Is it worth the walk?

Many years ago, my husband and I were in Athens, Greece, and on our way down from touring the sights at the top of Acropolis Hill, someone stopped us and asked, “Was it worth the walk?” After my initial shock that this question would be asked – considering where we were – I thought, “Isn’t everything worth the walk?”

The thing that is definitely worth the walk now is every single house that comes on the market in your price range, even if it’s not exactly your dream house.

We’re in what appears to be a changing real estate market. This spring seems likely to be less competitive than last spring when homes flew off the market as buyers rushed to take advantage of ultralow interest rates in an appreciating housing market. Some buyers will have to drop out of the market if they were borderline for financing, but there will still be plenty of qualified buyers and plenty with cash. No one expects prices to go down anytime soon, but an increase in inventory is looking promising.

The increase in mortgage rates is slowing home sales. Existing home sales fell 4.5% nationally in March compared to March of last year, according to the National Associations of Realtors. Manatee County’s home sales for March decreased by a lot more than that, falling by 20.2% compared to March of last year. In the opinion of the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, the frenzy is winding down and the volume of home sales is starting to revert to pre-pandemic levels. That I’ll believe when I see it, especially on Anna Maria Island. There are still multiple buyers for every property that comes on the market, even if there will be more properties available.

As reported last week, Manatee County continues to ride the enormous wave of an appreciating market. Selling prices continue to break records in both Manatee and Sarasota and indeed the entire North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton region, which is reporting a 29.9% increase in single-family homes from last March. Sarasota County also showed a large increase of 28.4% in the sale price for single-family homes, however, Manatee County led the pack with a 32.9% increase in single-family sales prices.

So where does all this great information and opinion leave potential buyers? It leaves them with the hope of more properties to see that may fit what they’re looking for. They shouldn’t expect the prices, certainly in our area, to change much, if at all, but they may get more of what they were looking for in a home.

This goes directly back to my “Is it worth the walk?” scenario and the answer is “Yes.” Every house that comes on the market in your price range and in your desired area should be seriously considered. Forget about the colors on the walls or the lack of interesting landscaping or the clutter on the bathroom counters. It’s time to go back to basic house-hunting principles: If a home has good bones, it should go on your list; if you can qualify for a mortgage for this home, it should go on your list; and if the home is workable, keeping the future in mind for your family or for your investment, it should go on your list.

It’s possible that eventually, prices will level off as the pipeline of buyers waiting for new properties is gradually exhausted, but we have no idea when or if that will happen. Now is the time to take the walk up the hill. You’ll be glad you did.