Where Have All the Houses Gone?

 Article Courtesy of Keeping Current Matters/The KCM Blog

In today’s housing market, it seems harder than ever to find a home to buy. Before the health crisis hit us a year ago, there was already a shortage of homes for sale. When many homeowners delayed their plans to sell at the same time that more buyers aimed to take advantage of record-low mortgage rates and purchase a home, housing inventory dropped even further. Experts consider this to be the biggest challenge facing an otherwise hot market while buyers continue to compete for homes. As Danielle Hale, Chief Economist at realtor.com, explains:

“With buyers active in the market and seller participation lagging, homes are selling quickly and the total number available for sale at any point in time continues to drop lower. In January as a whole, the number of for sale homes dropped below 600,000.”

Every month, realtor.com releases new data showing the year-over-year change in inventory of existing homes for sale. As you can see in the map below, nationwide, inventory is 42.6% lower than it was at this time last year:

 

Does this mean houses aren't being put on the market for sale?

Not exactly. While there are fewer existing homes being listed right now, many homes are simply selling faster than they’re being counted as current inventory. The market is that competitive! It’s like when everyone was trying to find toilet paper to buy last spring and it was flying off the shelves faster than it could be stocked in the stores. That’s what’s happening in the housing market: homes are being listed for sale, but not at a rate that can keep up with heavy demand from competitive buyers.

In the same realtor.com report, Hale explains:

“Time on the market was 10 days faster than last year meaning that buyers still have to make decisions quickly in order to be successful. Today’s buyers have many tools to help them do that, including the ability to be notified as soon as homes meeting their search criteria hit the market. By tailoring search and notifications to the homes that are a solid match, buyers can act quickly and compete successfully in this faster-paced housing market.”

The Good News for Homeowners

The health crisis has been a major reason why potential sellers have held off this long, but as vaccines become more widely available, homeowners will start making their moves. Ali Wolf, Chief Economist at Zonda, confirms:

“Some people will feel comfortable listing their home during the first half of 2021. Others will want to wait until the vaccines are widely distributed.”

With more homeowners getting ready to sell later this year, putting your house on the market sooner rather than later is the best way to make sure your listing shines brighter than the rest.

When you’re ready to sell your house, you’ll likely want it to sell as quickly as possible, for the best price, and with little to no hassle. If you’re looking for these selling conditions, you’ll find them in today’s market. When demand is high and inventory is low, sellers have the ability to create optimal terms and timelines for the sale, making now an exceptional time to move.

Bottom Line

Today’s housing market is a big win for sellers, but these conditions won’t last forever. If you’re in a position to sell your house now, you may not want to wait for your neighbors to do the same. Contact a local real estate professional for advice on how to sell your house safely so you’re able to benefit from today’s high demand and low inventory.

 

AND THEN THERE WAS ONE...

ACTIVE SFR LISTING

There are 3,161 total residences in SCCL.

2808 Single Family Residences
275 Villas
78 Carriage Homes 

_____________________________________ 

On February 20, we hit a new all-time low of 

 1 ACTIVE Single Family (SFR) Listing in SCCL!

 

 

 

UPDATED 2/22/21

                           

1 ACTIVE Single Family Residence listing!      

 

There are currently NO ACTIVE Villa or Carriage Home listings.

Whether you are thinking about selling or buying, 

this is pretty important news!

Home Mortgage Rates by Decade [INFOGRAPHIC]

Infographic Courtesy of Keeping Current Matters/The KCM Blog

 

 

 

Some Highlights

• Mortgage interest rates have dropped considerably over the past year, and compared to what we’ve seen in recent decades, it’s a great time to buy a home.
• Locking in a low rate today could save you thousands of dollars over the lifetime of your home loan, but these low rates may not last forever.
• If you’re in a position to buy a home, reach out to a local real estate professional to determine your best move in today’s housing market while interest rates are still in your favor.

NEW INVENTORY LOW

ACTIVE SFR LISTINGS

There are 3,161 total residences in SCCL.

2808 Single Family Residences
275 Villas

78 Carriage Homes 

_____________________________________ 

On February 17, we hit an all-time low for ACTIVE
Single Family (SFR) Listings in SCCL! There are now...

2 ACTIVE Single Family Residence listings!
There is 1 ACTIVE Villa listing.

           

 

 

  Whether you are thinking about selling or buying, 

this is pretty important news!

FEBRUARY MID-MONTH UPDATE

There are 3,161 total residences in SCCL.

2808 Single Family Residences
275 Villas
78 Carriage Homes

The status of the market changes from day to day and, while there were 9 ACTIVE Single Family Residences (SFR) and one ACTIVE Villa listing just a few days ago, today there are just 3 ACTIVE SFRs and NO Villas or Carriage Homes.

Days on Market (DOM) have decreased considerably.

 

The charts below shows DOM for properties that have gone 

UNDER CONTRACT (UC) since the first of the year.

14 SFRs went UC in three weeks or less.  

9 of those went UC in less than a week.

5 of them in 2 days or less.

Carriage Homes and Villas

Current information can be found using the links below 

and can always be found using the tabs at the top of this page.

UP-TO-DATE STATS FOR SCCL

CURRENTLY ACTIVE/UNDER CONTRACT/SOLD YTD

Information about specific properties can be found using the PROPERTY SEARCH tab above.

Contact me if you'd like to receive property updates by email.

 

With inventory down, we are currently in a Seller's market.

If you have been thinking about making a move,

now might be the perfect time to put your home on the market.

Give me a call, if you'd like to discuss your plans.

SOMETIMES STATS ARE CONFUSING... REVISITED

You may remember this post from July 2020.  I share it again (with minor changes) in response to questions that folks ask me based on flyers they receive in their mail tubes.

