The “For Sale” signs are back in force. Is that good news?
You can learn a lot about your town on a bike ride. When your bike’s tire goes flat halfway through the ride, and you’re forced to walk back home for 45 minutes while dragging a now-useless bike behind you, you can learn even more.
Here’s what I learned last night, when this happened to me: Homeowners here seem to be more confident this summer than they were late last year or ealier this one.
There were a lot of new “For Sale” signs in front of homes. I didn’t count — I was too busy cursing my bike’s flat rear tire for that — but it seemed like most every block had someone who was trying to sell their residence.
This is important. Throughout much of last year, many of my neighbors in my Chicago suburb held off on putting their homes on the market. They didn’t think they’d get a fair price. Many of them didn’t even think they’d get any price at all.
People aren’t buying, they told me. And if they are, they’re trying to rip off sellers.
I couldn’t argue. They were absolutely right.
But lately, we’ve gotten some good — not great — news regarding the housing industry. Read this post, or this one or this one to see what I mean. Maybe that’s all homeowners needed, that little bit of encouragement, to put their own residences on the market.
Or maybe they just grew tired of waiting for the market to get better.
Sellers today are still going to face serious challenges. This is in no way a seller’s market. But I’m happy to see so many sellers in my town willing to test the market.
It almost made trudging the mayflies along the riverside a pleasant experience. Almost.
