Is Winter a Good Time to Buy or Sell?

Bigfork Real Estate Video Blog with Scott Hollinger

Here’s what the latest numbers say about our market. Today I have another market update to share as we close out 2020. I’ve compiled all the latest data from Flathead Lake and Flathead County residential market (single-family homes, townhomes, and condominiums). At 1:10 in the video above, you can see a chart outlining the number of active and sold listings for various price ranges in all the major cities in our area. If you focus on the overall supply of inventory at the bottom of the chart, you’ll see the following: $0-299K: Less than two weeks of supply $300,000 - 499,000: 1 month of supply $500,000 - 749,000: 1.5 months of supply $750,000 - 1 million: 4.5 months of supply $1 million - 2 million: 4 months of supply $2 million and up: 7 months of supply I remember that not too long ago, maybe a year or so, we were talking about absorption rates in some price ranges in terms of years, not months—especially over $2 million. When describing our current market, I say it’s the inverse of what we saw in the late aughts after we entered our last recession. Back then, there were many sellers but very few buyers. If you were to ask a seller what their property was worth, they’d say they didn’t know because there weren’t that many sales. Despite the wintery weather, there’s no shortage of people out there looking for homes. Now, we have buyers asking us how much they should pay for a property, but it’s hard to answer that question because so many recent sales are over asking price. You never know when the next property will come on the market that fits your needs, so wherever it’s priced, you’ll have to seriously consider paying full price or higher. It’s crazy either way you look at it, and it’s a difficult market for buyers to work in. A lot of buyers and sellers are telling me that they think they’ve missed the market. On the seller side, they think they could’ve done a lot better selling earlier in the year or in 2019. On the buyer side, they wish they would’ve bought at what they now think was the bottom of the market—they may have thought homes were expensive then, but they’re even more expensive now. Regardless, it’s still a great time to sell now. Despite the wintery weather, there’s no shortage of people out there looking for homes. If you’re a buyer, just hang in there; good properties are always coming on the market. No matter what your plans are, always have a strategy to reach your goals. If you have questions about our Flathead Lake market or would like help buying or selling a home, don’t hesitate to give me a call. I’d love to speak with you.