JC Smith – Bienville Realty Group – Keller Williams Mobile discusses the growth we have seen in Midtown Mobile, Alabama.
00:00:00 Chelsey Sayasane
We are introducing you to Bienville Realty Group. JC Smith is here so we can learn more about the Midtown area. It’s really good to have you.
00:00:08 JC Smith – 251.810.HOME (251.810.4663)
You it’s great being here.
Chelsey Sayasane
So our focus is on Midtown Mobile. What kind of growth have you seen in that area recently?
00:00:14 JC Smith – 251.810.HOME (251.810.4663)
We’ve seen tremendous growth actually. The housing prices in the area have really exploded in value, certain niche areas inside there have really gone up in value.
Quite a bit. I used to actually live on fearnway and at the time that house was worth about $200,000. That same house today is worth about $800,000.
00:00:35 Chelsey Sayasane
Wow.
00:00:35 Chelsey Sayasane
About how many years in between?
00:00:36 JC Smith – 251.810.HOME (251.810.4663)
About a 10 or 12 year span. So I mean the the growth has been phenomenal. You know we we advise anybody that if you’re thinking about selling in the next three to five years probably now is your time. We’re still at the peak of the market. We’re actually in a sellers market. Normally, we see in our market about about 4,000 houses or so on the market.
At any given time, right now, we only have about 900.
00:01:00 JC Smith – 251.810.HOME (251.810.4663)
Right. So as you can imagine, the increase in demand is there and actually if you were to buy a house right now actually sell a house right now year over year, you’d actually get about 12% more this year than you would have for the same house last year.
00:01:12 Chelsey Sayasane
Wow, a lot of pretty amazing stats right there. Why would you say people are flocking to Midtown? I’ve got some friends who live there, and it is a fun. Part of the town to live in, yeah.
00:01:21 JC Smith – 251.810.HOME (251.810.4663)
Right is a fun place, a lot of energy, very eclectic, you know? And what what is really neat, too, there’s a lot of places in Midtown where neighbors will get together. They’ll sit on the front porch and have a, you know, have a beverage in the afternoon and visit and so it’s close enough to downtown that if you work downtown that it’s right there, but also it’s kind of in between there and maybe Spring Hill or West Mobile.
00:01:46 Chelsey Sayasane
Yeah.
00:01:46 JC Smith – 251.810.HOME (251.810.4663)
And so I have a lot of friends of mine that live in Midtown. Actually, I agree. I went to Murphy and so growing up in the area really is a neat place. And you get to, you know.
And in Midtown, we have a lot of diversity, which is really great.
00:01:59 Chelsey Sayasane
Of course, yes, super important. A really fun place to live. For people who are thinking about selling it once they put their house on the market. How long does it typically right now take for that house to sell?
00:02:09 JC Smith – 251.810.HOME (251.810.4663)
So what we’re seeing is on average, if the house is priced right, that means it’s not overpriced. We’re seeing that house sell anywhere between about 12 to 17 days is a normal cycle. So I mean you’re talking about very fast, very quick. There are times where we actually sell houses faster than people expect and then we’re we’re trying to help them find their next house at a fast.
00:02:19 Chelsey Sayasane
Wow. A good problem to have, especially if you are the seller. So if someone’s watching. And they are thinking about putting their house up for sale this year. What are some things we need to get in order?
00:02:40 JC Smith – 251.810.HOME (251.810.4663)
We always talk about curb appeal. You want to make sure that the outside of the house so that when people drive by looks nice. If there’s any power washing that needs to be done or maybe some touch up on paint that’s the other thing. Those are low cost things that can be done very easily. Whether you whether you do them yourself or whether you hire a contractor to do it, those are kind of low cost. And then inside the house, everything needs to be super clean. We see the houses that sell the best to sell the fastest. The blinds are clean, the windows are clean and the deep clean has been done.
00:03:14 JC Smith – 251.810.HOME (251.810.4663)
And then if there’s any rooms in the house that might have a weird color, you know, maybe maybe at some point, maybe it was a baby’s room, or maybe, something like that, maybe it’s a pink or something. You might want to make that a tan or maybe grey.
00:03:28 Chelsey Sayasane
I think about my friends with kids.
00:03:30 JC Smith – 251.810.HOME (251.810.4663)
Right. That’s right, yeah.
00:03:34 Chelsey Sayasane
Toddlers room and it’s very themed with superheroes for sure.
00:03:36 JC Smith – 251.810.HOME (251.810.4663)
I know it’s sometimes hard to let go of that, but at the same time it will help the house sell faster.