It's definitely a seller's market in my area, too (Chicagoland). Interest rates are so low. And many parents are working from home, and many children are learning from home.

Same here in the Fraser Valley, B.C. We were gobsmacked when our across the road neighbours put their place up for sale about 3 weeks ago. They have lived their for about 50 years and are a very young, fit couple in their mid-70's. But they have been horse/cattle wranglers and that is a hard life. Anyway, sign went up on a Friday and by Sunday they had a full price offer with terms that were agreeable to them. Happy for them for sure, just surprised, because we're in a rural area with acreage, and typically these types of properties take longer to sell.

No slowdown here. RE inventory remains very low. DH is as busy as ever. Now how many contracts for new construction are being signed, IDK, but people are still moving here.

It’s a very hot market here. If you have a nice house, you had better be ready for it to sell with 24-48 hours and have a place to go. Hardly anyone is moving away and lots of people moving in, so a low inventory of available houses on the market. New construction is still happening, and prices are almost ridiculous In some areas.

Same here

Same here! (I think I’m in the same general vicinity as gsscience😉.) Houses are selling immediately. Apparently, low inventory + incredibly low interest rates = hot cakes market! Too bad we aren’t wanting to sell...we got an AMAZING deal on our lot and our custom build bc we somehow managed to sell our previous home in the pit of the recession/buyers market and took plenty of advantage ...now we are sitting on some tidy returns. 😂 It’s like the stock market, though, it only matters if you are buying or selling.

I've read that there is also a fleeing-the-cities trend taking place. So maybe all these renters from San Francisco, NY, etc., whose employers have moved to a "remote worker structure" are buying up all these homes!

RE is moving fast here as well. I've read that in many of the larger cities it is hard to get movers lined up because they are so busy. People are leaving the cities, they no longer feel safe. I am glad my adult children left San Francisco and Chicago (The Loop) before the riots and crime upsurge.

My sister-in-law said real estate taxes in California are high. She sighted politics as another factor for her move but didn't elaborate on that.

Not in my area of the country. Resort and lake stuff, sure, but not in a neighborhood, no matter how nice. Perhaps pools less of a negative now, but if you can't afford a nice house to begin with, a pool is pretty irrelevant. I'll bet above ground pools are selling good just like RVs and trailers are here.

Our DD lives in Excelsior and houses are on the market a mere minutes before they are sold -- often with no financing so property changes hands very quickly!

I had someone approach me to buy one of my homes; it is not even for sale.

We are listing our FL house now. We were going to wait until we were down in FL to sell it ourselves to avoid commission but with the market so hot, we're biting the bullet on going with a realtor and it should go up TODAY.

I've been told the market is crazy as well. And my housekeepers daughter here in PA listed her house for $174K and got an offer for $194K less than a week later!

We are hopeful about our FL house! The inventory of homes for sale is incredibly low and demand is very high due to record low mortgage rates.

Prices in NJ have skyrocketed also. There is simply no inventory, lots of people leaving NYC and Philadelphia. No plans to move from our regular home but our house at the shore we would consider upsizing. It has increased in value a mind-boggling 35-40% since we purchased 2 years ago but there is literally nothing on the market to buy.

Same here! Two neighbors’ homes sold last month within one day of listing above asking price, one has a pool. We get at least one letter per week from realtors asking if we would be interested in selling.

I saw something so interesting today. A for sale sign on a home, and, hanging from the bottom of the (wooden) sign, another sign that said "pool."

Btw this all kind of supports my idea of adding an outdoor pool. : ) I'm in the queue for April.

It really depends where in MN we are finding plenty to choose from in the way of lake property. Anyone considering a pool has more money than sense in this state and *19 isn't going to fix that!! Due to the BLM insanity here people and business are dumping the big City-Mpls and moving out so yes things are hopping but plenty are downsizing so options are abundant.

Same thing happening in my city. I did not even have one of my properties for sale and I was contacted by investors and people that lived on the street for family members. I sold it for 20% ore than I was going to list.

There is NOTHING for sale in the NORTH bay, San Francisco area. We have a vacation house in a sleepy area. Houses generally sit there for a long time- no longer. It has been discovered since Covid by the tech industry. Lots and houses are all gone within a day of listing for prices well beyond asking. The 'locals' are not too happy about this!

Edited to add: I did not realize this thread was so old when I added this comment.

Ditto southern Ca. Coastal Suburbs. Low inventory and crazy low interest rates.

I’m in a small city in Canada and the market is beyond hot with multiple offers and sellers accepting over asking. Inventory is nonexistent.

this was after a HUGE dip in March, but sales have rebounded and surpassed 2019 regardless across Canada.

