Tampa real estate agent: 'If you're a seller right now, the market is absolutely insane'
By Falon Silcox
Bay News
Published:

TAMPA, Fla. — Right now, the housing market is very competitive and it's a sellers' market. Local realtors say they've never seen the market like it is now, and it's not uncommon to receive 20-30 offers on one home. "If you're a seller right now, the market is absolutely insane. We'll put a house on the market on a Thursday and we'll have multiple offers by Sunday," said Joseph Kipping, a realtor with the Tampa Bay Home Team. Kipping said homes are selling for more than the appraised value and buyers are using cash. The problem, though, is if you sell your home now to cash in, where will you go? Realtors say most of the sellers they work with now are moving out of state, where their money will go further, and the people buying homes here in Tampa Bay are moving to Florida from somewhere else. Kipping said seven out of the last 10 homes he has sold were to people from other states. The bubble is different now though than it was in the early 2000s when everyone was financing 100% with sub-prime mortgages. Kipping said it's not clear how much longer these inflated prices will last. "I've been doing this for over 18 years and I have not seen a market like this before. I don't know where the market — is it going to stay like this? I don't think it can sustain this much longer because the prices are going up so high. It's just going to be too hard to keep the prices high, if rates go up it could stall the market, there are a lot of what-ifs right now," said Kipping. If you are planning on buying or selling a home right now, Kipping recommends working with an experienced realtor because he said some contingencies can be put into contracts to help during this market.