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This year has been so different. Zillow reports homes are selling right now at the fastest rate they have on record.

On July 28th, Windmere Real Estate Chief Economist Matthew Gardner said levels of nationwide inventory in June were the lowest this generation. That means there are more Buyers than there are homes For Sale in this country, which is what has caused such a frenzy, and the difference is the largest it’s been since the 1900s.

BUT — This doesn’t mean there is anything quick or easy about selling your home right now. And the tides could soon be turning. Some Sellers in our area are getting a little too confident and it’s skewing their results. I know of a couple of people who tried to gamble for a higher-than-recommended sales price and quite frankly, may end up having to settle for less than if they priced right. So getting the info on exactly where to price your home is key.

Let’s Be Real

It’s always really important to know how our market is performing – and to work within that reality. It helps us price exactly at market value yielding not only the best price, but the best terms (terms regarding no home sale contingency, inspection repairs and closing costs can be just as valuable when selling your home).

It’s also really important to use this information to help guide us for the future. Nationwide, we’re seeing the number of home sales bounce back up as more Sellers hit the market (which means inventory is going up and may stabilize our prices). We’re also seeing home sales numbers increase in Grassland, and for the first time since Covid Stay-Home Orders, our numbers are caught up to where we were this time last year!

July 2020 in Grassland:

• 58 homes closed (63% increase from last month – and 2 homes more than July 2019!)
• Median Sales Price: $634,300 (+19% from July 2019 – this is HUGE and likely driven by our inventory crunch)
• Median Days on Market: 4 (July 2019 was 7 DOM)
• Median List Price to Sales Price Ratio: 100% (this reflects how close homes are selling to their list price)
• Median Square Feet: 3,321 (+11%)
• Median Sales Price per Square Feet: $202 (+3%)

Note: A home’s Price per Square Foot has a lot of factors that go into it, and should not be considered an authoritative number for pricing your own home. I’d be happy to give you a more personal assessment of your home.

Obviously, each of these points is significant or I wouldn’t have listed them. But look at the difference in median square feet. Among the things we’re seeing drive the demand for homes lately is people moving from smaller homes to larger homes as Buyer habits have changed in this Covid era. People are wanting additional bedrooms, perhaps a basement or bonus room, or even two offices. Plus, with interest rates as low as they are, you can buy more house for your money right now!

An excerpt from Real Estate trade magazine Inman describes what’s happening:

“For  the last number of years, the trend has been for people to buy things on the smaller scale, things that are much more manageable for their lifestyles,” Dana Koch, a broker with Corcoran Group Palm Beach, told Inman. “After the pandemic, it’s just the polar opposite. People are trending toward larger and larger pieces of property. They want tennis courts, they want larger pools, they want more bedrooms, they want multiple offices and they want an area for their kids.”

Look (above) at how much our median square feet for homes sold in Grassland has increased from July 2019 to July 2020. People are buying and selling homes in Grassland that are 11% larger than what we saw last year. New construction likely accounts for a large part of that. But as you saw with that first picture in this post, larger homes are selling fast right now and we’ve likely got more of those in our averages this year.

Grassland’s Highest and Lowest Prices in July

A home on Old Hillsboro Road closed on July 31, 2020 after only being on the market 21 days. It was our highest-priced sale in Grassland in July, settling at $2,699,000. It’s a 7,000 square foot home on more than 12-acres.

Of the 58 homes that sold here in July, 15% of them were more than a million dollars. Another 15% of the homes sold here settled at $385,000 or less. Our least expensive home that sold in Grassland during July is a little more than 1,000 square feet in Brentwood Pointe and sold for $235,000. It only stayed on the market 7 days before going under contract.

Each Neighborhood’s Performance (year-to-year)

Let’s break down home value changes in some of our Grassland neighborhoods year-to-year so far. These neighborhoods listed below are only the ones that had July sales. These percentages reflect median sales price growth for homes closed during the first seven months of 2020 versus the first seven months of 2019:

• Two Rivers: Median 2020 price = $2.7m (+23% from 2019)
• Between the Harpeths: $2.4m – (One home sold this year, none in 2019.)
• Laurelbrooke: Median 2020 price = $1.6m (+9% from 2019)
• Legends Ridge: Median 2020 price = $1.3m (+3% from 2019)
• Foxen Canyon: Median 2020 price = $1,007,718 (+8% from 2019)
• Steeplechase: Median 2020 price = $790,300 (-47% from 2019)
• Cardel Village: Median 2020 price = $780,200 (new construction, no data from 2019)
• Horseshoe Bend: Median 2020 price = $780,000 (+11% from 2019)
• Stonebridge: Median 2020 price = $757,000 (+4% from 2019)
• River Landing: Median 2020 price = $750,000 (-7% from 2019)
• Montpier: Median 2020 price = $705,000 (-21% from 2019)
• Farmington: Median 2020 price = $687,500 (+17% from 2019)
• Breckston Park: Median 2020 price = $667,000 (one home sold this year, none in 2019)
• Highgate: Median 2020 price = $640,000 (one home sold this year, none in 2019)
• Jackson Lake: Median 2020 price = $633,600 (+1% from 2019)
• Monticello: Median 2020 price = $620,000 (+27% from 2019)
• Cheekwood: Median 2020 price = $581,500 (-9% from 2019)
• Temple Hills: Median 2020 price = $576,450 (+10% from 2019)
• Cottonwood: Median 2020 price = $565,000 (+12% from 2019)
• Founders Pointe: Median 2020 price = $441,250 (+5% from 2019)
• Fieldstone Farms: Median 2020 price = $440,500 (+6% from 2019)
• Meadowgreen: Median 2020 price = $420,350 (+28% from 2019)
• Commons @ Gateway: Median 2020 price = $414,000 (+2% from 2019)
• River Rest: Median 2020 price = $324,950 (-4% from 2019)
• Brentwood Pointe: Median 2020 price = $264,000 (+17% from 2019)

The remaining Grassland homes sold in July were not in neighborhoods.

Predictions

When it comes to price growth, I’m thinking we’ll see a slow-down soon. As mentioned earlier, in Grassland we’ve seen a 19% price increase between July 2019 and July 2020, which is just insane. It’s typical to see a few percentage points year-over-year. And that’s what some of the larger money experts are predicting we’ll continue to see:

The National Association of Realtors is predicting we finish out 2020 with a 3.6% price growth in homes nationwide.

The Mortgage Bankers Association is predicting 4.9%.

Fannie Mae is at 5.2%

It’s hard to predict where Grassland will land in all this. But it’s safe to say as we have more homes hitting the market, that’ll help normalize our prices. And as we hear of job layoffs, we’ll likely start to see foreclosures which will also add to our inventory/supply. Because of this, I don’t think we’ll continue to see our home prices grow at the rate we’re seeing now, but we’ll likely remain at a growth rate above national and county averages.

BOTTOM LINE: If you want to sell your home, now is the time. Interest rates are low so Buyers have an appetite. There is less competition now with lower inventory and people still have jobs and buying power. We don’t know what’s going to happen in the fall. But because inventory is low right now, prices and demand are still high.

I’ll leave you with one final snapshot, below, illustrating our current market climate. This is a $1.2m home that went under contract here in Grassland in 2 days. You want to be this guy.

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If you want to sell your home and need honest advice, please call, email or text me! I provide a free consultation to see what your home could sell for – or to get you pre-approved to buy. I’m a Grassland area resident and I’m a Platinum Award-winning Williamson County REALTOR® ranking in the top 2%. My business has 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!