Outside the Box Thinking
The real estate question I am asked the most is, “How is the market?” This question always makes me pause and think about the answer, usually formulating a response based on if it is a seller or buyer asking. If it is a seller’s market and you are looking to sell, I will probably respond, “It’s always a good time to sell, there are always buyers looking to buy.” If you have been looking to buy the answer over the past few years has been “Interest rates will never be this low so now is the time to buy.” The market changes based on supply and demand and ebbs and flows like a tide.
Our market for the last few years has been a very tight market - meaning that inventory has been very low. The impacts of a low inventory are seen by buyers and houses will have multiple offer situations, offers over asking price, financing offers being beaten out by all cash offers and buyers waiving contingencies just to be able to buy a home. This process creates buyer fatigue which impacts the inventory further. There are two major buyer pools, first time home buyers and buyers that are in an existing home looking to make a move. The folks who own a home see how difficult it is to get a new home or suffer from buyer fatigue and they no longer want to sell their home. This is another major contributing factor to the low inventory.
COVID has only exacerbated the market, stacking up a buyer pool through the quarantine period that has since exploded into the market. People wonder if the housing market may crash with the pending stock market recession. It seems that in the Boston metro area there is a serious housing shortage - low inventory. Historically when there is a larger nationwide downward housing trend, the impacts won’t be felt as strongly in our area. So does this mean we will see the market crash? Probably not anytime soon, which means, in order to keep clients happy we need to help our clients the best way we can.
At Refined Real Estate, we are challenging the status quo of the real estate industry. We pride ourselves on helping our clients with our diverse offering of services. We offer architecture, construction, and design services on top of our Real Estate brokerage. We have years of knowledge and expertise in designing, building, renovating, selling and buying. We offer services that are tailored to your needs and don’t push you to buy or sell when it makes just as much sense to stay where you are. When the market is this tight it is best to look at all your options.
Of the homes that are currently on the market, it seems they fly off the shelf or they sit for quite a long time because they need too much work. What if we could educate our clients on the benefits of buying a fixer upper? Most consumers want to buy something renovated so they don’t have to worry about anything. Buying a renovated home just like buying a refinished piece of furniture, it comes with a markup. When clients purchase a fixer upper, they would be able to purchase at a lower entry price, and then take the extra money they would have spent in the bidding war to renovate and make the home what they want. Let’s face it, normally every home someone purchases needs some updates to make it your own. Why not buy and renovate and save money in the process?
Our job as agents is to educate the consumers to help them make the best decisions when making major life decisions about their home. In order to do that, we help in thinking outside the box and make home buying, selling and renovating easier for everyone involved.
