Location, Location, Location Homes Fly Off The Market If They’Re In Desirable Areas

Summer is widely regarded as a hot home-selling season, but certain neighborhoods seem to be cooking more than others this year.

According to Spokane’s Multiple Listing Service (MLS), the three top-selling neighborhoods in June for single-family homes were the southeast Valley, northwest Spokane and the eastern half of the South Hill.

Much of the activity in the Valley, said Sabrina Jones-Schroeder, is due to development around Liberty Lake.

Jones-Schroeder is president of the Spokane Association of Realtors and sales manager and associate broker for Gregg Jones & Associates.

Most people, she said, know what neighborhood they want to live in before they come to her in search of a house. It is the No. 1 consideration for most home buyers.

“Sometimes people buy a new home when they say they want old,” she said, “but rarely do they buy north when they say they want south.”

If buyers are interested in a particular neighborhood, she added, they will look at every house in their price range there before turning to another part of town.

Buyers prefer particular neighborhoods for various reasons. Some research schools and crime rates. Some like one part of town because it’s where they were raised or it’s closer to work. Others listen to recommendations from family and friends.

Which neighborhoods are hot can change monthly, but Bruce Hardie, a broker for Keller Williams Realty, said some parts of town are always favorites.

“We have neighborhoods that are perennially hot, like up around Manito Park,” he said. “That’s always a strong seller. You’ll see shorter market times in that neighborhood.”

Parks can play a big part in whether a neighborhood is popular.

John Sauter, a buyer’s agent for John L. Scott, said the appeal of Audubon Park is one factor that is propelling sales in northwest Spokane now. He has clients who say they don’t want to live any farther than six blocks from that park.

“It makes it easier for me, but it sometimes makes it more difficult for the buyers, because they are limiting themselves,” he said.

And buyers often pay a premium to live near a park, spending 3-6 percent more for a home than they would if it were located in another part of town. This phenomenon is most apparent around large, manicured parks such as Manito, said Sauter.

Park or no park, one thing is certain, said Sauter: Neighborhoods drive most home-buying decisions.

“Rarely do people talk about the style of the house, initially,” he said. “It’s where it’s located.”

Around town

A special issue of REALTOR Magazine listing the nation’s top 100 real estate companies names Coeur d’Alene-based Tomlinson Black as the 73rd-largest real estate brokerage in the nation. Last year, Tomlinson Black completed 4,871 real estate transactions and had total sales volume of $512.5 million.

Other Northwest companies on the list were Seattle-based Windermere Real Estate at number five with $10.2 billion in sales and Bellevue-based John L. Scott at 13 with $4.7 billion in sales.

The Spokane Association of Realtors has been honored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as one of its 50 best practice awards winners.

The award is give to organizations and projects that exemplify HUD’s fair housing and equal opportunity ideals.

The Spokane Association of Realtors was specifically recognized for its April fair housing compliance campaign, which featured radio and TV spots and bus ads.

Members of the group’s Fair Housing Committee also visited open houses to ensure that real estate agents were complying with HUD’s fair housing rules.

Two new Sprint PCS Centers have opened in Spokane, at NorthTown Mall and at 506 N. Sullivan. The stores sell digital wireless service.

Spokanespace.com, a new Web site, is the first local site to exclusively feature commercial property for sale and lease. Users can search by property type, size, price and location. Brokers and members of the site also have access to a database of closed sale and lease transactions.

Albertson’s is hosting an open house at its expanded store at 37th and Grand beginning at 9 a.m. today . The 39,000-square-foot store now includes a meal center and Starbucks coffee bar.

This sidebar appeared with the story: June’s hot neighborhoods

Neighborhood Closed sales Average price Total $ volume

Southeast Valley 112 $130,259 $14,589,000

Northwest Spokane 55 $155,936 $8,576,000

South Hill-east 71 $113,972 $8,092,000

SOURCE: Spokane Multiple Listing Service