Have You Recently Seen a For-Sale Sign in Your Neighborhood?
When is the last time you saw a home for-sale sign in someone’s’ front yard? The major home selling sites are running out of inventory to show and it just seems so much more difficult to find that new home for you and your family. Mind you, before the pandemic, there was already a shortage of homes available. Roll out a pandemic that has lasted well into a year now and many homeowners plans of relocating or making a new purchase has been stalled in addition to construction of new homes being slowed.
Now, the interest rates went to historical lows and many homebuyers were eager to make their first purchase or to upgrade to a better neighborhood or into that dream home and paying around the same monthly mortgages as they were now. A lot, and I mean a lot, of homeowners took the opportunity to refinance their homes and save approximately a few hundred a month on their mortgages; meaning less houses on the market.
According to realtor.com, nationwide inventory is 48.6% lower than it was at this exact time last year. Statistical data cannot count homes that are flying off the “shelves” as available, thus reporting a much lower inventory than in years past. Additionally, some of those homes that were going to be listed and then the pandemic hit, may be getting ready to be put on the market now that there are readily made vaccines. It is still likely that we’ll continue to see homes sell quickly, estimated that 42% of homes sold in two weeks or less, and with above list offers and more loose selling conditions negotiated into the buying/selling contracts. The average number of offers on a home is 3 or more.
There are many pros and cons to listing your home now if you were planning on selling – but the pros outweigh the cons. Bidding wars will still be a thing in 2021 and it may be best to list your home before everyone else in the neighborhood has the same idea and now there is more competition.
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