This month’s market analysis runs through my take on the amazing myth that is a seasonality to Cape Cod, lower and outer Cape Cod, home sales. Save for the Thanksgiving to New Year’s gap, although savvy buyers never take their eye off the ball, there is no dip.
Inside this month of November, I have put two listings under agreement and while aggressively priced at the top of the market, have shown a third 12 times in 34 days staggered around active rentals.
Buyers, with an eye on investment or personal use, are consistently watching the market and quick to react when that diamond in the rough, priced within the hemisphere of reality, presents itself. For the investment or hybrid buyer, a purchase after the mythical Columbus Day end of season affords the ability to not only button up perceived wants and needs but also get into the rental pool ahead of the back end of the booking season which is winding down in April rather than starting up. For traditional second home seekers, the ability to grind through those same wants and needs salvages the impending season by getting ahead of the curve. To be sure, this sentiment is actually directed at sellers as buyers should be aware that there is a veiled diminished inventory. Supply, or lack thereof and demand should be front of mind for the buyer and that buyer’s agent or broker should be keenly aware of what has been temporarily pulled from the market as an off market opportunity may be there for the taking.
I have never met a buyer who gushed relief over the fact that a home listed in October made it through to May when it was finally warm enough for them to submit an offer.
For sellers… If you are one of the comparative few who can see that forest for the trees, why not take advantage of the diminished competition created by those apprehensive about an off season instead of waiting until April when the handwringing stops and the injection of inventory hits the market. This is the singular reason, aside from my coordinating and cover the cost, I encourage speculative sellers to lock down the exterior and drone photography while the grass is green and skies are blue whether they proceed with listing in the gray season or wait to join the masses in the spring.
DOM – Days on the Market – Perhaps the biggest concern, beyond cleaning out the house before closing which I also coordinate and cover costs for, among sellers is the dreaded days on the market. As I council each seller whether the list price is set to gin up competition or beyond pie-in-the-sky where there is no clear and inherent need to sell, we’ll know what the market thinks of our number inside of a week.
Depending on the circumstance and depth of conviction regarding seasonality, those concerned with racking up days on the market presumably conveying to the buying crowd that there may be an issue with the property beyond pricing, cancelling the listing for 90 days will reset this coveted metric before taking another run at the market.
