Somewhere between ridiculous, peak-style pricing and horrible, embarrassing 2010 pricing lies the accurate price. But we’ve already discussed this, at length even, so there’s no reason to do so again. However, in that context, we can talk about a new sale on Oak Birch in Cedar Point Park. The home, listed on June 28th, went under contract on June 30th and closed on August 19th. It was listed for $2.1MM and then it sold for $2.1MM, to a cash buyer who will, presumably, live there very happily ever after.
And why shouldn’t they? When a property sells that quickly, for that magical full price number, it is fairly obvious to me and to you, and likely to this entire world, that the price was perhaps a bit on the low side. Maybe not, but maybe. Maybe it was just the perfect scenario. The perfect buyer for the perfect house, at the perfect price all coming together at the perfect time. Or, maybe it was just the market at work, seeking out a rare offering that combined very decent property with a very decent home. If you’re following the market from home, it’s important that you know the sort of home you can buy in this setting for $2.1MM. It is not all that fancy. It has some nice things, but it is not the greatest home you’ve ever imagined, assuming you’ve spent much time, as I have, imagining all sorts of nice houses.
These quick sales, even if at questionable prices, spur the market forward in ways that carefully thought out sales cannot. Quick sales, even if they are few and far between, craft an emotional narrative and have a tendency to mess a bit with buyer’s minds. These quick sales show sluggish buyers that not all buyers are like them. They prove to buyers that some buyers are much more motivated and decisive than they are, and these decisive buyers are difficult fellows for these sluggish buyers to contend with. Sluggish buyers had their day, in fact, a whole lot of them. From 2009 through late 2011, sluggish buyers ruled. They were all around us, in charge of us, dictating to us what they wanted to do and when they wanted to do it. To quote my mother in law, in a phrase directed at me a few weeks ago, they told us where to go and how to get there.
A few of these buyers indeed became owners, and they have been replaced, even if in small numbers, by the motivated sort. By the sort that sees a new listing on the 28th and buys it for every penny of full price by the 30th. These are the buyers that can skew a market, and while we may not like this we have no choice but to react to it. If properties hit the market at reasonable price points, they will sell. As I’ve said before, this seems normal but it is not. During the down years, which some day we’ll call The Lost Years, this was not the case. Properties would hit the market at proper price points, but buyers were skeptical. Buyers were, at the time, skeptical of everything. At the breakfast table they sat with their kids and feigned smiles while thinking, who are these people, and why are they calling me dad?
This sale is great, as all sales are, even if I wasn’t involved in it, which hurts even to write, but what really matters now is the small message this sends to the market, and to the buyers that are circulating it. The message is, be careful. Be careful and realize that some buyers are more motivated than you. This, of course, doesn’t matter if you don’t find anything in the market that excites you. But if you do, and if the home you find makes you feel warm and fuzzy and the thought of napping in that lakeside hammock and the thought of chasing your kids down that lakefront lawn makes your heart happy, then you’re best served to work towards capturing it. There are times to watch homes from a distance and wait for them to slip through the cracks, and drop to where we find them appealing to our wallets, and there are other times when value is apparent, obvious, and hanging as a very low fruit. Best grab it and take a big bite before someone else does.
That goes against my nature to write that, as I love the drawn out, contemplated purchase. I do. But I see buyers in the market that are different from the buyers from a couple of years ago. We don’t need many of these buyers to skew the market, and at the moment I see quite a few of them milling about. For now, there’s no other advice than this: If you find something you love, don’t wait. The reason to move decisively isn’t, as some agents speculate, because prices are going up, up, up!! Instead the reason is simple. If you don’t buy it, someone else probably will.
Those sunsets from Cedar Point, very nice I must say. Didn’t care for the home personally. But she sold none the less, I mean "IT" sold.