The Spring Forecast
Predicting in an uncertain time.
The Big House in a Small City is a test case for the spring market. I truly didn’t know what to expect. Times are — shall we say— chaotic. Anyone who says they know what’s going to happen is not anyone I’d listen to. But here’s what I am seeing:
The open house for this house drew a decent crowd. And many of them seemed seriously interested. There is already an offer on it and there may be more.
That indicates a pretty good market.
But I have a second canary in the coal mine. There’s this one:
The ranch house that this deck is attached to has been on the market for a few months. There have been offers but, as seems to be happening a lot these days, the buyers either get cold feet, or have trouble getting financing. Or they can’t sell their house.
Things are different in the past two weeks. Suddenly there are a lot of showings. There are offers. And there may be more. I’m still getting calls on it, mostly from out of town buyers.
To me, this indicates that buyers are interested in the Catskills, and they’re serious about buying. Most of them aren’t looking for a second home - they are relocating.
They are from downstate, they are from out of state. They’re leaving areas that are too crowded, too angry, or their decision to move is related to the weather. They want a quiet, small town that will welcome them, and they want some space.
We have all that.
I think it’s going to be a busy summer.