There’s No Pace Like Home (Sales)

For one of the few times in my life, I’m in great demand.

Well, in full disclosure, not me personally, but rather my address. There isn’t a week that goes by when at least three or four mailings from local real estate agents are not sardined in my mailbox. It has gotten to the point where they outnumber junk mail, or those barrages of eternal credit card offers advertising 0 percent interest for 24 months.  The real estate fliers usually begin with the typical sales bromides, “Thinking of selling? Call….” or “If, you’re ready to downsize, we’re here to help.”

Now as a couple who have been empty nesters for several years now, I can understand why we are viewed as prime sales leads. And post COVID, to label the housing demand in my neck of the woods as “off the charts” would be a severe understatement. A realtor I know revealed he has a stable of 105 buyers and an inventory of 14 homes. Let me reiterate that wildly unbalanced ratio for emphasis- 105:14. And trust me, he is not atypical.

There are now bidding wars for homes not seen for decades. Case in point, a good friend of ours recently put her home on the market and not only received the asking price the first day of showing, but the couple who are going to eventually buy the home offered her $65,000 OVER the listing. On the one day she hosted an open house, she received 33 visits. My niece and her husband listed their “starter home” and had 67 potential buyers vying to own their piece of America. Some desperate home buyers have even done the unthinkable – at least in my book – by purchasing a house and bypassing the traditional inspection process. To me that’s like buying a used car without taking it to a mechanic first.

So, my interest was piqued. My wife and I did a study of comp sales in our neighborhood to gauge what we could possibly get should we put the house on the sale block and truth be told I was stunned. It was somewhere in the vicinity of 300 percent more than when we bought it.

I immediately called both my CPA and financial planner each of whom advised that if we were to make the move, now would be the time, as prices inevitably will spiral back to reality.

Unfortunately, neither makes the decision at Chez Carlino and with a wedding coming up, the Mrs. quickly put the proverbial kibosh on my dreams of any unexpected largesse.

Perhaps next year. But if grandchildren start coming, I would be wise to hold off on buying those change of address cards.