Your Latest August 2017 Market Recap

Home sales and home values are both up in our market. Does that mean good or bad news?

Buying a Louisville home? Get a full Home Search 

Selling your Louisville home? Get a free Home Value Report

How did our market do last August compared to August 2016?

I know I sound like a broken record, but our market keeps going strong and everything looks great—including interest rates. Let’s take a look at how the numbers stack up between then and now:

“

Our market keeps going strong and everything looks great—including interest rates.

”

• The number of homes sold rose from 1,697 to 1,856.
• The average sale price rose from $207,000 to $211,000.
• The average days on market dropped from 61 to 51 days. 
• The absorption rate declined from 3.59 months to 2.91 months.
• The number of active listings dropped from 5,136 to 4,415.

Finally, according to Statewide mortgage, interest rates are hovering slightly below 4%, with an APR of about 4.058%. 

Now, for my quote of the day:

“Always travel the extra mile. It’s never crowded.” —Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

If you have any questions or are thinking of buying or selling a home in our Louisville market, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d be happy to help you.

How Can Escalation Clauses Help You Beat out the Competition?

Because of the hot competition we’re seeing lately in the market, escalation clauses have become much more common.

Buying a Louisville home? Get a full Home Search 

Selling your Louisville home? Get a free Home Value Report

Recently, we’ve been seeing a lot of escalation clauses in our market. But, what is in an escalation clause?

An escalation clause is a buyer’s best and final offer. People have been making these kinds of offers for years, but recently they have become a lot more important. This is largely thanks to our being in seller’s market where competition is hot. 

Buyers right now don’t want to lose out on the right home, but they also don’t want to have to make excessively high offers. 

“

Setting a limit will help ensure that a buyer doesn’t pay a ridiculous amount.

”

An escalation clause allows buyers to stipulate that they will pay up to a certain amount limit in order to beat out other offers. As an example, an escalation clause might state that a buyer will pay up to $1,000 over any other offer that is made. 

This cap means that buyers don’t need to be as worried about overpaying. Setting a limit will help ensure that a buyer doesn’t pay a ridiculous amount. 

Buyers must also be careful, though, to compare offers by the net sale price. In your escalation clause, ask to see the best and highest offer. 

If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.