{"id":560,"date":"2015-04-22T01:45:50","date_gmt":"2015-04-21T20:45:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nohasslelistingblog.com\/?p=560"},"modified":"2015-04-22T01:46:24","modified_gmt":"2015-04-21T20:46:24","slug":"the-frenzy-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nohasslelistingblog.com\/?p=560","title":{"rendered":"The Frenzy Begins"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Travis<\/a>The early suspicions that 2015 might actually see an increase in demand are finally proving to be fact.\u00c2\u00a0 In real estate, improvement in a market goes from the bottom up, rather than from the top down.\u00c2\u00a0 This means that to stimulate a market place (i.e. see price improvement and a high volume of turnover) you need the entry level buyer to show up in force.\u00c2\u00a0 That purchase then allows for the seller to buy their next home, which then allows that seller to buy and so on.\u00c2\u00a0 It is said that the first time home buyer can spark a domino effect of 7 sales on average.\u00c2\u00a0 This was the thought process that spurred the dubious tax credit back in 2009.\u00c2\u00a0 The government seeing that the housing market was in severe meltdown mode, decided to stimulate the first time home buyers through a purchaser tax credit.\u00c2\u00a0 In one sense it worked \u00e2\u20ac\u201c first time home buyers started buying.\u00c2\u00a0 In another sense, it was an utter failure. Unlike a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153normal\u00e2\u20ac\u009d housing domino effect, in the distressed market it simply meant that the first time buyer bought the foreclosed home or short sale \u00e2\u20ac\u201c spurring exactly nothing.\u00c2\u00a0 Once the tax credit expired and the artificial stimulation of the market ended, the market dipped and simply reverted to the full blown distress market.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s market which for the last year and a half has stubbornly remained in the doldrums. In that time an abnormally low number of homes exchanged hands despite extremely favorable interest rates and flat pricing.\u00c2\u00a0 The only thing that saved that market from becoming a strong buyers market is that sellers disappeared at the same time the buyers did.\u00c2\u00a0 So the recent spike in demand is a welcome one.\u00c2\u00a0 But even welcome changes bring challenges, demand is not spiking in all areas and price points \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and demand changes much more quickly than supply can. The areas and price points that are currently adding supply are not where the demand is strongest.\u00c2\u00a0 As\u00c2\u00a0 Michael Orr of the Cromford Report recently so succinctly stated :<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Demand is up strongly for the lower and middle price ranges but new supply is heavily skewed towards the higher price ranges, where demand is actually lower than last year. As a result, sellers of properties over $800,000 are facing stronger competition from other sellers. Sellers below this price point are in a much more favorable position than last year, particularly those with homes priced below $400,000.<\/em><\/p>\n

When we look at listings added from February 7 to March 6 in 2015 and compare with the same dates in 2014, we find:<\/em><\/p>\n