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Buyers face fierce summer competition

Posted by Scott Van Voorhis June 11, 2013 07:03 AM

Boston is now one of the most competitive home sales markets in the country, moving up to No. 5, Redfin reports this morning.

That's up from No. 7 in April and suggests this summer will be long, hot and busy for both buyers and sellers.

Greater Boston is more competitive now than Seattle and Washington, D.C., behind only San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and Orange County.

So what does "competitive" mean?

The vast majority of offers made by Greater Boston buyers, 68 percent, faced at least one competing bid in April, according to Redfin.

While that's a slight decline from April, when it was 69 percent, this is in large measure due to a significant jump in homes on the market, with sellers now starting to move off the fence.

More than 56 percent of winning offers in the Boston area were over asking price, Redfin says.

Yet amid all this heated competition, some buyers appear to be losing their heads.

Roughly 15 percent of Greater Boston buyers waived the inspection contingency, risky business in a market with some of the oldest - and often poorly maintained - homes in the country.

You had better be a contractor or have some money in the bank for repairs if you are ready to waive the inspection, especially on an older home.

Buyers, what are you seeing out there? How's the competition out there? And are you finally seeing more homes to pick from?

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