“Advantage remains with the sellers in this shifting market, but buyers have more leverage today than they did three months ago,” reports Linda O’Koniewski, CEO, Leading Edge.
“Sellers need to reorient their expectations. In our most recent survey, 43% of homes did not sell on the offer deadline day. Many of those homes sold quickly afterward to buyers who didn’t want to pay an extraordinary amount over asking and wanted their home inspection and financial protections in their contract.
“And while almost everything was selling in a red hot market, sellers whose homes don’t have updated kitchens and those properties that don’t have interiors with today’s neutral color palette are definitely seeing longer selling times and price reductions. Don’t shoot the messenger! Older, brown kitchens and gold/yellow, green, and red paint interior colors don’t have the sex appeal they once did. Yes, those were the hip colors at the turn of the century a generation ago!"
The following are location-specific overviews of market changes year-over-year, for a sampling of neighborhoods in the Greater Boston Area. Don't see your town listed? Contact me for a custom report!