OKC home supply is on the rise amid turbulence in the market: Here's how two sellers fared
Oklahoma City's market for single-family homes is reviving, but it's still a lopsided sellers market. Amid the turbulence, some are winners some not. OkC home supply is on the rise amid turbulence in the market, with new listings increasing by 39% in April compared to the previous year, while sales increased only 16%, and pending sales increased by 11.6%. The number of sellers increasing the number of homes on the market was greater than the increase in buyers, and April ended with an inventory of 3,342 homes listed for sale with Realtors, nearly 50% more than a year ago. However, the market is still better for sellers. Josh and Caitlin Gonzalez, owners of Denali Roofing & Construction, put a house up for sale for $400,000 after investing in houses to renovate and sell quickly for profit, but it sold at a price far cry from their expectations.
Pubblicato : 10 mesi fa di , The Oklahoman in Business
OKC home supply is on the rise amid turbulence in the market: Here's how two sellers fared
Josh and Caitlin Gonzalez put a house up for sale in time to find out that Oklahoma City's spring housing market was as volatile as spring weather.
Hensley came out ahead, and in the custom of severe storm survivors, she's glad the market turmoil missed her. The Gonzalez couple, not so much. In the same spirit, they're grateful that the damage wasn't worse.
It's still a seller's market for single-family homes in Oklahoma City
A lopsided start to the spring-summer, homebuying-and-selling season: New listings jumped up 39% in April compared with April of last year, while sales increased just 16%, and pending sales were up 11.6%, according to the latest data from the Oklahoma City Metro Association of Realtors.
The number of sellers putting homes on the market was greater than the increase in buyers, and April ended with an inventory of 3,342 homes listed for sale with Realtors, nearly 50% more than a year ago.
However, based on the pace of sales, that was enough to last just 76 days, or 2.5 months. The market is still better for sellers. Six months is considered a balanced market.
Here's how the market worked — and well — for Hensley, and not so well for the Gonzalezes.
MORE: Is the spring housing market starting to thaw in Oklahoma City? Realtors' stats show signs
OKC house flippers nearly flop with sale of rehabbed property
Josh Gonzalez had invested in houses to renovate and sell quickly for a profit before, with business partners, but the house on Lakeaire Drive, in a neighborhood tucked near the southwest shore of Lake Hefner, was the first time for him and his wife to go it by themselves.
The pair, owners of Denali Roofing & Construction, bought the two-story, 2,823-square-foot home, built in 1973, for $225,000 last August, and worked on improving it until November, when they listed it for sale with Danielle Peterson, an agent with Flotilla Real Estate Partners.
With such a limited number of homes for sale, a 2.5-month supply — a sellers market — they figured on a fast flip. They also figured to sell it for $400,000.
Investing isn't always 'sunshine and rainbows,' OKC house flipper says
But it sat. And sat.
And sat. For six months. Until May, when the average time a house stayed on the market until it sold was about 40 days.
After three months, they lowered their asking price to $385,000. That got some attention, "lots of shoppers, but no offers," Josh Gonzalez said. So then they knocked it down to $380,000, then $375,000, then to $360,000.
Then, finally, after going back and forth with a would-be buyer, he became an actual buyer, for $360,000, with the sellers paying $10,000 toward closing costs.
The flip didn't flop, but it fetched a price that was a far cry from what they were hoping — a reminder, Josh said, that life isn't "all sunshine and rainbows."
RELATED: Not all roofing shingles are created equal: Here are options to consider after storms hit
Timing was right for home seller/move-up buyer in Oklahoma City
Hensley's timing was just right, "like clockwork," said Ann Ballew, also an agent with Flotilla Real Estate Partners. That's remarkable enough when selling one house and buying another, but especially in a hit-and-miss market.
Hensley, 69, started thinking about moving from her home on Misty Park Drive, northwest of NW 150 and N MacArthur Boulevard, last July. She and her friend Ballew, "my sister of choice," started driving neighborhoods and looking at, and inside, houses for sale.
