KENTWOOD, Mich. – Analysts at Corelogic said housing prices are the highest this country has seen in seven years, which is good news for those looking to sell.
For a homeowner, putting the a “for sale” sign in the front yard can come with a lot of uncertainty, which is exactly what happened to Luke Ludlow. After getting a promotion at work, his next move was to put his home in Kentwood on the market.
“We put it up on Monday and we’ve had four showings already and then we have another two tomorrow,” Ludlow said.
While the interest from potential home buyers is exciting, it also poses a new problem of finding a new home for his family.
“In the back of your mind it’s like, ‘Wait, If I sell this in two days I got to have a plan to go down to Kentucky.’ So we are actually going to live with my parents for a little bit which, that will be fun,” he said.
These are the kind of problems real estate agents, like Larry Martin Jr., have been waiting for. Martin said it’s been years since he’s seen this type of activity.
“My best year however was 2006 where I sold 115 homes,” he said. “Then the next year that was cut almost in half.”
During the lean years Martin said a lot of agents left the business looking for other work. Now he’s seeing more competition again.
“Things have really picked up,” he said. “There are a lot of new agents that are coming in right now so that is going to be challenging I’m sure.”
Sellers like Ludlow are just hoping a good market will mean good things for his future.
“We don’t know, so it’s a really difficult situation to be in and you have to be fluid and say what happens, happens,” he said.
Most of the people that have experience in the industry said they know the market can flip on a dime, and the best thing for a new agent to do is save money for a rainy day because the rain can start falling any time.
