Secret Santa has brought your gift early this year. A holiday recipe for finding the best deal on your home purchase this year: sauté •strong demand with •less competition from other listings marinate in •low interest rates and add a dash of •Holiday Season. The result? The perfect blend for an Artisan deal.
The Holiday Season is upon us, and everyone’s mind is occupied with shopping, parties, sending out cards and wrapping gifts. But, all holiday shopping isn’t done on line, or at the mall, or at that swanky boutique…
In fact, there is a significant amount of home-buying that happens during the “holiday shopping season”. Last year there were almost 1,000 Rhode Island houses that went Pending between November 15, 2016 and January 15, 2017! This “shopping List” was valued at OVER $317 million …THAT is a lot of shopping!
Why is it good to go House Shopping during the Holiday Season??? Well to start, there is less competition from other buyers, so it is less likely that that there will be a “Bidding War” for your dream house – as has happened throughout the year with some houses in high demand areas. The same holds true for putting your house on the market during the Holiday Season. There are fewer active listings as the temperature drops; but according to the National Association of REALTORS, demand for houses remains strong through the Holiday Season. Additionally, interest rates are still below 4% for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage. This is half of the historical average of 8% for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage.
Strong demand, less competition from other listings, and low interest rates. That is a holiday recipe for getting an excellent value on a home purchase.
While the average buyer has pushed the average price for a single-family home in Rhode Island almost to the $270,000 marker, there are houses that sell for a multiple of that as well. In fact, Little Rhody, The Biggest Little State In The Union, has had its fair share of “celebrity” buyers too. The most recent was the announced purchase of The Seafair by Jay Leno and his wife Mavis for $13.5 million. This year it is the highest so far, and the highest since The Fairholme Estate in Newport sold for $16.1 million in 2016. And get this, for $13.5 million, he didn’t even get the whole house! (He bought 4 condo units.) So technically, since it was bought in parcels totaling $13,500,000, this year’s record stands at $11,650,000 for a single-family sale in Newport.
For the entire state of Rhode Island, Single Family sales greater than $1 million increased to 232 houses from 183 houses last year. As for Condo sales over $1 million this year there were 16 in 2017, up from 10 last year.
There were five single-family sales greater than $5 million through November 30 of this year; which is the same as 2016.
If you have any questions about the real estate market in your area, the value of your house or any real estate questions whatsoever, call a REALTOR. If you are going to engage in the largest financial transaction of your life you deserve the guidance of an experienced, ethical, real estate professional.
As of the publication of this Premier Issue of Real Estate Today, there are 80 properties priced over $1 million listed on RILiving.com – a really good place to do your Holiday Shopping.
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