She liked what was planned for Annecy, a neighborhood by Bill Roberts Custom Homes southwest of NW 150 and N MacArthur. But she didn't want to wait for it to be developed, and then wait longer during construction. Then she drove another Roberts neighborhood, Camden Park, a gated luxury addition southwest of NW 164 and N Western.
"I said, 'I'm not so sure about Camden. The streets are so narrow the lots are so small.' And then we went in a house and I was just won over," said Hensley, who just retired as an educator at Harding Charter Preparatory High School. "But also, the neighborhood has such a wonderful feel.
"Walking through the neighborhood, people wave. They're walking dogs I drove the neighborhood several times before I committed. It was the same thing each time. The people were as important to me as the houses."
RELATED: Homeowners insurance is through the roof in Oklahoma — and the roof might not be covered, either
Realtor: 'This is where we needed all the stars to align' for near simultaneous transactions
So, in August she contracted with Bill Roberts Custom Homes on NW 163. She tracked progress daily on the 2,854-square-foot, $770,000 home, using Buildertrend, a construction sales management app supplied by the builder.
It would be plenty big for entertaining, and for her 10-year-old Cavapoo, Zebco Houdini Aloysius, or Z, for short.
It all came together late last month. Hensley's new home was finished, and she had to sell her other one, and she did, to the second person who looked at it. She got her full asking price of $425,000 for the 2,384-square-foot home, built in 2012. She took the proceeds, and along with a small 5% loan, closed the purchase on her new one.
"We had to coordinate the sale of Misty Park Drive to fit with the timeline of completion of her custom build in May 2024," Ballew said. "This is where we needed all the stars to align.
"We were able to close on the sale of Margaret's home on Misty Park Drive on May 28, and then purchase her new construction in Camden the next morning at 8 a.m. My movers packed her and kept her possessions over night and unloaded the next morning into her new home. Timing is everything."
RELATED: Here's what you need to know before dealing with a home stuffed with stuff
Custom home purchase in OKC was enjoyable as the market recovers
Hensley said she loved the construction process and, with Ballew's help, even "the many aspects of buying and selling." She said, laughing, that she'd "do it again in a heartbeat, if someone would pack my boxes and unpack them."
Would she do anything different if she were selling and buying at the same time again?
"Not yet," she said.
OKC home shoppers have 40% more homes to choose from compared with this time in 2023
Hensley and the Gonzalez family — Joshua, Caitlin, and 4-year-old son Easton — completed transactions during the turbulence of what looks like a recovering, though still lopsided, market. Hensley's happened to close during a break in the instability.
“In the Oklahoma City metro area, homes for sale are up by almost 40% compared to a year ago," said Angelena Harris, co-founder and managing broker of Spearhead Realty Group and president of the board of MLSOK Inc., Oklahoma City Realtors' multiple listing service.
"Pending sales and closings are also up, and while the median sales price has risen slightly from April 2023, we can say that people looking to buy right now can expect a broad selection of homes on the market,” she said, noting that through April, MLSOK recorded nearly 7,000 home sales, nearly 6% more than the same period last year.
Home sellers and buyer are coming back to the market in Oklahoma City
Higher mortgage rates have lost some of their ability to keep buyers and sellers both sidelined, said Jennifer Arsenault, managing broker at Flotilla Real Estate Partners.
"People are definitely used to the higher rates, and the mini swings week to week don’t seem that frustrating. The 7% range is the expectation right now. The shock has worn off," she said. "We are seeing a lot of people move up into larger or higher price points" — like Hensley — "because they have the equity to do so."
"People still have life changes happening. We had a lot of multiple-offer scenarios this weekend, six off the top of my head. It’s not like early 2022, but definitely improving over this past winter."
Senior Business Writer Richard Mize has covered housing, construction, commercial real estate and related topics for the newspaper and Oklahoman.com since 1999. Contact him at [email protected]. Sign up for his weekly newsletter, Real Estate with Richard Mize. You can support Richard's work, and that of his colleagues, by purchasing a digital subscription to The Oklahoman. Right now, you can get 6 months of subscriber-only access for $1.