For years I have viewed the Greater Johnstown housing market as inexplicably strong and, at last, I have found a real estate professional who agrees with me.
Our interaction was prompted by a listing for a house in Upper Yoder Township, said listing having appeared on Realtor.com early Thursday, and subsequently having prompted a rush of viewings and even offers within a 12-hour span, and that now has a deadline set for 8 p.m. today to make “highest and best” offers on the property.
The professional, whom we shall call Miguel in an homage to the Spanish-speaking crew that’s spent the past two days re-roofing a home up the block, was extremely candid.
Miguel (again, not his real name) told me that there had been great interest in the home already. This I anticipated. I was attracted by garage space for three cars (I have six vehicles total), the very large lot meaning neighbors were not stacked on top of you, and the possibility for one-floor living because the wife and I no longer are kids eager to race up and down stairs 20-30 times a day.
All this at a listing price of $149,900, in a school district that is yet to punt on teaching the kids, meant there would be interest.
But, as I noted to Miguel, I cannot fully appreciate the demand in view of the facts, those facts being that our area is declining in population, is aged and that almost guarantees future decline, not to mention more houses coming on the market as those elderly owners either die or downsize to apartments or personal care homes and their relatives are not interested in taking over the family homes because they have relocated elsewhere, in search of niceties such as jobs and opportunity.
What I would consider the most crushing reality is that the median income hereabouts is low, often ranking worst in the state. While one can overspend on coffee and other such minor luxuries, it’s hard to pay too much for a house unless one has the cash. Banks want some margin of error in property value before loaning you money.
So, after I had given Miguel my spiel, his succinct response was: “I agree with you.” He, too, has been thinking this for years.
Yet, here we were, on a partly cloudy day in late August, anticipating that a listed property was going to incite a bidding war, something I made clear to him I was not interested in joining considering my jaded view of the market strength long-term.
Again, he agreed. It was arranged to take a look at the property at 5:30 p.m. Friday. This all took place at around 4-ish Thursday. Although he could see no evidence of any offers having been made, he said he would keep me up to date.
The first offer was quick in coming, at the asking price but with an escalator provision to increase that as much as $25,000 above asking. Later that night, he texted of two more offers.
I still was interested in viewing the place, just to see if it was something I could not live without. But, I joked in one text response that, in view of the rapidly increasing price, we’d bring along pans to check for gold in the basement which, as noted in the seller disclosure, was reported to be damp after heavy rains.
Soon, the proviso was shared that the deadline for offers had been set for 8 p.m. Friday.
Around noon Friday, I got a call from Miguel, that I missed. Upon calling him back, I was informed of even more frantic offers flying, including one for cash and requiring no inspections.
His thinking, with which I agreed, was my interest had evaporated. By 8 p.m., someone might be offering $400,000 and their first-born child to the owners in order to close the deal.
I told Miguel I had some more questions, in view of the fact I planned to do a blog post on this whole phenomenon. He had no problem providing answers.
As of the time of our conversation, he was aware of 14 viewings and three offers made. He said he estimated such interest crops up on about 2 of every 10 properties listed in this area.
I asked if the listing price had been set low to encourage this sort of frenzy. Not exactly, was his response. A figure $15,000 higher had been discussed but, in view of some quirks of the house, such as a “non-traditional” layout, smallish kitchen and bedrooms, plus the owners’ urge to sell quickly, the lower listing price was used.
Now, both figures have been surpassed in a flash.
Conclusion: Our area housing market is in the midst of a frenzy, which is great if you’re selling and not-so-great if you are buying. Just remember, this, too, shall pass.
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