Crazy Real Estate Market Marks the Return of the Bidding War: A Case Study

Steve Brown interviewed a cross-section of Realtor buds, from Lydia Player to Robert Kucharski to my buddy Scott Carlson. And what are they saying? Just what we’ve been telling you: house inventory is at a 20 year low, the market is hot, bidding wars on homes that are listed, prices spiking. CoreLogic tells us that in January, cold frigid January, home prices here leapt up 12% over 2013. And here is Steve’s MLS breakdown on the hotness of close-in Dallas ‘hoods:

Home sales prices in the Oak Cliff area in January were up 53 percent from a year earlier, according to Realtor sales through their multiple listing service.

And in East Dallas, median sales prices rose 51 percent from January 2013.

Prices were up 49 percent in northwest Dallas and 65 percent in southeast Dallas.

I mean, Holy Macaroni! And agents tell him what we have been chronicling for years: big investments have been made in Dallas’ central core, and as a result, more people moving to North Texas want to live in close-in Dallas neighborhoods IF, and that is a big IF, they can afford it.

And IF they can find a home.

About that hotness factor. Let me tell you the story of 903 Monte Vista in Hollywood Heights. List price: $400,000. Love Steve, but this house tells our current “close-in” real estate story better than any. This is right from the agent, Britt Lopez, who all but owns Hollywood Heights:

This home had a full price offer 2 hours after we listed it and then five more offers came in.  We put all the details together basically as a study on that property and how fast it moved and why we think it did so quickly and so far above list.  Please feel free to use this information or let me know if you have any questions or want more info.  I thought it would be a good story from a different angle rather than just another one sold fast.

Britt says this is a hot area for first-time home buyers who want to be near downtown but not necessarily downtown. The homes are charmingly historic;. Full disclosure: my daughter lives in Hollywood Heights, I’m bullish. Most homes here sell for list or above list price, and they are usually snapped up in two weeks.

902 Monte Vista is adorbs, but it was cleaned, and de-cluttered. (Britt says about half the contents of every room was taken to storage. I think everyone in Hollywood Heights has storage units.) The sellers spent about $1300 cleaning up the yard, touching up paint, making sure the doorknobs were working, and new decor. Storage is $50 a month. Then Karen Eubanks of Eubank Staging came in and did her thing, and Shoot to Sell photography did their’s.

“In order to get the very best price for a home,” says Britt, “You must create a situation that will cause multiple buyers to want to purchase it.”

This is something, she says, that comes with experience and with continual tracking of the market. It is both a science and an art.

So… listed Jan. 20, 2014, active in MLS February 20, 2014, first contract came in and was executed February 23, back-up February 24. Home had 24 showings and 6 offers, only one below asking, three above list.

Selling price: don’t know yet, but we do know there were three offers above list so, I am guessing this house sells for around $415,000. If so, the price per square foot in Hollywood has notched upwards.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the story of the hot Dallas close-in real estate market.

I rest my case!