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We’re all starting to wear sweatshirts and layers as we experience all four seasons in one day. Though when it comes to Real Estate, our sleeves are always rolled up — especially lately. 

My business partner and I have at least 2 homes hitting the market each week for the next month.. and here in Grassland, I’m also piecing together off-market sales one after another. This is among the explanations for having such a high number of sales, though such a low number of homes hitting the market across the country.

Networking Off-Market

Now, more than ever, Real Estate agents are HUSTLING.

Networking with other agents, Buyers and Sellers has made all the difference in several of our most recent home sales across Williamson County at Beacon Real Estate. And just in the past 3 weeks, I have discovered some huge money-making details for 2 of our Sellers, who would otherwise have sold by owner — each of them for $50,000 less than what their home is worth! (One of them even had an Appraiser recommend such a low value to them – Yikes!)

A huge reason for the hang-up? Our property values have increased so much in such a short amount of time that if you’re not touring homes with Buyers, hearing their feedback, pricing homes and working in multiple properties every single day, it’s hard to keep up. I specialize in Grassland so the majority of my time is spent doing business in and around this area. And here’s what I’m seeing:

Grassland Stats

• Almost all Sellers are getting asking price or above-asking
• Homes aren’t typically staying on the market more than 2 weeks (if they’re priced right)
• Many Buyers are coming from California, New York and Chicago, some Buying homes sight-unseen.
• As of September 2020, our average sales price is $861,510 — ALMOST 25% HIGHER THAN SEPTEMBER 2019!
• Though prices have increased dramatically, Buyers are still not paying more than market value. 
• If your home sits on the market for more than 2 weeks, it starts to develop a stigma of “something must be wrong with it.”

It is crucial to have your home priced right, regardless of how hot this Seller’s market is. Perfect pricing brings better terms (like no closing cost concessions, no home sale contingency, easier inspection process, cash purchase, waiving appraisal, etc.).

Though people are paying more money than ever for homes around here, they’re not willing to over-pay.

Yes, Our Market is Still Hot

As seasons change, Sellers are starting to ask me a lot about the temperature of our Grassland Real Estate market. Traditionally, home-buying season slows down during the fall because families are focusing on school routines and the peak housing frenzy has passed with summer. But now that school is non-traditional and virtual for thousands of us across Williamson County, we’re seeing the frenzy continue. This is also due to crazy low mortgage interest rates and the imbalance between supply and demand.

Redfin Lead Economist Taylor Marr says, “Looking forward.. the usually slow fall and winter home buying seasons will be hotter than ever.”

And because the frenzy continues with more Buyers than Sellers in the market right now, our home prices are continuing to increase. Though Grassland has seen a 25% increase year-over-year as of September, Redfin reports the median home price across the country has grown 14-percent year-over-year. This is our country’s largest annual increase since August 2013!

A Redfin graph shows the difference between home price growth nationwide between 2018 (gray line), 2019 (blue line) and 2020 (red line). We are seeing a V-Shaped recovery in almost every aspect of real estate right now.

So, How Long Will This Last?

Originally, when industry pros made their predictions back in the spring, there was a lot of concern we would lose our footing by now. They thought our homes would have lost value and there would be a leveling out of our market already.

However, because of the historically low mortgage rates and a Covid-inspired change in the workplace, many of the experts have dramatically revised their predictions. Not only is the picture looking optimistic for our 2020 Real Estate market values, expectations for 2021 have also improved. A panel of more than 100 economists, investment strategists and real estate experts were recently polled in a Zillow-sponsored survey. They predict home prices will continue to increase by 2.7 percent in 2021, which is the most optimistic outlook for 2021 since Q1 2018!

Entering 2022, however, it’s not expected we’ll see as high of price growth. As I’ve mentioned, supply and demand is playing a huge role in all of this. There is potential that the high number of people whose mortgages are in forbearance could begin moving into foreclosure near the end of 2021, which would bring the supply level (number of homes on the market) up.

Make Hay While the Sun Shines

We’ve already established we’re seeing record-high home prices right now. But economists are predicting we could be nearing the peak of our price growth rate. (We’re not talking about a bubble popping. It’s more about prices not going up as high and as quickly as what we’re seeing now.)

“The question on everyone’s mind is ‘How fast can prices keep rising?’” says Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. “Sellers’ asking prices are still up significantly from last year, but by a lower rate than they were growing during the summer. Mortgage applications are also beginning to wane, and more new listings are coming onto the market. This is likely to be as good as it gets for homesellers, who definitely have had it very good for a very long time.”

My advice? Make your move NOW. This year isn’t the same kind of Real Estate opportunity we saw in the Great Recession, but it’s another darn good opportunity nonetheless. We’ll be able to tell in about 10 years who took advantage of it and who did not.

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If you’re thinking of selling or buying a home, I’m happy to help you and give you honest advice. I’m a Grassland area resident and I’m a Platinum Award-winning Williamson County REALTOR® ranking in the top 2%. My business partner and I have been featured on TV and our success is the topic of an article in the July 2020 edition of Nashville Real Producers magazine. But most importantly, I specialize in helping my friends and neighbors buy and sell homes!