2014 has been a great year for Mahomet so far. From January through August, the number of homes sold within the Mahomet-Seymour School District is up by 17.4%, going from 138 for the same period in 2013 to 162 this year. The total dollar volume of closed sales is up by a slightly smaller margin, increasing 12.9%, going from $34,285,271 last year to $38,703,300 in the first eight months of 2014.
Interestingly, the median sales price is down a bit, having dropped from $215,000 to $204,950, suggesting that the mix of homes that has sold so far this year has been more heavily weighted toward slightly more affordable homes.
As of this writing, there are 99 active residential MLS listings in the M-S School District, which, based on the number of sales during the first eight months of the year, translates into a five month supply of homes. A supply of less than six months is generally considered leaning in the direction of a Sellers’ market, while more than a six month supply tends to indicate a Buyers’ market. This five month supply, however, is the total across all price ranges. Different market segments vary widely.
Because Mahomet is such a school district driven community, there tends to be a more pronounced seasonal demand trend here, as compared with Champaign-Urbana. That is, people here tend to exhibit a stronger preference to move during the summer months when school is not in session. To accomplish a move before school starts, buyers would have to be under contract by mid-July at the very latest. Once we get past that point in the year, demand tends to taper significantly, which can leave unsold listings competing against each other for a much smaller pool of buyers.
There is good news for off-season sellers, though. People transfer into the community every week of the year. Even fresh transplants to the area often determine that they specifically want to live within the M-S School District. There are scarcely any family sized rentals available in the area, so folks who want to move—and change schools—only once must commit to an immediate purchase. All of this means that incoming transferees are more likely to buy immediately when they start their jobs in the area, translating into better off-season demand.
Compare this to a few years ago when there were lots of single family homes being offered as rentals because sellers could not get their homes to sell. At some point, desperate Sellers who had already moved out of the area for different jobs, would put tenants into their homes to mitigate the negative cash flow of the vacant property. Additionally, incoming transferees were much less inclined to buy at that time, as they were not yet certain that real estate values had stabilized. If you think there’s a good chance values are still dropping, it erases any sense of urgency to buy.
If you’re contemplating a purchase in the Mahomet area, you have several reasons to consider buying now, in the off-season. You will be competing against far fewer buyers, which strengthens your bargaining position. Sellers tend to be more motivated in the off-season. Many who have had their homes on the market for a few months start to freak out when they see showings taper precipitously once school starts. Finally, financing options are amazing right now, and we cannot assume that will continue to be the case in 2015. Rates are still crazy-low, and there are a variety of special financing programs, including grants of $7,500 to $10,000 for first time buyers (defined as having not owned in the last three years) and eligible veterans.
