A competitive market exaggerates the sale price for a great looking home in the right location. It also blurs lines on home values in general. If you’re in the market to buy right now, I can see you roll your eyes and hear you exhale deeply in despair—you know what I’m talking about.

Here’s an example: in a subdivision in my family’s hometown, there are several different styles of homes. In one section are twin homes, some of which have garages and others of which do not. Same goes for basements. There are townhouses in another section, slightly smaller than the twin homes, very few of which have basements. Square footage above grade in these homes is between 1,250 and 1,600 (give or take), and those with basements below grade have about another 500 square feet of finished space.  

Here’s the thing: in most markets, the townhouses without basements sell for a little less than the ones with basements, and the end townhouses sell at a bit of a premium. Twins without garages sell for more than any of the townhouses, and the twins with garages and basements come in highest. Typically, the range in value (top to bottom) was in excess of $40,000.

But not in this market. Right now, the lines are blurred—all the homes are selling within thousands of one another.

So what’s the takeaway? There are two insights I can give you. Number one is if you’re buying a home this year, make sure you don’t drastically overpay for it just because others have. If the home you’re considering is located in a neighborhood like I described above, look back past the prior years’ sales to see how that market was performing two and three years ago. See what range of value there used to be between the smallest and the largest, and the most updated and the most outdated. If you’re looking at the smallest or the most outdated, that’s okay; just be sure you’re not overpaying for it.

The second insight I can offer: if you own a home in this type of neighborhood, this is the year for you to get the magic number. That’s right… the number you won’t see again for a long time. The kind of money that, when you tell someone about it two or three years from now, they probably won’t believe you.

If you have the smallest home in a neighborhood that seems to have parity in value right now, and you were thinking about moving in the near future anyway, capitalize on this market now. Someone will pay too much—it just won’t be any of the buyers in the market right now that read this article.

For more tips and tricks, or to learn more about our team, visit www.theAugustineTeam.com.