January 3, 2014

Inventory of Iowa QC homes for sale is lowest since 2001

danBy Dan Dolan
Dan Dolan Homes

It means faster re-sale and better prices. Is this the time for you to cash in?

When I meet potential new home buyers who tell me they are ready to purchase their senior housing, their number one question typically is, “Mr. Dolan, is this a good time to sell my existing home?” What they really want to know is whether—and how fast—and for how much—their existing home will sell if they put it up for sale. During the last 14 years, sometimes my answer was “no.” Sometimes my answer was “yes.” Today, the answer to that question, in my opinion, is a giant “YES.” Of course, that assumes the home is fairly priced, is in reasonably good condition and that the green shag carpeting in the bedrooms is long gone.

As for why this is a good time to sell your existing home, it’s always good to have credible evidence to support that view. Through September, Iowa QC listings total 797 homes–the lowest number that we’ve had since 2001. We’ve discussed in these columns several times why our inventory is so depleted. As a builder, I’ve been working as hard as I can to remedy that situation. As an example, in Stone Gate East alone, we currently have five homes in various stages of completion. That’s the most that we’ve had available in my recent memory, so potential buyers have a nice range of homes to select from.

By way of “evidence,” our five most recent home buyers at Stone Gate East (at time of writing) sold their existing homes in record time, as well. The top prize is held by one buyer whose existing home sold before the yard sign went up. Another home sold within a week of our listing it. Two more sold within two weeks, and the fifth took three weeks to sell. Can we promise those same results to everyone? Obviously not. But the point that I’m making here is that the limited availability of existing homes to buy means that good competitively priced homes are selling very readily.

Another favorable contributing factor is low mortgage interest rates. Most of our buyers of new senior homes are selling larger homes they’ve owned for maybe 25 years or more and where they raised their families. The typical prospects for these homes are also family buyers to whom low interest rates are a big advantage. Lower interest rates translate to lower monthly payments and more qualified buyers. Again, that favors quicker sales transactions.

As with all existing homes, the longer one lives there, the older the furnace, the windows, the roof, the exterior siding and paint become, along with all related systems and features. Accordingly, TODAY is very often the best time to sell the existing home because “older” generally brings a lower selling price. To help you better understand the current market value of your existing home, I invite you to visit any one of our Dan Dolan Homes locations in Davenport, Bettendorf, Blue Grass, Muscatine or Clinton and arrange for one of our Realtor hosts to view your home and provide you with a free Market Analysis of its estimated current value. There is no cost or obligation for this service, and armed with this information, you will be able to make a better informed judgment of whether to take further action now. Many of our model homes are open daily from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and all are open weekends. For further information please call our office at (563) 381-4088 or visit us on the web at www.DanDolanHomes.com.

Filed Under: Finance

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