A look at the current real estate market; provided by RE/MAX ALLIANCE on Walnut.
July/2015
I love a good yard sale, what about you? I’m not talking about the clean out the garage kind, but a good estate sale, like when someone retires and is moving away. The kind that is filled with furniture, kitchen items and curios that no longer serve a purpose to the original owner, but offer a new season of usefulness to the one clever enough to recognize the potential.
Many houses in the Boulder and surrounding area fit that same mold and will do well when offered for sale. Originally just the right design to serve the owners need and purpose but now outgrown, they are homes that would be perfect for someone else’s ideal living situation.
Since housing prices have rebounded enthusiastically over the previous several years, those who have considered making a move will find this a great time to move forward with those plans.
Buyers are not discouraged by the home price increases but quite the opposite has proved true. Mortgage rates that remain below 5% interest mixed with easy term loan packages have attracted plenty of buyers to venture into this marketplace with high hopes of sealing a great deal on a new place of their own to call home.
These kind of stable equity gains and beneficial loan terms should result in a flourishing market, balanced between Buyer needs and Seller wants. And yet for some elusive reason Boulder and the surrounding areas continue to experience what can only be described as a housing drought.
Numbers surely never lie, and these are the numbers:
While a mere 65 new residential listings came available in June with an average Days On Market time of just 12, that’s half the time frame from last year’s average Closed Sales Days on Market of 25. Sale prices of attached and detached single family dwellings increased slightly more than 12% overall from last years averages. Although the number of new Listings that came on the market were low, 239 units sold and closed during the month June.
Evidenced by stories of disappointed buyers beginning to fear their homeowner dreams may not come to pass indicates many potential sellers reluctant to plant that For Sale sign on the front lawn. Fear of finding their own perfect dream home? Or maybe they still aren’t convinced the bounce back in market prices is for real. It will be interesting to observe how the resulting scarcity of inventory throughout the county affects the numbers in coming months.
Discovering a secret to unblocking the low inventory issue in this real estate market may lie not in looking at past market performance but, much like those bargain items found at yard sales, envisioning a fresh season of potential. The trick will be in transmitting that vision of potential to Sellers in order to bring about the desired outcome; the steady flow of For Sale signs planted on front lawns to meet the Buyer demand.