May and June see more offers at a time better known for tire kicking

The original date of this post was 6/21/13.

In April I was particularly pleased and surprised to see two bidding wars, both for renovated homes with charm in the $200k’s. And my observation is that there are a lot of buyers who have been on the sidelines, patiently awaiting more quality inventory that is “priced right”. In one of these instances, I thought the house was under-priced, and even contacted the listing agent. After the fact I learned of the sellers’ eagerness to move the house, which explains why it was listed at such a competitive level. In the end it sold for a tad above asking.

So those events got me all excited, only for May to drown my enthusiasm with a slew of viewing postponements, due mostly to the horrid weather. But it looks like there were plenty of buyers who picked their days and stuck to them, because now I’m seeing a higher than average number of properties with accepted offers, at a time of the year better known for buyers doing their research and exploring the inventory.

My experience now is that of the eight properties that two buyers wanted to see this weekend, three had accepted offers on them. A local real estate attorney I spoke with is finding herself much busier with contracts than normal for this time of year, and another busy agent corroborates my experience with finding several of the properties his buyers want to see being snapped up already.

This is primarily for the second home market, but it does run the gamut in terms of price. I received two cash offers for properties this week, one of which has been on the market for 1.5 years, the other just a few weeks. And between them and the others that I tried to make appointments for, the prices range from $150k’s to $500k’s. Having said that, the sweet spot is for turnkey properties with privacy and an element of charm in the $200ks.

Meadow view along Hunter Rd., Claryville, NY.