Since the real estate market crashed in 2008, the best position to be in would have been a buyer’s agent. After all, for the last five years, buyers have been in the driver’s seat in Denver. They had the low interest rates, low prices, and plenty of choices in homes. Since there were so few of them, they could name their price and get it. In essence, they had all the power while the sellers had none, and boy did the sellers feel it.
Fast-forward to present day and it’s a whole new world in Denver. Being a buyer’s agent in Colorado is not much fun right now. If you are currently a real estate agent, you know what I am talking about. It’s getting pretty hard to get a home under contract for the buyers that you are representing. At least 7 out of the last 10 buyers I had been working with got into multiple offer scenarios. The majority of homes we were trying to buy are getting two, three, or more offers at the same time. In the lower price ranges (300K and below) some sellers are getting higher than asking price and buyers are getting frustrated. It’s not like the buyer can just move on to their second choice, because there is no second choice. There are so few homes on the market with more buyers everyday it’s becomes a bidding war.
I looked at the stats from Metrolist for March 2011 versus March 2012. Two things jumped off the page: Firstly, inventory across the board for all price ranges was down 53.4 percent from March 2011; Secondly, when you look at how many “month’s supply of homes” it fell down from 8.7 to 3.4. It’s a competitive market.
For most of my career, I have been known as a seller’s agent. My business partner Gary Lohrman and I usually represent 25-45 sellers at a time. We can easily handle these many properties because we have seven people on our team so the news above is music to our ears. What it means to us is that for the first time in five years as a seller’s agent, we are finally on the right side of the equation. There’s no more getting beat up by buyers and their agents. These days, we manage the multiple offers for our sellers and we get them the highest price possible. In some cases as I mentioned, we get over the asking price.
I have been waiting to say this for five years. I know some people are afraid to say it and still others disagree, but I am going to say it anyway… ”IT’S NOW A SELLER’S MARKET in some of the price ranges!”
Dan Polimino is an Owner/Broker with Keller Williams Realty DTC. He can be reached at dan@coloradodreamhouse.com and www.coloradodreamhouse.com/denverpost
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