Happy hump day! It's April and new inventory is starting to pick up. Generally speaking, the numbers I'm seeing look fine, and I think it's time to start paying attention to that median sales price. OK, lets talk about the elephant in the room, there is speculation, market volatility, predictable unpredictability, you know, just another generally chaotic Wednesday. But, there have been murmurings from the fountain of real estate kool-aid that this may be an "explosive" year, with some of the talking heads mentioning that the current "energy" in the real estate market feels like it did during the covid lockdown, and we know how that story went. Take that with a grain of salt, but I've wondered if this year would take a hop and skip to compensate for last year.
There's pent up demand, and I know I keep saying that, there has been for a while, and there will be for the foreseeable future. Folks have been waiting, putting off, timing a purchase, you name it, they've had a reason that has been preventing them from making a purchase. I wonder how many folks have gotten tired of waiting over the past couple of years, and are ready to do something this year? Last year had generally flat sales price appreciation, although there were certainly some hot pockets of growth. With the extra inventory we're seeing, I'm thinking the additional options might move folks off the fence and back on the property hunt. Then again, there's that elephant in the room!
If you're buying this year, now is a great time to get your ducks in a row, chat with a lender and start honing in on your criteria. We're seeing fun, new listings hitting the market daily at this point, so make sure to get set up on a property drip to see what hits as soon as it hits. If affordability is a factor, check out Homesfund to see if they can help! Bonus points: find a property that you love that recently listed, went under contract or even sold, and run it by your insurance agent for a vibe check.
If you're getting ready to sell, you've got homework too! What's the saying, an once of prevention, a pound of cure? A bit of investment up front to get your property list ready can go a long way. One thing that I always look for with Buyers is when rain/snow hits the house, what does it do and where does it go? It's always a good sign when there are mechanisms in place to move water away from structures. You know all those little things that needed a few individual minutes of love, but you never got around to them because they didn't affect quality of life? An ugly or broken switch/switch plate, a line of caulk that's come apart, calcium build up on your fixtures, or simply burnt out, mismatched light bulbs. Now's a good time to bang those out. Create indicators that show pride of ownership, maintenance and upkeep.
And if you're curious about what your home may be worth, plug your address into here, and I'll send you a quick property report which is generated by my MLS and gives you an idea of market value. |
|
