It remains a buyers’ market in the over-$200,000 price range in much of metro Detroit, including Wayne County’s Brownstown Township, where Jim and Mary Clawson found their dream retirement home.
The couple took advantage of a $20,000 incentive offered by PulteGroup when they closed on their 1,800-square-foot home in April at Bridgewater by Del Webb Community for active adults 55 and up. The Clawsons paid $234,000 for the new home with two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a den.
As inventories of homes for sale have fallen in the past year, the market has returned to normal in many price ranges. But the deals are still out there, with more than a six-month supply of homes for sale in the $200,000-plus range in Wayne, Macomb, Livingston and Washtenaw counties in the first quarter. In Wayne County, there was a 14.5-month supply of homes for sale over $400,000 as of March 31, according to data from Southfield-based Real Estate One.
And in Oakland County, where the supply of houses under $600,000 is in a normal range of four months, it goes up to a 16.5-month supply in the $600,000-plus range. Still, that is down from a 29.2-month supply last year.
The Clawsons were able to sell their 1,800-square-foot ranch home on Grosse Ile in five weeks for $275,000 after listing it at $339,000. They spent the winter in Arizona, but decided after retiring that they wanted an active lifestyle all year-round and felt the loss on their former home was worth what they were gaining in a no-maintenance home. Bridgewater has a pool, tennis courts, clubhouse and several clubs and activities.
“We were extremely happy there until we realized there was another way to live,” Jim Clawson, a retired high school English teacher and football coach, said of their 18 years on Grosse Ile. Mary is a retired nurse.
Lee Vincent, associate broker with Re/Max Classic in Novi, said that while it is still a buyers’ market in the upper price ranges, inventory is still low.
“The higher-end homes have been hit the hardest, without a doubt,” Vincent said. “When times are tough, people say they need a roof over their heads. They don’t say they need it on a beautiful lake on 20 acres.”
He listed the house that Sabrina and Jacob Livermore found in Novi. They paid $550,000 for the house that originally listed for $650,000. The most recent list price was $600,000.
The couple, both 33, were looking in the $400,000 to $700,000 price range. Sabrina, a high school teacher and now a stay-at-home mother of two children, said things were getting cramped at their Plymouth condo. The couple looked at 25 houses and tons more online before seeing the 3,517-square-foot Novi home that had everything they wanted. Jacob Livermore is a radiologist and works in Ann Arbor.
She said that many of the houses were dated and needed work.
“We walked into 25 houses and not one could I feel like saying ‘This is my home,’ ” Sabrina Livermore said. “When we walked into this house, I could picture myself here. We loved so many things … There wasn’t any wasted space here for us. We loved the kitchen and it had a walk-in pantry, and for me that was a dream.”
The home features a two-story great room, a kitchen with skylights, the pantry with a built-in wine refrigerator, a luxurious first-floor master suite, an upstairs princess suite, a walkout lower level and hardwood floors. It has four bedrooms, four full bathrooms and a half bath. The subdivision also features a clubhouse, pool, tennis courts and walking trails.
“We couldn’t build this house for what we paid for it with all the upgrades,” Sabrina Livermore said.
Brooke MacNee, broker/owner of MBA Realty on Grosse Ile, said that things are picking up on Grosse Ile. She said inventories of waterfront properties are down and that is moving prices up.
“I am jammed. We are starting to see prices moving back up,” she said. “It’s never going to be like it was a few years ago. But I think people are tired of waiting.”
Contact Greta Guest: 313-223-4192 or gguest@freepress.com. Free Press Staff Writer Brendel Hightower contributed to this report.