This Time I Mean It!

Real estate agents tend to be positive thinkers. Over the past five years the Denver real estate bubble burst, the national housing market went bust, and we searched high and low for good news to share with our clients. Sometimes there wasn’t any. We worked longer and harder to save struggling homeowners, to make impossible deals possible, and we went from fulfilling dreams to ending nightmares. Now, like Dorothy in the Land of Oz, we find ourselves waking up to a totally different market!
At first I thought it was just me, or maybe me and a few lucky friends… or me, a few friends and the agents in my office, but throughout the industry, agents, title reps and lenders are saying the same thing… “All of a sudden, I’m slammed.”
Contrary to the seasonal slowdown we expect to see in January/February, Denver’s winter market has been hoppin’ like springtime. Showings are up, under contract houses are up, closings are up– the only thing that’s down is inventory! Oh, and foreclosures. Yup, we are begging sellers to list their houses, and not just to feed ourselves, we’re out there pounding the pavement to let people know that the we’ve got buyers and no houses to sell!
Sellers tend to believe that the best time to put their home on the market is in April or May, and for many years they’ve been right. Warmer weather and the end of school traditionally bode well for the housing market but right now there is so much pent up demand, that sellers who list early gain the advantage. With more competition for fewer houses, sellers are more likely to get their asking price and sometimes top it. Out of all the contracts I’ve written this year (and I’m ahead of my goals), the majority of offers have been in a multiple offer bidding war. This is the mark of a seller’s market and though we can’t lean quite that far, the lack of inventory in homes priced below $450,000 is driving the market forward.
Based on a number of economic indicators, nationally recognized real estate expert, Barbara Corcoran, recently picked Denver as the Top Rebounding Real Estate Market… Well, I could have told her that.
So maybe it’s not just a case of rosey-eyed Realtors blogging about the good news for so long you think we’re making it up… because THIS TIME WE MEAN IT!