Who would have guessed that our neighborhood real estate market would ever become so white-hot that apparently you don’t even have to list a home to sell it anymore?
Super-low interest rates coupled with more buyers than sellers have created a market that appears to be out of sync, resulting in buyers racing to make offers on houses even before they’re technically on the market.
That’s the word over the weekend from a couple of DMN stories (both behind the paywall). And that’s what I’ve been hearing from neighborhood Realtors, too.
Is that a good thing? Not everyone, including some Realtors, thinks so. The DMN quotes a couple of Realtors who don’t like the idea, and I’ve talked with a few who don’t like the idea, either.
Selling a home via “hip pocket” (the Realtor knows what you’ll take to sell the home, and since he or she has a glut of buyers already, the Realtor matches up the eager buyers with a willing seller to make a quick deal) is being talked about quite a bit in the market, but it’s not possible to quantity how often it really happens since everything happens quickly. The more conventional “list and then sell” activity also is generating quick sales, with Realtors indicating that multiple offers often are being made on houses within hours of a home appearing for sale.
The negative aspect of a “hip pocket” sale is that, without a formal listing on the Multiple-Listing Service (an online format used by virtually all Realtors in this and many other markets), not every potential buyer and/or Realtor knows a home is for sale, potentially resulting in a quick sale but perhaps a lower sales price, since theoretically more potential buyers and more sales exposure means a better sales price for the seller.
Anyway, it’s a curious market: It’s hot now, and Realtors are running around with their tongues hanging out from the deals they’re working.
I wonder how long things will stay this way?
