Home sweet (price-reduced) home?
Looking for a house and down about the still pretty steep prices out there?
Well you can blame it on all those stubborn Greater Boston homeowners like me, who, after paying an arm and a leg, expect everyone else to jump at the chance to do the same.
But here's some good news anyone out there looking at homes - as we head deeper into the spring market, we could very well see a big spike in price reductions as sellers hit the panic button.
That's the latest prediction from Trulia, the online real estate firm, which is predicting its report on April 1 will show a "spike" in the number of price-reduced homes on the market.
"You are going to start to see some sellers hit the panic buttom because the window to sell their home will start to close," Ken Shuman, Trulia's communications chief, told me.
It's an argument that I was somewhat dismissive of recently. But as evidence grows of the real estate market's addiction to the soon-to-expire tax credit, I am reconsidering.
Last fall saw the number of homes on the market nationally with at least one price reduction soar to 26 percent as the end of the federal home buyer tax credit loomed.
Of course, as we all know, Congress blinked and extended the tax credit through April.
Buyers took a breather and sellers eased off the price chopping for a couple months.
The number of price reduced homes tumbled across the country, falling below 20 percent by the beginning of March.
But with the spring market underway, Trulia sees the likely final expiration of the tax credit - $6,500 for trader uppers and $8,000 for first timers - sparking another round of panicky price reductions.
In fact, there are already signs that price chopping may be on the increase in some key suburbs around Boston as the spring sales season kicks into high gear.
Natick has seen the number of priced reduced homes jump to 24 percent in March, from 22 percent in February. In Franklin the number has edged up a percent to 30 percent and in Wellesley there has been a 3 percent bump to 21 percent, according to Trulia. Concord has also seen a small increase, to 28 percent, while in Sudbury 36 percent of all homes on the market have been cut in price at least once.
Some of this may be owners of deluxe homes simply finally seeing the light after months of little interest - Lincoln for example has seen one of the most dramatic leaps, doubling to 14 percent.
Still, the Boston area has a much higher level of price reductions than both the national average, which stands at 19 percent, and many other major metro markets as well.
Of course, there's another tantalizing possibility for buyers as well - why not simply wait out the tax credit rush and hope for an even better deal this summer?
You might be able to push for a cut in price that could more than make up for a few thousand in tax credit dollars.
If Congress truly lets the tax credit expire, it could help give all our stubborn Greater Boston homeowners another good dose of market reality.
