If there is one question, I get all the time from curious homeowners, investors or would-be buyers or sellers, it is, “How’s the real estate market?” Or it is “What’s the real estate market doing now days?” That is a great question. Normally, I could give a straight-forward answer. It is a buyer’s market. It is a seller’s market. It is a balanced market. Today, it is a market I have never seen in 35 years of real estate work.
There are a lot of things that have affected the local market. With the drop in inventory and the rise
of interest rates over the past few years, the local market has become a house by house, block by block, day by day market. I recently saw a lovely home that had been on the market for 287 days. And of course, when I share that kind of news, a seller often responds with, “My cousin’s house was only the market two days before he received a full price offer,” and though that may be true, it does not prove anything. Eighteen months ago, a home only sat for 2-3 days. Today, 60 days is a normal time on the market before the first offer comes in. Homes on the same street sell at various times for several reasons. If nothing else, the current market is unpredictable.
The current market in the Winchester-Frederick County area has been unusual. I recently had a client call and tell me he wanted to buy the house behind his. He was willing to pay full price and close quickly. He has a purpose for that property that others may not. That same house was destined to be on the market for a while, but when the right buyer saw it, it sold. I sold one of my listings last year to a couple who wanted their daughter to be in a specific high school. They were going to buy a house in that area whether it was my list or not. They had a purpose. Those are unique buyers, and there are always some of those, but you may not make a living working solely with unique buyers.
My advice for buyers and sellers is to forget the past. The current market is ignoring the past. There is just as good a chance that a seller will be the 2–3-day seller as the 60-day seller. No matter how talented an agent is, the market still determines the sale. Agents can certainly enhance the possibilities, but in a market like we have today, it is anybody’s guess which seller a seller will be. The same is true for buyers, with one caveat. A buyer can throw money at a property and win the bid. They can ignore repair needs, purposely overlook outdated designs, and hope the seller is desperate enough to bite on their offer, but there are no guarantees. Whether buyers or sellers, my advice is to put your best foot forward, do not be foolish, have limitations but do not let expectations overwhelm good sense. I have seen sellers blame their agent for the lack of a sale, and that may be true sometimes, but it is not always true. In a market like we have, an agent can do most things right and still have a challenging time selling a home. The market determines the sale and sometimes that works for you, and sometimes it does not.
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