“Seller’s market.” That’s the official lingo. What are the signs?
Low housing stock. This past June, the Louisville Multiple Listing Service (which includes Jefferson and surrounding counties) had just fewer than 6,000 listings, down from about 8,000 last summer and as many as 9,000 in previous years.
More homes selling. Sales were up 20.5 percent in June 2015 compared with June 2014. In July, 1,173 homes sold, about 14 percent more than the previous July. In the early summer, Greater Louisville Association of Realtors president Paula Colvin said, “GLAR members are recording sales nearing the record-high volume in 2007, at prices that are 10 percent higher than the pre-recession peak.”
A breathless pace. “You need to be in on day zero — the day it’s listed — and you need to be ready to make an offer,” says Jamie Peterworth, a Kentucky Select real estate agent. In other words, if you don’t have an understanding boss, a migraine just hit. You dig? You’ve got to see this house NOW.
To win, don’t be demanding or unprepared. Nice homes in popular neighborhoods tend to attract multiple offers. So maybe don’t insist on sellers covering closing costs or repairs. Better be pre-qualified for a loan too. Oh, and if you come with a cash offer? You’re golden.
Hysteria isn’t the word. This isn’t like those manic shoppers clobbering one another for Cabbage Patch Kids circa Christmas 1980-something. No fists to jaws or hair pulling, that I know of. But it’s getting close. House-hunters arrive at Sunday open houses early to elbow in pronto. Realtors churn out offers in the dead hours before dawn. Some folks just give up on buying, the thinking being that, in a few months, perhaps that dimpled Cabbage Patch doll won’t play so hard to get.