Moving up in this market

We noted in our last post sales of Dane County homes priced under $200,000 were up 25% last month from June of 2008. On the flip side, sales of higher priced homes were down significantly from last year. We're assisting several clients right now who are taking advantage of these two trends to move up from their starter home to a home that offers more space.

One of our clients, a couple with a starter home on the north side, recently put their house on the market. While we marketed their home we assisted them by taking them to several dozen properties that fit their criteria for location, size, style and price.

This couple received and accepted an offer for their own home within the first several weeks of their listing. Once they had that accepted offer in hand, they made their own offer on the move-up home that best fit their needs. The home they made their offer on was priced above $400,000

At this point this couple was in the driver's seat. They had a solid offer on their own home, and they knew the demand for homes priced over $400,000 was weak. They submitted their offer for $50,000 less than the list price, and the sellers accepted the offer as written.

Every situation is different, but the above example shows how move-up buyers can play the market to get a great deal on a larger home. These buyers had an accepted offer on their own home, as well as a loan pre-approval. The accepted offer and the loan pre-approval gave the sellers the security they needed from their buyers - and so the sellers became very flexible with price. We'll be sharing more examples of recent transactions later in the year.

Have a good one,

Dan Miller, Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com