CARTERVILLE (WSIL)---In today's housing market, a house could be for sale one minute--and sold the next.
The turn around rate is true for most of the country, including southern Illinois.
"In 2008, we didn't have buyers, and we had a lot of houses. Now we have just absolutely the opposite. We have all kinds of buyers and not enough inventory," said the owner of House to Home Realty, Celia Robertson.Â
The boom to buy started at as the pandemic began, as did supply and demand problems.
"What we're seeing over the last two years, because of COVID, building materials have skyrocketed. They've been very volatile, spiking at some points. New houses, new construction being more expensive, that is going to limit how many new houses are built, which means also, the price of existing houses goes up," said the Director of the School of Analytics, Finance, and Economics at SIU, Kevin Sylwester.Â
So when houses go up for sale, Robertson said if you see something you like, act fast.
"It's very important that you be aggressive with your offer. You can't come in $30,000 less like you could've two years ago. You're pretty much gonna have to give list and if there's other people offering, you may have to forego some of your contingencies. Maybe the home inspection, the closing costs, your prepaids, things like that. So it's pretty much a dog eat dog world out there right now when you've got multiple offers," said Robertson.
Some tips to stay ahead, have a preapproval letter ready before you start looking.
That way, if you see what you like, you can make an offer, because the market doesn't look to be slowing down any time soon.
"Interest rates are starting to go up a little bit. We have not seen a decline in January or February, we're still selling them as quick as they come on the market. So I really wish I had that crystal ball, it'd be nice," said Robertson.Â
