DULUTH – With an offer pending on their house after a weekend of showings, a Duluth couple answered a knock on their door Sunday to find one last buyer asking if they could please take a look around and make their own offer.
For countless buyers in the area, there aren't many other options left — though Realtors ask that folks don't knock on doors and instead call the number on the for-sale sign.
February may have been the toughest month yet to find a house in the Duluth area after inventory hit a record low. There were half as many listings last month compared to February 2020, yet closed sales still rose 6% year over year, according to Lake Superior Area Realtors data.
"You're seeing multiple-offer scenarios from $100,000 homes to $500,000 homes in some places," said Shaina Nickila, president of the Lake Superior Area Realtors board. "Believe us when we say, sellers, that now is the best time to sell your house."
In Duluth city limits, the median sale price jumped 22% year over year to $174,000 in February. Around the region, Ely saw one of the biggest median sale price increases — a 35% rise to $166,500 — as interest in rural and lake properties continues to climb due to the pandemic and an increase in working from home.
Driven by low interest rates, the need for better work-from-home setups and new job opportunities in the region, buyers continued trying to break into the market and have even started forgoing home inspections to improve their chances.
"I know the desperation of some of these buyers, but I'm not sure I would recommend that," Nickila said.
Some would-be sellers are holding off, Nickila said, because in some cases they don't know where they would go if their house sold fast.
