Northwest Guilford’s
‘really crazy’ housing market Buyers are offering more than asking prices for homes and are putting down nonrefundable fees to stand out among bidders in the housing shortage by CHRIS BURRITT NW GUILFORD – When homeowners ask Stokesdale real estate agent Dawn Stone to sell their houses, she responds with a question: Have you secured a new place to live? If not, she advises them to reconsider their desire to move – at least for now. The shortage of houses for sale in northwestern Guilford County has led to an escalation of prices, tempting some owners to consider listing their houses without thinking through all of the consequences. In some cases, sellers who pocket more money than they had ever imagined turn around and spend most, if not all, of their proceeds on new houses, according to Realtors. “They may sell high, but they’ve
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With what many Realtors are referring to as a “really crazy” housing market, it’s not uncommon for sellers of well-cared for homes to receive multiple offers – and above the asking price – within a day or two of going on the market.
also got to buy high,” said Stone, who owns A New Dawn Realty with her son, Phillip Stone. “I’ve never seen the inventory of houses so low. If there’s ever been a time to push up pricing, now is the time to do it.” Buyers paid more than asking prices in Oak Ridge, Summerfield and Stokesdale in the second quarter, according to the Greensboro Regional Realtors Association (GRRA), citing statistics from the
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Triad Multiple Listing Service. Sellers received 100.8% of list prices in the three towns in the quarter ended June 30, GRRA reported. A year earlier, sellers got 97.7% of asking prices in Oak Ridge and Summerfield and 98.7% in Stokesdale. Average sales prices have jumped over the past year. They climbed 22.9%, from $429,180 to $527,382, in Oak Ridge and Summerfield in the second quarter from a year earlier. In Stokesdale, they increased 18.9%, from $308,833 to $367,052.
price,” said Allen Tate Realtor Bobbie Maynard, an agent for 35 years. The housing market was “busy, busy” around 2005, but most sales were around asking price, according to Gail Kerber, owner of Kerbappeals Real Estate in Stokesdale. Back then, potential buyers had the opportunity to look at houses two or three times before deciding whether to make an offer, she said. Now, new listings are drawing multiple offers within a day or two of going on the market.
GRRA didn’t indicate whether actual prices had previously exceeded asking prices in northwestern Guilford County, but several real estate agents we spoke with said they didn’t remember such an occurrence.
“It’s just a matter of looking at the house and putting in an offer the best you can,” Kerber said. “It’s really crazy out there.”
“There have been some times of low inventory and hot competition, but not with buyers paying way over list
In recent months, Keller Williams Realtor DeDe Cunningham listed an
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