Morgan Lamphere is director of sales and marketing for SearStone (www.searstone.com), a continuing care retirement community in Cary. She can be reached at mlamphere@searstone.com.
For older adults considering selling their homes and moving to a retirement community, all indications are that now is the right time to do it.
The financial implications of moving to a new home are always brighter when you’re able to sell your existing home. After years of sluggish sales and low prices, the residential real estate market in the Triangle is rebounding well.
According to the News & Observer, local home sales in July 2013 were 39 percent higher than in July 2012. Trends indicate a tightening market where home prices are gradually rising while inventory is shrinking. The Triangle Multiple Listing Service database showed 3,082 closings in July.
According to data from MLS, inventory levels are down 10 percent from a year ago, and about 35 percent from two years ago. At the end of July, there were only 7,766 homes on the market in Wake, Johnston, Durham and Orange counties. At the current pace of sales, the Triangle region only has a three-month supply of inventory.
MLS shows the average closing price of homes sold in July 2013 was $251,300, up 4.6 percent from July 2012. The median sale price – with half higher and half at a lower price – for July was $202,559, up 5.5 percent from last July.
For homes sold in July, average days on the market was 69 days, down from 112 days during the same period last year.
Analysis for June home sales from CoreLogic, another real estate data provider, also shows an increase in home prices. According to CoreLogic, home prices in the Raleigh-Cary market rose 5.6 percent from June 2012 to June 2013. For the Durham-Chapel Hill market, home prices increased 5.2 percent during that time period.
As one real estate company posted on its blog: units sold are up, median sales prices are up, price sold vs. list price is up, and days on the market are down. David Ammons, president and CEO of management partner Retirement Living Associates (RLA), says he’s heard of local seniors who sold their homes within three days of putting it on the market.
Future residents of SearStone have been pleased overall with the rate that their homes are selling and the prices they’re getting. They have not had to reduce the home price in order to get a quick sale. In many cases, the closing date had to be moved up to accommodate the new occupants.
Rick and Mary Ann DiSerafino from Wayne, Pa., had mixed emotions about selling their home. “It was a home we had many happy memories in and we were hesitant to even put it on the market,” said Rick. “One day when we were out of town our realtor called to say there was an offer on the home, and the potential buyers wanted to move in as soon as possible. It was meant to be, and the new family is going to have the opportunity to make some very happy memories in that place.”
The DeSerafinos join many other retired individuals who are taking advantage of the rebounding real estate market to sell their home and move into their preferred retirement community.