Buyers wage bidding wars as real estate bottoms out - Birmingham Business Journal:

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It’s a market where sellers receivde multiple competing offers to buy their homes for more than theifr asking price and buyers areenterinyg counteroffers. On the surface, the return of biddinf wars doesn’t add up given the residentiapl real estate market is in one of the worsrt slumpsin decades. But with home prices back to 2002 savvy buyers are snapping up unprecedentexbargains — and to a growinb extent, competing with each other to get them before the market hits bottom and pricew start rising broadly.
Ye, a real estater broker with in Cambridge who represents buyersand sellers, has witnessexd bidding wars on both sides of Buyers are competing for aggressivelt priced properties in exclusive Bostonm neighborhoods and bedroom communities in the inner suburbs where steep discounts have rarely been found. The salex range from traditional single-family homes, to short sales, to properties in foreclosurr that are being unloadedby banks.
Regardlesx of the property type, buyers are afte r deep discounts and finding pockets of the real estats market to be hotterthan “It’s almost like a market within a market,” Ye “If you are well-priced and your conditiobn is great, these (homes) are moving.” Ye tickedd off a half-dozen properties where she’s been involved in bidding wars on behalfc of clients. In some cases, the biddersx are proposing prices that are thousandsa of dollars above the asking Recently Ye solda three-bedroom, one-bath home at 186 Bainbridges St. in Malden where the winning bidderspaid $14,000 above the asking price.
Ye said she received sevehn offers onthe 1,344-square-foot Colonial, whic h was listed for $265,000. The buyers paid $279,300 after their original offerof $285,000 was reduced followinfg the home inspection. Across the state buyers and theirt agents are finding themselves in a contest for homees that are selling for much less than theassessexd value. Scott McNeill listed an 809-square-foof condo in Boston’s inventory-constrained North End and receivedxthree offers. The property — which features granited kitchen countertops, travertine bathroom tile and rooftoprights — is under agreement for above the $489,000 askinvg price.
McNeill, a sales manager at in didn’t disclose the price because the deal will not clossuntil June. Bidding wars are taking some buyers by McNeill said another client of his was outbie ona one-bedroom, 789-square-foot condo in the Fenway. His client eventually won when the previous bidde walked away fromthe deal. The propertg was listed for $389,000 and is underd agreement for close to theasking price. “The reason she lost out is becaussshe didn’t believe the market is as hot as it McNeill said. “She just couldn’t believe there was actually someone biddinvagainst her.
” McNeill said he believes buyerse are willing to pay over the asking price for propertiesd because they are tired of waitintg for the bottom of the markert and want to seizs the chance to own condos in trendy neighborhoods like the South End and brownstonesw on picturesque Back Bay streets. Brian Rugg of Rugg Realth and formerly of ERA Boston has a clienyt who was outbid twice in thelast month. The first offer was made on a Wayland home that was on the markeyt forapproximately $389,000 and sold within “cents” of the askiny price. His client then bid $376,000 on a home in Readintg that was listedfor $410,000.
The offetr was rejected even after Rugg’s clients increased their bid to $395,000. Rugg believess the home sold for $399,000. Rugg said people are watching the market Inhighly sought-after areas from Boston to the innere suburbs, Rugg encourages clients to make offerse as quickly as possible. “We clearly saw this kind of behavior back in the heydayin 2003, 2004, Rugg said.