Is it a good time to buy? YES!
Is it a good time to sell? YES!
Allow me to go into some detail to explain how both are true. The pretty graph is from an article published by the National Association of Realtors, you can read the article in its entirety below. The graph lines represent the US as a whole, northeast, midwest, south, and west. The jist of what I would like you to notice - homes are selling. The savvy buyer needs to have all of their ducks in a row before going out to look at houses. Ducks like being pre-approved with a lender. Sellers are requiring a pre-approval letter or a statement from your banker called Proof of Funds showing you have the means to purchase the home. Ray and I are telling our people upfront the first thing to do is talk to a lender or talk to your banker before we go look at houses. Interest rates are incredibly low (see the article below) which has caused many buyers who would have paid cash to now buy with a mortgage following the advice of their financial advisor. We are doing virtual showings for nearly every buyer as the first step. In fact this is now a normal part of how we show homes. Our video tours are created to feel like you are truly touring the home. It really has helped in narrowing down homes for people. We can go video the home as soon as it comes on the market, send them the video allowing them to see the house within hours of it coming on the market. This approach saves our people the precious commodity of time. Virtual showings weeds out the homes a customer doesn't want, brings to life the homes that fit them, and with the power of being pre-approved for a low interest rate mortgage a buyer is ready. There is no doubt homes are going under contract quick. One might think that means prices are going up too. Well the basics of supply and demand do play into this but so do appraisals. Again most people are buying with a mortgage, with a mortgage there will be an appraisal, and that right there will help control a crazy jump in prices. Going back to that savvy-all-their-ducks-in-a-row buyer who has all kinds of data at their disposal also needs a trusted ally, a real estate professional like Ray and me, to help them decipher all the data. By having a Realtor the buyer is going to know what a proper offer should be on a home. Buyers are buying and inventory is in short supply which makes this a great time to sell. On that note, sellers need to be mindful of the fact that buyers are well informed and even in a fast paced market buyers are not going to all of a sudden over pay for a property. Sellers simply need to trust the advice of their Realtors on marketing and pricing in this exciting market.The bonus for sellers is if they follow their Realtors advise they won't have the hassle of their house being on the market for long. Our latest listing went under contract in five days!
See it is a good time for both buyers and sellers.
Please don't hesitate to call us to talk about the real estate market. If you want a market analysis on your home, we would be happy to run numbers for you. And, please, if you have friends or family that are talking about buying or selling reach out to us. Even if they are not here on the Gulf Coast of Southwest Florida we can interview agents on their behalf and then connect them with that agent.
Ray and I can provide the names and numbers of terrific mortgage lenders who happen to be terrific people, too.
Mortgage Rates still LOW!!! article