We live in a community that is served by a number of real estate brokerages and residents are used to getting updates in their mail tubes from several of them.  As a resident agent, I get those as well and am frequently asked about things that appear on them.  The first thing I tell people is that the sales information provided was current the day the flyer was printed, but it is very likely that it was already outdated the day it arrived in your tube.  That is why I encourage everyone to visit my website regularly for the most current market information and, if you want updates delivered to you, I'm happy to set up a personalized auto-email to keep you informed.  Whether you want info about the community in general or something more specific (like a particular model or, perhaps, basement or loft homes), parameters can be set to give you that information.

I was recently asked why our homes are not going up in value as the inventory goes down.  Well, they actually are showing an increase, but it's hard to tell that when you're looking at average prices over a year, especially when our market has changed significantly.  It is important to recognize that differences of all sorts can affect averages.  

Remember that each collection of homes has a variety of models.  

The Summit collection, for example, includes 5 models: 

Copper Ridge, Surrey Crest, Tifton Walk, Vernon Hill, and Willow Bend

 

Some of those homes have basements, some have lofts, some have wooded views, some have golf course or water views, and all have different looks (all vinyl siding, brick, and stone with different roof designs)... all of these things make a difference.  Looking at comparable homes that have sold recently is more important than looking at generalized averages.  Please contact me if you'd like to see what the comps for your home look like.  

 

If you are not currently on my email mailing list and would like to receive updates, please contact me. 

 

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

 

There is a light at the end of the tunnel!

 

Stay positive.

Stay safe.

Stay healthy.

Check Out the New Helen Adams Realty Mobile App!

 

I'm really excited to share the new Helen Adams Realty mobile app!  It has the most accurate, up-to-date MLS information and features great search options and filters, large photos, a mortgage calculator, and more. Use this link to download it to your tablet or mobile phone:  https://app.helenadamsrealty.com/czRp

Please feel free to share this link with friends or family, or, when you have the app opened, click on the three horizontal lines (sometimes called the hamburger) on the top left corner and click on "Invite to App." 

 

If you have and older version of this app, make sure it's updated on your device or delete it and use this new link.  Anyone without the link can go to the App Store or Google Play from their device and search "Helen Adams Realty." When setting up an account, please be sure to set me as your preferred agent from the "agent search" to make sure I'm always up to speed on your favorite searches and homes.

Remember, this great mobile app has many awesome features...

• Search by address, city, zip, school, mls #
• Map search, draw to search, list view, satellite view, and street/AR view aka "Home Scan"
• GPS/location search
• Filter by status (incl sold), type, beds, baths, price, sq ft, year built, parking, lot size, new this week, reduced this week, open houses
• Search based on set POIs/commute times
• Mortgage calculator
• View property detail pages, including photos, MLS description, virtual tour links, interior/exterior features, history, Mortgage calculator, neighborhood details including walk score, directions, nearby attractions, commute time, school information

I would love to get your feedback about this app.  Please let me know if you are experiencing any downloading issues.   I understand that some folks are running into problems when downloading the app to an iPad.  The company that services the app for HAR has their engineers working on it.  As far as I know, there are no problems downloading to iPhones.  If you are having a problem downloading the app to your device, please let me know.

 

Also, remember, I can always set up an auto-email to provide you with regular email updates on your favorite search.  Just contact me and I'll set that up!

 

JANUARY - END OF MONTH UPDATE

2/1/21

UPDATE

We have hit an all-time low for ACTIVE Single Family Residence listings!

There are currently only 5 ACTIVE SFR listings!

If you've been following sales here in SCCL, you likely know how crazy the market has been in recent months.  Today, we are at an all-time low for ACTIVE single family residence (SFR) listings.  One year ago, there were 34 ACTIVE SFRs... today there are 6 (4 River Homes and 2 Summit Homes, with no Manor Homes available).  This month, 13 SFRs went UNDER CONTRACT and 15 CLOSED.  There are currently only 2 ACTIVE Carriage Home/Villa listings, with 2 having gone UNDER CONTRACT and 2 having CLOSED this month.

Things look quite similar to when I posted my  JANUARY MID-MONTH UPDATE, though numbers changed as new ACTIVE listings came on the market and others went UNDER CONTRACT. 

STATS FOR JANUARY can also be found using the UP-TO-DATE STATS FOR SCCL tab above, which gets updated regularly.

CURRENTLY ACTIVE/UNDER CONTRACT/SOLD YTD properties can be found using the tab above.

Information about specific properties can be found using the PROPERTY SEARCH tab above.

Contact me if you'd like to receive property updates by email.

 

 

     JANUARY - DAYS ON MARKET

 DAYS ON MARKET (DOM) / CUMULATIVE DAYS ON MARKET (CDOM)

CDOM includes DOM for a previous listing of the same property.

 

Carriage Homes and Villas

 

If you missed my summary for 2020 SCCL activity, please be sure to check it out here: 

End of Year Summary

 

With inventory down, we are currently in a Seller's market.

If you have been thinking about making a move,

now might be the perfect time to put your home on the market.

Give me a call, if you'd like to discuss your plans.

Financial Fundamentals for Homebuyers [INFOGRAPHIC]

 Infographic Courtesy of Keeping Current Matters/The KCM Blog

Some Highlights

• When you’re thinking about buying a home, there are a few key steps to take before you even start to look at houses.
• From saving for your down payment to getting pre-approved for a mortgage, you’ll want to make sure you keep your financial plan on track from the beginning.
• Reach out to a local real estate professional and a trusted lender today to make sure you have the best possible guidance as you begin your homebuying process.