It's Business As It Used to Be in Real Estate

Last week, I told you that as soon as the Super Bowl was over, people turned their attention to house hunting. All week I have been asking fellow Realtors if they’ve noted a change. 

“My phone hasn’t stopped ringing,” was one reply. “I’ve written four offers for four different clients,” responded another. All through the week, the message was the same: it’s business as it used to be in real estate.

“Who are these people?” you ask.  They are, to name a few categories:

• Seniors downsizing or moving to retirement communities.

• First-time homebuyers who had been working on improving their credit scores.
• Investors who have figured out the rental market has skyrocketed due to all the foreclosing people, short-sellers and bankruptcy filers, who must now rent.
• New employees, who were put off by their new employers until after the holidays so they didn’t have to pay them holiday benefits.
• Snow escapees, ready to pick up stakes and move to sunny California.
• Increasing numbers of people who are working from home and need an office or two.

This week, I’d like to focus on the downsizing seniors. There was a time when many of these seniors could rely on their investments to move into a smaller home or a retirement community, whether their house was sold or not.  That became increasingly difficult with pension plans dissolving and investments shrinking.  Now they must sell before they move. In the past two years, that was difficult to impossible without taking so much less than their house had been worth two years before that many decided to stay put a while longer.

Well, that obstacle is apparently coming down like the Berlin Wall. Now sellers are faced with the next big hurdle: Where do I begin? What do I do with all this stuff?  Believe it or not, the answer can be provided in just a few big steps, once you shift your thinking.  You can make the move. I'll tell you how next week.