Smoking hot real estate market
Posted by paige on July 29, 2010 | No Comments
2 hours in the office, 2 hours at the beach, 2 hours at the office, 2 hours at the beach…
OK seriously, temperatures in Kelowna have been over 33 degrees celcius for more than a week. There have been a few forest fires… some more serious than others and there have been a whopping 14 sales on Kelowna’s lakeshore since the beginning of June, 2010! That’s amazing when you consider there has been 19 sales in TOTAL since January.
Overall, listings are up and sales are down. This is typically the time when savvy buyers are on the prowl and those looking for high end properties can often benefit the most. First time buyers seem to be completely gone right now with only one sale under $300,000 in the last 5 weeks and investors are just starting to get cranked up again after a month or two long hiatus.
Strategy for buying in this type of market has to be planned out in advance to maximize your dollar’s buying power. Last week I worked with some people who found 5 houses in a neighborhood that they particularly liked. We narrowed it down to #1-5 and made an offer on the first one. It was rejected. Plan A was to move onto number two, but after careful consideration, we decided to wait it out for a few days and let the sellers think we had moved on. Sure enough, a week later we were able to get an accepted offer on house #1 for almost $30,000 below what the last house in that neighborhood sold for… great deal!
Strategy for selling in this type of market also has to be very well thought out. Buyers are elusive and slow moving. In order to even attract a buyer to a point where they would consider making an offer, the price being asked has to be thought of as “exceptional”. Even then, most offers start off low. For those bargain hunting, they’ll usually move on if the low-ball isn’t accepted. For those that have found their “perfect home”, it may take some time, but usually they’ll come to the table and a fair price can be secured.
Thinking of buying or selling? Contact me to find out how my tried and proven strategies can work wonders for you.
Talk to you soon…
Paige
