Scarcity of homes for sale around Boston sparks bidding wars!

A common pattern this spring in the housing market: There are too many potential buyers and too few sellers, resulting in bidding battles in many Boston-area neighborhoods. And that, in turn, is starting to drive up prices overall.

Real estate specialists attribute the surge in would-be buyers to historically low mortgage rates and rising consumer confidence as the Massachusetts economy slowly blossoms. The house-hunting frenzy is a good sign, they said, but until more people decide it’s finally time to sell, no one expects the market to really take off.

In the meantime, would-be buyers in Boston Suburbs are padding their offers by tens of thousands of dollars and making concessions — such as waiving their right to a home inspection — to better their chances of getting to sign on the dotted line.

Other buyers are agreeing to flexible closing dates, or allowing homeowners to rent back properties while they look for new places to live. Some are even resorting to sentimentality — sending family photos and personal letters to sellers to explain why a particular home would be perfect for them. Houses that not long ago would have remained on the market for many months are now moving in days.

What you are seeing is the first action of a good strong market,’’ said Karl E. Case, a retired Wellesley College economics professor and cofounder the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, a widely respected measure of US home sales. “When demand starts to come back, it comes back in the quality areas where there are amenities, good schools — and then, as those prices get pushed up, people get pushed out.”

Redfin market manager Alex Coon said many sellers are accepting offers only from people who can pay at least 20 percent upfront, and some prefer cash-only transactions. He said one of his agents recently helped a buyer place a winning bid on a Cambridge home that was $80,000 over the $550,000 listing price.
“We have plenty of stories of people going absurd amounts” over the asking price and still not getting the home, he said.

The reason for this recent blog post is to encourage all my perspective home sellers to list your home as soon as you can.  Why not take advantage of the current “sellers market” and quite possibly make some extra money off the sale of your house??
 
Give me a call so we can get started!!