Most buyers would not consider offering full price much less above full price given their perception of the current market conditions.  But here are the facts  In the Sparks/Spanish Springs area so far this month 35.4% of the homes sold for prices above asking price and another 25.8% of homes sold at asking price.  That’s a total of 61.2% of the homes sold so far this month selling at or above the seller’s asking price.  Overall the homes that have sold this month sold at an average of 99.1% of asking price with an average list price of $275,674 and an average sales price of $273,280. 

Why are sellers getting their asking price or above? Competitive pricing. 60% of the sellers that got their asking price or above were bank owned properties.  This is due to the fact that most banks are having several appraisals or broker price opinions done prior to listing the property and then pricing them competitively.  In many cases these properties are getting multiple offers if they are very competitively priced.  So if you are considering submitting a “low ball” offer on a competitively priced home you should be prepared to possibly loose out to another buyer.  Ask your agent to do a competitive market analysis of the property you are considering so that you can make a strong offer based on the market value.

So what are homes in Sparks/Spanish Springs selling for?Here are how the prices break down for homes sold this month:

  • Under $200,000 – 26%
  • $200,000 – $250,000 – 26%
  • $250,000 – $300,000 – 13%
  • $300,000 – $350,000 – 13%
  • $350,000 – $400,000 – 16%
  • $400,000 – $450,000 – 0
  • $450,000 – $500,000 – 3%
  • Over $500,000 – 3%

So far this month 54.8% of the sales were bank owned and 16.1% were short sales.  The average sold price per square foot was $135/sqft. with an average 116 days on the market.