Portland's Low Home Inventory Makes Buyer's Scramble
I remember when I first got my real estate license in fall of 2004 how crazy the market was for those years following. Buyer's were camping out, taking numbers just to get in on new construction homes. Escalation clauses were flying and inspection periods shortened or waived completely..all to get into a home.
Well, thankfully we are not that crazy, BUT..we are seeing those escalation clauses come out of the woodworks as well as the multiple offer forms. Homes that are $250K and under are moving VERY quickly..especially if they are in a good neighborhood. One client I'm working with has been through the multiple offer process and lost the home to one of five buyers, but after working closely with meand a great lender, they finally had an offer accepted..again in a multiple offer situation.YES!
Another buyer..not in client mode yet, but still a customer will take some more education and lost homes to get it. I showed them a home yesterday where I let them know that there was already at least one cash offer and more scheduled to come on the table as we showed the home. The listing agent was going to present that afternoon, so they needed to make a decision fast. Oh..this is the part I hate because it's really tough to make these decisions quickly!
They wanted me to ask the listing agent to wait until the next day and were talking about offering less than the list price which was already pretty darn low for the neighborhood. This was said while we noted three other buyers go into the home after us. Long story short....the seller had enough cash offers so was ONLY taking CASH offers and not even looking at any that needed financing which my client did. I want them to get into a home, so hoping they take my advice in the future.
We just got the latest market stats from the RMLS (Regional Multiple Listing Service) and our inventory has gone down to 3.2 months for March from 4.5 months in February. Our average sales price has gone up 7.5% and the marketing time down 3.4%. In an average market the inventory..or absorbtion rate is 5-6 months. Anything over that is buyer's market and under a seller's market. So currently it would take 3.2 months to sell all the current homes on the market. Sellers...are you reading this?
Buyers, are you ready? In this market you'll need to be very ready to jump on properties as soon as they come on the market and work with your Portland agent that keeps on top of them as well as making sure you have all your ducks in a row so you have that advantage. Working with a lender that is kick butt will also give you a bit of an edge.
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