Last in a three-part series
First-time homebuyer Mary Dodge got a deal on a two-bedroom bungalow in Berkley for $73,000 and is making the 1926 home her own.
The 987-square-foot, two-bedroom, 1 1/2-bathroom house was a short sale listed at $74,900. Dodge, a sales representative for Ricoh, closed in April and set about rehabbing the kitchen with new floors, ceiling, walls and cabinets.
“I was looking for a good starter home with good bones,” said Dodge, 27.
Her Realtor, Tim Gilson with Re/Max Vision in Huntington Woods, said the previous owner paid more than $100,000 for the house.
“For every hard-luck story where someone is having a tough time and doing a short sale, there’s a really bright side and that is some buyer like Mary getting a super deal,” he said.
There are still attractive deals in the under-$200,000 price range. Despite a lack of homebuyer tax credits this year, many renters are doing the rent-versus-own math and deciding that buying a house is their best bet despite the potential for home prices to keep falling.
“I realized for what I was paying in rent, I could afford to buy a house,” Dodge said. She was paying more than $600 a month for a two-bedroom apartment in Rochester. Now she has a lot more room and a fenced yard for her dog, Lucy.
Buyers still rule in many parts of metro Detroit, but the deals — and the selection — aren’t what they used to be.
The buyers’ market is most robust above $200,000 in Wayne, Macomb, Livingston and Washtenaw counties and over $400,000 in Oakland County, according to Real Estate One. Yet, there is something of a sellers’ market in Macomb and Livingston counties under $100,000 with a 2.9-month supply of homes for sale in each, based on the current sales pace.
The market enters more normal territory in the $75,000 to $199,999 range in Wayne County, where there is up to a 5.6-month supply of houses for sale.
Those numbers don’t take into account the growing number of homes in poor condition that buyers snub and the overpriced homes that sit on the market, said Dan Elsea, president of brokerage services for Real Estate One.
“While it looks like a buyers’ market in the over-$200,000 price range, it is still acting like a sellers’ market in all price ranges,” Elsea said. “While it looks like you may have four to five months of salable homes, you may have only three months of inventory.”
The drop in inventory and multiple bids on some properties are signs that a market recovery is taking hold, said Mario Como, broker/owner of Realty Executives Select in St. Clair Shores.
Metro Detroit home prices fell by 0.9% through March in the past year, but that’s an improvement from the double-digit declines for the market last year.
“The pendulum is definitely swinging to a balanced marketplace,” Como said. “We have the potential to see a sellers’ market in 15 months for sure and maybe in six to nine months.”
Buyers are often not seeing the phenomenal deals that their friends and family members grabbed last year.
For sellers with houses in good condition, the sparse inventory is good news. It often means a sale within days instead of months if the home is priced right. Marlin Stewart, 28, just bought a house in Grosse Pointe Farms for $107,900, or about $3,000 more than the list price. He paid more because of competing offers. Stewart, who works in technical support for Detroit Diesel, moved into the 1,298-square-foot home last week. It has three bedrooms, a full bathroom and a half bath plus a large backyard for his dog. “I didn’t think of it as a long-term investment. I just wanted a house for me,” he said.
The house was a foreclosure and the previous owner took out all the appliances and the backyard brick pavers. He had a lot of work to do, but he loves the street with its mature trees, brick houses and charming landscaping.
Annette Schick Zatkoff, a Realtor with Keller Williams Realty Lakeside in Shelby Township, said that she is still seeing evidence of a buyers’ market.
Her team sold a home in Richmond Township that was last listed for $149,900 for $150,000 to a young couple who also received $4,500 in seller concessions to help with closing costs.
The house has 2,300 square feet and four bedrooms, two bathrooms and 3/4 of an acre of land. It’s a first home for Craig Beck, 24, and Ashley Wolff, 26, who are getting married in September. He owns a remodeling company and she works in human resources at Target.
Wolff sold her 1,400-square-foot condo, and the couple moved in with their parents while they looked for a house.
The house was listed at a higher price and sold in 2005 for $236,500. “Once the price was reduced, according to their agent, they got multiple offers,” Beck said. “We just happened to be lucky to get it.”
And then there are homes that wait for the right buyer. Take the Harrison Township home purchased by Tyler and Nikohl Van Acker, both 27, in February. The 2,000-square-foot house had been on and off the market for the past three years and first listed at $220,000.
They paid $122,000 for the four-bedroom, 2 1/2-bathroom home. They have two children and one on the way and needed more space than their rental.
The previous owners renovated and put in a massive kitchen with features such as a deep fryer, an indoor charcoal grill, Gaggenau appliances and a convection oven. “The kitchen is amazing,” Nikohl said. “God really answered our prayers with this house.”
Contact Greta Guest: 313-223-4192 or gguest@freepress.com. Free Press Staff Writer Brendel Hightower contributed to this report.