This is a very surprising real estate market. With such low levels of available inventory, it seems that buyers and sellers did not take our customary break between Thanksgiving and the start of our spring real estate market. Instead, sellers continued to list their homes, to take advantage of our strong market, and buyers continued to rush out to see new listings —even in all those days of “mixed winter precipitation” and miserable snow storms. Many listings had many offers and quickly had signed contracts at over-asking prices. Most of these buyers had been well prepared by their agents, ahead of time, to be able to prove they were well able to afford the home. Their potential lenders helped them clean up their credit scores and provide the most current documentation of wages, taxes, bank statements, and investments in case they needed to borrow, even for a short time, to prove they were more than qualified to purchase that home.
Only a few sellers needed to reduce their list prices, as proven by a lack of interest and no offers on their home, but if they were reduced their list price quickly, they also went to contract soon after. Many of today’s buyers have seen a lot of homes and bid on many. They learned the values of homes in the area and do not want to over pay for their next property. This resulted in strong sales, lower inventories, fewer days on market (DOM), and high average and median sales prices.
In other years, during the first quarter, people were preparing their homes, after the New Year celebrations, for our spring market. They would later have the landscapers do an early spring clean-up of the yard, schedule the pool guys to open the pool, have the grounds blooming and the flower pots filled, and the lawn furniture out on the terrace or deck. They decluttered, getting rid of things that would not be moving with them, and finishing up long-over-due delayed maintenance projects they had been meaning to do. Many had met with their Realtor in the fourth quarter and probably came up with a plan and a list of people to call to best get those items completed, to get the best return on their investment of time and money to make the home look light, bright, and well maintained for the next owner.
