Sold

The verdict isn’t quite final, but all signs point toward the market heating up again. We got a slower real estate market with even some price adjustments in last summer and going through the fall. January 2019 started busier than usual with heavy activity during open houses and as we entered February things started to change with the latest news drumming in and telling us about spring market starting.

One of my own listings that had been suffering from the sluggish fall market with little to no interest from buyers had suddenly loads of activity beginning of January and we ended up with multiple offers. This was a home in a rural community and the expectation was that finding the right buyer would take time. A little bit over a week ago, my clients lost in a multiple offer situation as they were not ready to give up inspection and financing contingencies on a house that did need some work. This was a property that had been sitting in the market all fall, it was pulled off market for the holidays and returned back active last days of February. The home sold in 2 days with multiple offers.

At the office we were having a water cooler discussion over a few homes that were listed end of last week, ranging from late Wednesday to Friday morning. When we were standing around that cooler on Tuesday morning all those homes had sold, and all but one had multiple offers. Five offers, thirteen offers, three offers. No contingencies, meaning no inspections, no shield from a low appraisal or lender backing out, buyers willing to risk everything. The first one of these homes had sold in two hours. The last one to go was in a rather rural community with a hefty commute to the Seattle and Eastside work bubble.

These are not rumblings of a cooling market but rather of a return of the crazy seller driven market we were sort of hoping to steer away from for a while. In all reality though, the Seattle Metro situation has not changed. We have more people moving in than our market can handle. We have an aching need for affordable housing and many first-time home buyers are pushed to communities that can still offer more affordable living with the flipside of long commutes.

According to NWMLS stats, the snowiest February in all time history did not slow us down when it comes to prices. The heavy snow halted all activity for a while, and still we saw area median prices go up 5.7% from 2018 and 6.6% from January. If we look at single family homes, we climbed 7.44% from January alone. Let’s do some simple math. A home priced at $650,000 in January would have sold at $698,000 in February. That’s almost $50,000. Wow. Just wow.

So, ladies and gentlemen, get ready and hold on to your hats. If you’re buying, get your ducks in the row and be ready for some competition and escalating prices.