“Buying and Selling Real Estate in a COVID-19 World” WEBINAR has been scheduled for Thursday, May 7th at 6:30pm (PST). Whether you are thinking of buying or selling one home or creating a legacy portfolio, tune in to hear Kurt explain what has changed, and what has not. A must watch for all homeowners and investors.
Buying and Selling in a COVID-19 World
Thursday 05/07/2020 @ 6:30pm (PST)
This Covington buy, fix and sell project was, perhaps, the quickest project yet. Although it took the bank over three months to resolve some title issues, once we were cleared to close and finalized the purchase, my investor client was off and running. Originally designed as a rental purchase, once we closed, it was determined that it could also be resold at a profit. The IDENTICAL house two doors down sold at a very high price during the time we waited on the bank. That comparable home, two doors down, was not even listed when we went under contract. It sold for more than asking in a few days. So, it was decided that this purchase would make a good resale. 3 week remodel, 1 week on the market, several offers received. The home sold at $374,888 which was $6,000 over asking. 30 days to for the lender to close and VOILA 63 days start to finish. On to the next one!
Buyers bring November Surprise!
In a bit of a surprise for both brokers and sellers, buyers came out in November and absorbed some of the unsold inventory in the system. Pending sales for November in the Tri-county Puget Sound area rose 9.2% year over year with closed sales increasing 5.5%. The resulting median selling price year over year gain was almost 10%, with almost 1/3 coming in the last few months. Coming during a usually slow season, these signals show that continued demand & tight inventories will continue to push prices upward.
More affordable price points and areas continue to lead the way as first time home buyers & inspired renters are choosing to enter the market to take advantage of favorable interest rates and motivated sellers. Areas like the Eastside continue to show the effects of lack of affordability, with prices flat or lower than the highs of Spring 2018. The silver lining on the Eastside is out of state investors and / or local buyers are actively pursuing what they see as bargains, with the number of pending sales in November higher than either of the last two Novembers. This buying activity, couple with seasonally low inventory, will bode well for sellers choosing to enter the market BEFORE the typical spring rush.
As always thanks for reading. Please share or like. I am thankful for all of you who have made 2019 a success, looking forward to a incredible 2020.
I have known these clients for over 20 years, & even though they have other neighbors and friends that are also Agents, they knew they needed the best for this complicated transaction. They received an unsolicited offer from a renter in a nice River front house they owned in Issaquah. The offer was very low, they were not thinking of selling but wanted my opinion. After showing them the true value of the house, and discussing the options, they decided to move forward with possibly selling the home to the tenant. After a few weeks of back and forth, we got the price up by over $200,000. Because my clients were now convinced that selling was a good option, we did not want to waste valuable summer listing time if the renter could not preform. We insisted on mortgage Pre Approval, & them showing Proof of Funds ( a bank statement). We also insisted on no repairs, besides a certified septic system, as the tenant had been there a long time.
A few weeks later, we closed the deal. Unrealized potential & good timing resulted in my clients now having many options in front of them.