Sequim real estate is selling, or perhaps a better way to state the case is this: buyers have arrived in March diligently searching for their retirement homes. And they are writing offers. These listings continue to show up on the public MLS search sites as available, but they are actually pending (sold). Buyers seem to have gotten tired waiting for the economy and the real estate market to come back, and many have told me they are no longer putting their lives on hold or living out of fear. They are moving forward with their retirement plans regardless of whether their timing is good or bad.
Here is where many retirees are collectively in agreement:
“Look, we don’t know what the future holds, and things could get worse, but we are in our sixtys, and we are not going to put our lives on hold forever. We don’t know how much time we have, whether it is 30 years or 3 years, but we want to spend our retirement years together in our dream home in the most beautiful place we could live, Sequim. We could be wrong on the timing, but we won’t find that out for years. It might turn out our timing to buy now is perfect. But we aren’t making our decisions based on the so-called experts’ opinions or the condition of our retirement fund. We are making our life decisions now based on what is best for us, and whether that turns out to be good or poor timing is just further down on the checklist for us. We’re not going to live our lives in fear. We are going to celebrate the time we have together, and we are moving forward to enjoy our retirement years. Period.” Read Is Now the Time to Buy Real Estate?
Buyers are cherry picking the best homes at the best prices. These are the homes in the top 2% of the nicest homes in various price ranges, and what is happening is that we are getting serious and qualified buyers who are snatching these homes up very quickly. Now the 98% of the homes that are not the best of the best are sitting on the market for a much longer time, and this is fooling some buyers into thinking they have lots of time and plenty of inventory to chose from. They don’t.
Here is a response I emailed to a client who found the ideal home for sale in a great area and at a great price.
I received your inquiry on the listing in Mains Farm in Sequim. I used to live in Mains Farm, so I know the area well. I just pulled this listing up in our MLS and it shows that it was sold today, or at least that they reached mutual acceptance today.
May I suggest you look for something similar? By the way, I have seen a substantial pick up in buyers arriving and buying homes here in March. I wrote about that several months ago, anticipating buyers would be making their moves in March, April, and May because of the requests and appointments clients were making with me. And it is happening. The only reason I share that is because if you find the ideal home, you can bet several other good folks like you have also found it, and one or two of those couples are right here getting ready to write the offer.
I don’t share this to pressure you into making offers. Not at all. Just wanted you to know that is what just happened to you, this nice house getting sold out from under you, and this is what I’ve been writing about. I see this same scenario again and again recently. We have a large inventory of homes for sale, but buyers are cherry picking the best houses at the best prices. I sold a nice lot to my clients last month, a beautiful home on three acres to some other clients a few weeks ago, and just wrote an offer for some other retirees today. There’s no doubt that retirees have arrived to make their move.
See Buyers Cherry Picking the Best Houses in Sequim
Chuck E. Marunde, J.D., Broker/Manager
Sequim & Port Angeles Real Estate
Branch Office of eXp Realty, LLC
618 S. Peabody St., Suite I
Sequim, Washington 98382
(360) 775-5424
(866) 733-7135 fax
Last Updated on July 27, 2012 by Chuck Marunde
