Why Right Now Is a Once-in-a-Lifetime Opportunity for Sellers Thursday January 27th, 2022 For Sellers, Housing Mar

The opportunity to sell your home in 2022 is certainly once-in-a-lifetime if you're thinking about doing so. When it comes to selling something, you always want to make sure there is a lot of interest in it and a lot of inventory. When it comes to negotiating the sale, this gives you the most leverage. Right now, home sellers are in a similar scenario. There are a few reasons for this:

There is a lot of demand.

In 2021, 6.18 million homes were sold, according to the National Association of Realtors (NARmost )'s recent Existing Home Sales Report. In the last 15 years, this has been the highest number of home sales. NAR's Chief Economist, Lawrence Yun, explains:

"The entire year's sales were good, with the greatest level since 2006. ... 

"It's likely that a portion of December buyers wanted to avoid the inevitable rate hikes because mortgage rates are expected to rise in 2022."

This year's demand isn't projected to wane either. Furthermore, according to the Mortgage Bankers' Association's (MBA) Mortgage Finance Forecast, existing-home sales are expected to hit 6.4 million this year.

Only a small amount of it is available

According to the same NAR sales data, the number of months' supply of inventory has now fallen to its lowest level in a century. It mentions:

"At the end of December, total housing inventory was 910,000 units, down 18% from November and 14.2 percent from a year ago" (1.06 million). At the current sales pace, unsold inventory is at a 1.8-month supply, down from 2.1 months in November and 1.9 months in December 2020."

In actuality, every year in December, inventory decreases. In real estate, this is how the average seasonal trend works. The graph below, however, illustrates how this December was lower than any previous December since 1999.

Sellers have the most leverage right now.

As previously said, when there is a high demand for a product and a limited supply of it, the seller has the most bargaining power. There may never be a finer time than now for homeowners who are considering selling their property. You'll have a lot of leverage in the selling of your home if demand is so high and availability is so low.

Today's buyers understand the importance of being flexible negotiators who are willing to make very competitive offers, so here are a few things to consider while putting your home on the market:

• Sale pricing that is competitive
• Closing date is flexible.
• Possibility of a leaseback to give you extra time to find a place to live
• Offer contingencies are minimal.