Hope Leitner, Realtor®, CRS

  July 6, 2023 For Sellers Housing Market Updates Selling Myths One of the biggest challenges in the housing market right now is how  few homes  there are for sale compared to the number of people who want to buy them. To help emphasize just how limited housing inventory still is, let’s take a look at the latest information on active listings, or homes for sale in a given month, as it compares to more normal levels. According to a recent report from  Realtor.com :   “On average, active inventory in June was  50.6% below pre-pandemic 2017–2019 levels .” The  graph  below helps illustrate this point. It uses historical data to provide a more concrete look at how much the numbers are still lagging behind the level of inventory typical of a more normal market ( see graph below ): It’s worth noting that 2020-2022 are not included in this graph. That’s because they were truly  abnormal years  for the housing market. To make the comparison fair, those have been omitted so they don’t distort t

  The Role of Access in Selling Your House March 21, 2023 For Sellers Housing Market Updates Selling Myths Once you’ve made the decision to  sell  your house and have  hired  a real estate agent to help, they’ll ask how much access to your home you want to give potential buyers. Your answer matters more now than it did in recent years. Here’s why. At the height of the buying  frenzy  seen during the pandemic, there was a rise in the number of homebuyers who put offers on houses sight unseen. That happened for three reasons: Extremely low housing inventory A lot of competition from other buyers wanting to take advantage of historically low mortgage rates And general wariness of in-person home tours during a pandemic Today, the market’s changing, and buyers can usually be more selective and take more time to explore their  options . So, in order to show your house and  sell  it efficiently, you’ll want to provide buyers with as much access as you can. Before letting your agent know what