Going, Going Gone...Vanishing Inventory

Yeah…going, going, gone. Okay, vanishing inventory might be stretching it yet but here’s what’s happening. I’ve been showing houses this week. Lots of houses with several buyers. Let’s all pause for a moment and send a mental Hallelujah Shout Out to the whichever powers are controlling this…oh wait, what am I saying? We’re in control and the consumer is in the driver’s seat.

Back to showing houses. A year ago, as I would prepare the list of houses to show and would call to set the appointments…every single house would be available and the listing agent would be begging for an offer…any offer. It would be so rare to call and be told that one was under contract. This week, each time I called to set appointments two or three houses were under contract. The listing agent sounding…well…confident and valued.

Grrrrrrreat! Is it enough? No, of course not…not yet. Could it be a trend? You bet it could, here in the mountains of Western North Carolina anyway. For us, what’s particularly exciting is that people are feeling bold enough to consider second homes. The mood with buyers is that they are starting to peek out from the clouds or are seeing around some corner they’ve set for themselves.

If there are any lazy or unreasonable sellers out there reading this…don’t get to gleeful too fast. Your house isn’t selling yet but your neighbors who’ve taken the time to listen to their agent and price according to market value and who’ve taken the time and energy to clean up your mess and get rid of your clutter…those are the houses going first. Buyers still have the luxury of picking and choosing. They are choosing the houses that fit their needs…not houses they will have to make fit their needs. One thing they don’t need to do is worry about deep cleaning a house, re-inventing the landscaping or spending extra money for new paint, flooring and updates. They’re smart too. They are not going to waste their time and resources to go after any overpriced house. They don’t have to…the abundance of inventory is still plentiful for making great choices.

So, it’s been an exciting week. I don’t mind setting appointments to find some inventory going, going, gone because I know that is the road to real estate recovery in our local market and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel where the scenario turns in vanishing inventory.