year ago.”
Koy says that reduction, even on sought-after waterfront properties, makes the science of how to price the listing even more of a priority. That was the case with one of her three recent closes, on Mistletoe Lane on Longboat Key. Koy actively watched the listing when it hit the market, first priced at $1,795,000. She reached out to the sellers when it didn't move.
Koy persuaded the sellers to relist with her at a lower price, $1,495,000. The 3,216-square-foot waterfront property, with four bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms, sold for $1.45 million 13 days after Koy knocked $300,000 of the list price. “Buyers are sophisticated shoppers,” she says. “They will not be fooled into over-paying for properties, no matter how beautiful the view may be.”
Koy's other closings the first week of June were a condo on Gulf of Mexico Drive for $3.5 million and a home on North Washington Drive, near St. Armands Circle, for $1.34 million.
Buyers for two of the properties, says Koy, are from New York and North Carolina, while a third are local residents seeking an upgrade.
In addition to price appreciation slowdown, Koy has noticed another trend, going back a year or two, in that winter is no longer the only strong buying season. Spring and summer are also picking up steam. Says Koy: “Summer has become a time for serious buyers.”