At least, after showing dozens of houses over the past few days and seeing many desired homes go under contract before my clients could get to them, this is my conclusion: Some segments of the Charlottesville – Albemarle real estate market have turned.
Not all. Maybe not most, but several, possibly even many micro-segments of the Charlottesville real estate market are seeing remarkably low, unhealthily low levels of inventory.
For example:*
In the Baker-Buter and Hollymead elementary school districts:
There are currently 36 single family homes under contract.
– 26 of those have continuous days on market of less than 30.
– 19 have continuous days on market of less than 7!
In Crozet and Brownsville elementary school districts:
There are currently 63 single family homes under contract.
– 44 of those have continuous days on market of less than 30.
– 36 have continuous days on market of less than 7!
In the City of Charlottesville:
– There are currently 69 homes listed as being under contract.
– 32 have continuous days on market of less than 30.
– 17 have continuous days on market of less than 7!
For Charlottesville + Albemarle:
– There are currently 323 homes under contract.- 121 have continuous days on market under 7. Holy. Cow.– But. 68 of those 323 homes have days on market of at least 180. – YOUR market will vary.
What does this mean?
For buyers – get ready. Be prepared (to be frustrated as well as ready to move fast). Be pre approved. Identify your target micro market, and be ready to act quickly. Bidding wars are happening. Houses are going under contract in days rather than weeks. Scheduling showings on Monday for a Saturday showing is no longer an option.
For sellers – now could be the best time in 7 years for you to sell. But … you might not have a place to move into.
* Excluding new construction. If you want new construction in Charlottesville or Albemarle, it’s everywhere; you can get it.
… if you’re looking to buy a home in the Charlottesville area or if you’re trying to or thinking about selling, this number doesn’t matter to you one bit. What matters is – what is the market doing on my street? In my neighborhood? In my elementary school district? What happens at the top level – national, state, MSA, locality – is darn near irrelevant other than from a psychological point of view.
It is essential that home buyers know what sellers expect of them. There are four things that are super important, specifically short time frames, large EMD checks, large down payments, and super solid pre-approval letters from familiar lenders.
Excellent points. The one difference I’d say is that in our market the time frame aspect is not necessarily “short” but “whatever is best” – I tell my sellers that if the buyers want out them out in 30 days, then let’s see what we can do.
Conversely, I tell my buyers that if the sellers want 30 days, give it to them … 60, let’s try to make that work …
Wow, awesome statistics. I can only image a seller’s shock when they have multiple offers within just a few days of listing their property. Creating an exit strategy for sellers is going to be a requirement here. In other words, if you do not have a place to move into, you better not list your home to sell. I am curious, how are the buyers reacting to 60 or 90 day possession restrictions? Are they willing to wait to allow a seller time to purchase another property?
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