The on-air interview

This on air interview with John Aaron at 103.5FM WTOP was a discussion of the recent trend we noticed where sellers were actually having their agents put in the MLS comments that they were expecting to review offers on a certain day and time and then actually got multiple offers.

This is a strong signal in the rise of seller confidence in our area. We discussed what to do and not do if you are a buyer or a seller. You can listen to the interview in it’s entirey by clicking on the logo at left.

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***DISCLOSURE: NO REALTORS WERE HARMED DURING THIS EPISODE***

That means the sellers are letting the market know ahead of time that their expectation is that they will receive more than one offer and as such are planning accordingly. Now several years ago when our market was red hot this was the norm. But in the past few years this has all but completely vanished from the normal order of business. The fact that it’s coming back as a trend at all is extremely interesting and telling.

Some are wondering if we are headed back to the days of yesteryear with mega escalation clauses and zero contingencies. In my personal opinion, the answer is no nor should we strive for that.  Keep in mind that when multiple offers are the norm it is not a sign of  a “healthy” market but rather a sign of an imbalanced market, one heavily weighted in the sellers favor. 

So what does this mean that we are seeing sellers go out on a limb and advertise to the world that they are expecting multiple offers and then they actually get it. I think it’s a sign that the pendulum is swinging towards a balanced market and is doing so in such a way that some savvy sellers are using to their advantge. I’ve talked about the pent up demand we’ve had for good inventory. With rates at an incredible low buyers are coming around in droves and jumping on the right opportunities. So when a home that’s in a desirable location, in good condition and priced right buyers are pouncing.

Some sellers who have seen their neighbors’ home sell quickly and in some cases in multiple offer situations are emboldened. They figure they should be able to do the same if not better and when done correctly they are right. So I think we will continue to see more of this trend until we get back to a fully balanced market.  At that time we will most likely see less multiple offers rather than more but we will have achieved a truly “healthy” and balanced market.

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This got me thinking about many of the neighborhoods in DC that have already been revitalized and those that are in the process of being revitalized. In almost all cases there has been a marriage between residential revitilization and business/commercial revitilization. In some cases it’s hard to tell which came first, the residential or the commercial revitilization. Sort of the chicken or the egg – move more residents in and businesses will follow or open up the right businesses and the residents will follow.

I think back to Logan Circle and when there was a large movement of renovations underway. The residents banded together and petitioned Whole Foods to open up a store there. Ultimately Whole Foods did and the rest is history. Whole Foods’ opening there was a key event in helping make Logan Circle what it is today.

There are so many examples of neighborhoods and businesses that developed symbiotic relationships that shaped the culture and lansdcape of a neighborhood. Some spanning decades while others just a few short months. I think of examples like Eastern Market and Capitol Hill, the Verizon Center and Penn Quarter, Adams Morgan and the 18th Street corridor and on and on. Nationals Stadium is an example of a work in progress as also is the H-Street corridor in North East.

From the perspective of a home buyer is there a way to be able to learn more about a neighborhood by understanding the relationship of a certain business or group of businesses. I think there is. For example on any given weekend day one can see a huge number of the residents of Chevy Chase DC come through Broad Branch market. Chat with almost any random customer and you’ll be able get almost all your questions answered about the neighborhood from the residents who live there. On a smaller yet similar case hang out at Big Bear Cafe in Bloomingdale and you’ll be able to strike up a conversation with one of the recent neighborhood transplants.

So if you are trying to get a feel for a neighborhood search out those neighborhood hang out joints (in most cases it will be a mom and pop operation) and immerse yourself in the experience. Talk to as many of the customers that  you can and you’ll be amazed at what you learn. 

So which came first the chicken or the egg, the resident or the shop owner? It does not really matter just as long as they both came along for the ride and are getting along.

The on-air interview

In this on air interview at WTOP I discussed with John Aaron the recent trend of multiple offers where the final sales price was higher than the list price, something we have not seen in a while.

We also discussed how Seller confidence was up which has emoboldened them to take new pricing strategies when positioning their homes.

You can listen to the interview in it’s entirety by clicking on the WTOP logo at left.