Ahh…. the waning days of summer are upon us and it feels too soon this year. We know there is still lots of time to cross off all the summer must-dos, but kids are back in school, some yellow is starting to appear in some aspens and pumpkin spiced Cheerios fill an end cap at Safeway.
As your local real estate professionals, we are often questioned in our small community whether shopping for groceries, hiking the trails, running into the post office- “How’s the real estate market these days?” Recent responses have been “weird,” “different” or “just ok.”
While a few more properties in Grand County are hitting the open market, some are selling faster than others. Our phones are still ringing and emails are binging, but we have experienced a quieter than usual summer sales season.
It is no mystery that interest rates are the highest they’ve been in 20 years which affects buying power and thus creates a more balanced market. Inventory is up slightly but as we’ve said before, many folks who might consider selling are staying put and enjoying their ridiculously low interest rate- who can blame them?! New home sales across the country are surpassing resales due to continued low inventory.
According to the National Association of Realtors Chief Economist, Lawrence Yun, interest rates should fall into the 6% range before the end of the year. He also states that while 2023 sales will likely be down over 12% vs 2022, he predicts home-buying to be up over 15% in 2024.
You know what this means, right? NOW IS THE TIME TO INVEST IN REAL ESTATE. While we’d love you to be a part of our community, it’s a great time to invest in many areas of our country. If you want to potentially avoid the frustrating multiple offer situations of not-so-long-ago, consider leveraging some cash or using some of the line of credit on your primary home. Consider this- if you were to go under contract on a property today it’ll be a solid 30-45 days before closing. If you finance, that means your first payment may not even be due by November or December. You can wait to lock that rate or look into many incentive programs lenders are offering right now. Mortgage originators need to eat too, so some programs are becoming increasingly competitive in the marketplace.
If you require some cash flow, Grand County and it’s municipalities have more relaxed STR rules compared to other Colorado resort areas. Breckenridge, for example, has severely restricted short term rentals and there are waitlists for folks to get a license and there are some zones where STRs are now prohibited.
Let’s talk about some strategies we have to get you in (or out) of a property while it’s a little quieter because we know it won’t last long- especially in this magical, mountain area of Colorado. Give us a call, shoot us a note, FaceTime us.
And…if you have a property here and you protested the valuation in May, we want to hear if you had success or not. We’ve been getting lots of stories but it’s helpful for us to hear yours.
That's all for now!
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