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NEWS FLASH! Yours truly was seen on TeeVee earlier this week when word broke about this crazy Davidson County property tax hike. And yes, what you’re seeing is a reporter shooting my interview on an iPhone.

The big question she’s asking me is if we’ll see any change in our Real Estate market due to that 34% property tax increase in Nashville. The short answer? In TV soundbyte form: YES.

The truth is Buyers and Sellers are always looking at the bottom line, and now more than ever with all of this economic instability, every dollar counts.

Though this doesn’t affect Williamson County property taxes, this could create some ripple effects for us.

Who’s Shopping Here

We’ve already experienced people moving from out of state and pinpointing Williamson County as the destination for their next home. Last year, I learned from Williamson Inc. that the number one place people come from outside of Tennessee to live in Williamson County….. is LA County, California.

We are also meeting a lot of Buyers coming from high-density northern cities like Chicago and the greater New York areas. WHY? Most of them have told us it’s because of property taxes.

Get a load of this…. many Buyers have told us they’re paying in the $30,000 range for annual property taxes in those other cities. YIKES!

Though they likely won’t see taxes that high in Davidson County, you better believe they’ve got those numbers on their radar, and when comparing a home in Davidson County versus Williamson or other surrounding communities, even a thousand dollars difference per year will speak to them.

We’re Already Seeing It

Back in the Greater Nashville area, I have two sets of Buyers who I’m working with at this very moment who have pegged me to sell their Davidson County homes so we can move them to Williamson County. Taxes have voluntarily come up in conversations with them among their biggest reasons why.

What This Means

In my opinion, Davidson County has just made Williamson County that much more valuable. Take this home I have listed in Temple Hills, for example. I’ve got it listed at $750,000 – and that is pretty far above our most-sought price range of $500,000-$600,000 homes in Grassland. But I bet it won’t stay on the market long.

Taking a broader look at the market, demand for homes continues to skyrocket. Redfin has released a lot of new data, saying the demand for houses during the week of June 1 through June 7th was 25% above pre-pandemic levels.

BUT – more homes are starting to hit the market now.

Inventory Correction?

The story of the spring has been one of low inventory. If I had to make a News story slug, I’d call it “NOT ENOUGH HOMES TO SELL.” We already had a shortage of homes on the market pre-Covid, but once stay-home orders were put in place, some Sellers who planned for spring market were scared away and decided not to go there.

Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman says the ship may be turning around, though. We ended May at 21% below last year’s level. Now into June, new listing numbers have improved, showing we’re only about 15% below last year’s number. Still tight, but we’ll take it.

When you compare month-to-month numbers, Zillow is reporting new listings are up 19.3% since last month.

But Wait, There’s More!

In true TV fashion, I’m not going to just leave you there. There is indeed more to this story.

Remember how I told you weeks ago that some of our biggest financial institutions are predicting a V-Shaped recovery? And as it turns out, they’re not too far off. Economic activity has continued to rise into early June, after bottoming out in April. We still have some wildcards that could interrupt this, like a Covid Comeback, continued job losses and market confidence (or lack thereof). But Brentwood Lender George Margrave says, “Nonetheless, an L-shaped recovery, in which activity stays depressed, now looks remote.” Margrave says consumer spending is expected to jump and week-to-week patterns point to continued growth.

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So how’s that for a quick news brief? Of course all of this is day-to-day and the biggest moving part I’m keeping my eye on is the extreme difference in prices we’re seeing right now.

I had another Temple Hills home I was preparing to list recently. Within 10 days, it had gone up so much in value that the Sellers and I agreed to raise list price by $10,000 — and I ended up selling it before it even hit the market.

I’ll leave you on that note. But until next time:  “Stay classy, Williamson County.”

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If you need to sell your home and want 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 will be the topic of an article in the July edition of Nashville Real Producers magazine. But most importantly, I specialize in helping my friends and neighbors buy and sell homes!