I want to write about the housing market right now this minute. Saturday March 2, 2013 in Dallas County, Texas. We are having an extremely aggressive Seller's Market. We have about 30% less inventory than is typical and it isn't just a seasonal thing. Properties that are in good condition and priced reasonably are getting 2 and 3 offers within the first few weeks they are on the market. With my listings, I am dealing with a lot of thrilled property owners. And then there are my buyer clients who are really getting frustrated.
Dallas has avoided much of the suffering that has so dramatically dominated the real estate market in most of the metropolitan areas of the US over the last 5 years. That fact can be dramatically seen in this graph taken (with permission) from the graph gallery of the blog Calculated Risk. We didn't fall off the cliff the way so many other large cities did. There has been this sense of lethergy in our market for a period of years. It is more as if we have been sleeping. Well, that long period of slumber has clearly ended. Just call us Sleeping Beauty!
I have an out-of-town buyer who can only make it into town once a month to look. They are at the top of my list of frustrated buyers. They recently sent me a list of 6 houses that they want to see. 5 of the 6 were under contract and the 6th wasn't on the market (it is on a Make-me-Move FSBO website and that posting was several years old. On the internet nothing ever goes away.....I have tried to get the attention of those homeowners but so far haven't gotten them to respond.) My buyer simply didn't want to believe that they weren't going to get to see these houses. Trying to make sense of the situation, they asked me how long had those homes been on the market. 3 days, 6 days, 10 days, 11 days and 12 days.
Another buyer is looking for her all-time, dream, forever home. We have looked in 3 counties and we have seen every type of housing there is to see. She is 1 to 3 years out from retiring and doesn't really have a clear picture of what she will be doing once she retires. She has to move from where she is currently living and there is a pretty short timeline on that move. I have suggested that she listen to the Country & Western standard "Not Looking For Mr Right, Just Looking For Mr Right Now"...and just change the lyrics a tiny bit. n We just need to find a home that meets her needs. And, we have to act.
The flip side of this story is on the listing side. I have a listing that was a little over priced for what it was but not over-priced for the neighborhood. That listing was shown an astonishing 62 times in 2 months. We are finally under contract. The average time-on-the-market for homes in the Dallas area is basically 2 months. We are under contract according to schedule.I am still trying to get over the idea that 62 buyers walked through that house in right at 60 days.
The take-away concept here for buyers? Right here, right now, you can't hesitate. You can't dither. You must act.
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