It’s not new news that the real estate market in the United States has been insane in the last 12 months with unparalleled buyer interest causing price increases and making the housing shortage more dire. Idaho is no exception and has been a national leader in all of these criteria. So how do buyers succeed in such a tight seller’s market? Patience.

The National Association of Realtors reported that houses in the US receive an average of 4.8 offers per listing. As you can see on this graph, you are able to see the sharp rise in offers per listing. In the Boise area, homes can sell for tens of thousands over asking with multiple offers, and go pending in days or as little as a few hours. In fact, the average days on market have fallen to 18 days nationally. In Boise, the median days on market have fallen to just 7 days. 

Source: National Association of Realtors

With what few homes are on the market going off the market so quickly for over asking, where does that leave buyers? Buyers in this market are urged to be patient with the current market conditions. If the right home for you is not on the market today, give it a little time. The perfect house will appear before you know it. Your agent may also be able to find off-market or new construction opportunities. The other half of this urge for patience is that you will likely have to make multiple offers on multiple houses. This means you will lose a few bidding wars. However, it takes a few losses to know how to win. Give it a little time and you will find the perfect house and get the winning bid. As more homes are built and sellers become more confident in selling their homes for top dollar, inventory will increase.

For sellers, one piece of buying advice we have given our clients and seen a lot of success is to sell your home first before buying. Hear us out on this. When you sell your house, you will have plenty of liquid assets that will make it easy to buy a house for cash, or make it easier to secure financing for when you find your new home. Also, our agents have had a lot of success negotiating a rentback to allow the sellers to find and buy a new home while allowing the buyers time to organize, pack, and move, all in a lower-stress environment.