Get Ready for Big Bidding Wars This Spring

With tighter inventories of homes for sale, buyers are finding increased competition through bidding wars. But the bidding may not be between only one or two other buyers -- more bidding wars are popping up where dozens or even hundreds of other buyers are all competing for the same property. "The only question is not whether a new listing will get multiple bids but how many it will get," Kris Vogt, who manages Coldwell Banker offices in the Sacramento area, told CNNMoney. For example, a home in Elk Grove, Calif., reportedly received 62 separate bids, with the final sales price more than $150,000 above its $129,000 asking price. In Cambridge, Mass., real estate brokers stopped accepting bids after the tally reached 250 bids for two condos listed at $800,000 each. The two condos ended up selling together for $2 million. Seventy-five percent of real estate agents with the brokerage Redfin surveyed in March say their clients have faced multiple bid situations for properties -- up from 56 percent in late 2011. Bidding wars appear to be most prevalent in California. Ninety percent of homes sold in San Francisco, Sacramento, and throughout Southern California saw multiple bids during the month, CNNMoney reports. What’s more, at least two-thirds of listings in Boston, Washington, D.C., Seattle, and New York had bidding wars for homes too. Meanwhile, inventories of for-sale homes continues to be low. The National Association of REALTORS® reported a 19.2 percent drop in inventories year-over-year in February. Source: “The home bidding wars are back!” CNNMoney (April 4, 2013)

Properties in Focus

  • Home Prices In Arlington Continue To Hike

    Glendale
    The housing market in Arlington County is getting more and more expensive as potential buyers continue to have fewer homes and condos to choose from.

    Read More

  • Inlet Cove is near Fort Belvoir and Potomac Mills

    Inlet Cove outside Belvoir
    Inlet Cove is alongside Route 1 This neighborhood of townhouses is near grocers and eateries Inlet Cove is close to Fort Belvoir, Alexandria, and Potomac Mills shops, in the city of Woodbridge Interior to these properties are multilevel Inlet Cove is serene

    Read More

  • Pending Home Sales on an Upswing

    home inspector
    Pending home sales increased again in March, affirming that a surge of home sales is unfolding for the spring home buying season, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in March, rose 5.3 percent to 102.9 from 97.7 in February, and is 21.1…

    Read More

  • A Good Time to Buy a High-End Home

    Station Square
    Some of the best housing deals are on high-end homes, many over $1 million. Some of them need TLC or they aren’t in the most-coveted locations. But there are plenty of desirable properties and lots of sellers who are getting impatient. Buyers with cash have the best opportunities. Buyers who need a mortgage should move…

    Read More

  • Who is today’s homebuyer and why are they buying?

    Nesbitt Realty 703 765 0300
    The National Association of Realtors recently did a study about the characteristics of home buyers. Some of the findings might surprise you. Thirteen percent of buyers purchased a home with one or more parents and grandparents together with adult children. There were several reasons given for purchasing a multi-generational home. Cost savings; Children over the…

    Read More