Spring Fever in the Seattle Housing Market!

This is officially the wildest housing market I have seen in my 15+ years in the business! 2005-2007 was wild too but the exuberance wasn’t quite as high, especially outside core Seattle. Now, bidding wars are escalating home prices significantly (sometimes 10% or more) over the asking price nearly everywhere. However, overpricing your home will still backfire! My clients have been most successful by pricing fairly and letting buyers fight over it.

While it may seem “easy” to sell your home, it is still a complicated process. Some sellers are finding buyers themselves and selling it off market. That sounds good, except I would argue that you will get more money, and/or better terms, if you expose your home to the whole market, especially right now. How can it hurt to have a dozen buyers interested instead of just one?

I am also seeing a frustrating trend of sellers (and their agents) who are willing to accept the first offer that comes in, sometimes on day one on the market. I believe it always benefits the sellers to wait at least a few days and then review offers on a set advertised date. I’ve had 3 cases recently where a great offer came in early, but per my advice, the sellers respectfully declined it and waited until the scheduled review date. In two of those cases, the same buyers submitted new offers that were significantly better than their first offer! In the third case, the buyer did not submit a new offer but we received two other much better offers that were $50k over the asking price!

This extra enthusiastic market really just started in February and prices have increased a lot since January. So, if you are thinking it might be time to sell or if you would just like to update a 3-month-old market analysis, please contact me today for a no-obligation consultation!