Welcome to the New Real Estate World

     Welcome to 2021 Real Estate.  The fact that there is little inventory makes this a Seller's Market, however, this does not make it impossible to purchase a home at a respectable price.  In my personal experience, homeowners are having offers made on their listing within 48 hours of being on the market if the listing price can be justified.  The competition for the buyer is to have a line of credit or cash reserve to overbid on the home to be competitive with the rental companies purchasing everything with no appraisal, cash, and minimal inspection of only major defects.  I recently had a closing that had my buyers confused.  I will not name the company but the buyer's agent was here in Indiana, the title Company in Atlanta, GA, and the company that purchased the property was in Delaware.  A notary came to my office to have the sellers sign the documents, on day two the documents were sent to the title company and then onto the buyer, and then funding was 48 hours after the closing.  The sellers had to sign several documents in advance with the out-of-state title company which made my clients very uncomfortable.  This could possibly be the "new" closing process so we all need to be prepared and to inform our clients in advance.  Personally, I still love the local closing companies where we all sit down and sign the documents, congratulate each other, and then give over the keys so I too may need to update my thoughts.

     Back to my point, listing your home.  Sellers are hearing wonderful stories about offers thousands of dollars over the assumed value.  I advise any agents to first do a comparative market analysis on a home before listing so if the value comes in lower than the offering price, the appraisal may be challenged or the buyer can bring the additional cash to close.  Some agents are purchasing using the escalated value where the buyer will pay a certain amount over the appraised value.

     This is an interesting time to be a Broker.  I will give this article some more thought later, right now I need to get back to doing a comparative market analysis on two new listings.  Have a blessed day:)