I’m still predicting a crash and depression next year so I imagine there will be bargains to be had next summer but interest rates may rise as well.

DH is busier than ever with real estate closings. These are mostly new construction. White-collar people are working from home and want bigger houses. People are still moving here in droves.

The downside to this is there are a lot of people coming into their offices, though only the people who need to sign documents are allowed and they must wear masks.

gsciencechick we do virtual document signing with my realtor (precovid as well). Worth looking into! Of course different jurisdiction. My realtor uses dotloop.

A house on my street just sold for way over asking price, the same day it was listed. We live in a modest home, about 2000sq.ft., but it's now worth 13x what we paid for it, 37 years ago, just because of location.

It's all relative though, because upgrading to a larger home as our family grew, would have meant leaving this area, and friends, children's schools, great medical facilities and access to amazing food/sports/entertainment facilities behind, because salaries don't always increase as fast as real estate, obviously.

However our one move, will be 'downgrading' as it will be for our retirement condo, so no property. Our children are currently renting, as even with good careers, it's trying to save enough to cover a decent downpayment, that delays home ownership for young couples here in the Toronto area.

But once they are closer to the prospect of home ownership, we intend to use some proceeds from the sale of our home, to give them some help in increasing their down payment, so they won't have to upsize anytime soon. We'll be happy if our help enables our children to stay in the area we both love, and not move further away, requiring long commutes for work.

Yeah unfortunately our state is late to the party on that because many RE attorneys opposed it. SMH.

Even with digital signatures allowed on most items, there were certain documents that had to be signed and notarized in person at the title company when I bought and sold property in 2020. Here, they tend to use DocuSign.

Just adding to this older thread, here in NorCal, single family homes are selling extremely fast. However, in SF, condo/apartment rental prices are plunging (SFH are doing fine) with some record vacancies (including ours). It's driven by COVID (increased demand for space and record low inventory as people are not listing) and decisions to let workers work permanently from home. My main area was already one of the fastest growing housing and housing markets in the nation the last several years, and it is accelerating, with new homes starts, higher prices and more bidding wars.

Back in September my dad's house sold and closed within two weeks. I was amazed. We had not even finished cleaning out the house. My mom had many antique pieces and we kids had taken what we wanted. There were a few pieces we were going to sell, but the buyer asked to have some pieces included in the contract and offering to finish cleaning out the rest of the house. We jumped on that. At the closing it was only to be me (POA) and the buyer, but the buyer was sick that morning and they did all his paperwork using digital signatures. I was so thankful he was not in the room (sick), but we never met the buyer, only his real estate agent. Property is going fast here, but if you are wanting to buy, many house prices are HIGH.

That's another thing. The Register of Deeds requires a wet signature.

I'm in the process of buying a house, and the contract and other initial paperwork was done via DocuSign. It was almost too easy. We had some early addendums to the contract, and it was electronic and easily facilitated. I believe closing will be in person, though.

I've been watching our market here for a couple years, and more intensively the past 6 months. I'm fanatical about research (property tax records, history and builder records, comps, etc.). I scoured the listings multiple times a day and could tell when houses came on market, when they went contingent, tracked the period if they came back on the market (that's telling), etc. When my house came on the market, the sellers took an unconventional route and underpriced it. There was a bidding war, but I knew almost immediately the house was a good buy, perfect for what I wanted and well within my budget. My realtor and I chose a strategy, were aggressive--but sincere and honest and respectful (I wrote a letter to the sellers)--and I got a great deal, even in regular times. Still, we scheduled the inspection right away because after that, the contract stands, and the sellers cannot entertain other offers.

Amicus, that's a wonderful plan for your kids' future home buying. I'm hoping to do the same for mine, as well. For many, starter homes are never just "starter" homes once life gets rolling along.

We also did DocuSign when our last house sold. They are also doing virtual closings now. No need to go into the office.

@amicus can your kids not get your house? Seems like with the situation you describe it would be better than any deal you might work out. They would pay you and you would use that to buy your new place. A much better investment I would think

Trailrunner, that would be ideal, but unfortunately it wouldn't work for us, because none of our 3 children want to live in our home/neighbourhood, although they loved growing up in it. It is no longer a very affordable area for most young couples, like it was when we bought our home.

The 'Mom and Pop' restaurants of my kids' childhood, were replaced by chic upscale versions, by the time they were teenagers. Even our moderately priced mall became high end boutiques and shops, as the area became more developed. So our kids intend to purchase a home in a young family geared neighbourhood, with community amenities more in line with their budgets.