April residential real estate sales were august, and the number of pending sales at the end of April points to more positive sales numbers for May. However, Realtors seem unified in their opinion that May was dead.

Showings were considerably lower than the previous months, and many say the stagnant market is the result of graduations. Others continue to lament the so-called high interest rates.

“When we get a new administration, things will be better,” one agent continues to promise. No one knows if there will be a new administration and, if so, what that would do to the real estate market.

The stock market will most likely not double, as it has, regardless of the president, and interest rates aren’t all that high, historically speaking. The problem with 6.785% interest rates now as compared to the last time they were this low is that prices are much higher.

Buyers will pay more for less if a loan is involved. With buyers of substantial means, they will gladly pay 6.875% interest while their other investments yield a return of 13%. That financial condition is what is driving upper-end prices through the roof, as houses of $3 million or more are selling with regularity.

For those without burgeoning investment accounts, a 30-year mortgage at 6.875% has a monthly payment of $2,627, while that same principal amount would have had a payment of $1,909 at 4%.

The problem is 4% rates are gone, and along with them all of the 30-year mortgages in the 2.875% to 3.875% range.

And the $400,000 property would have cost $50,000 to $100,000 less when the homeowner received the favorable loan. That is the environment in which the market now resides.

The recipients of the lower rates might have accidentally become real estate investment property owners. Cashing in a 3.875% rate for a 6.875% rate is not wise, and no administration is going to make those numbers work.

Sale of the Week

There was a sale this month no one would have dared imagine a few years back when the house at 1006 Halcyon in the 12 South neighborhood sold for $3.775 million, or $725 per square foot. This comes after another house in the same block, 1015 Halcyon, sold for $3.2 million – $775 per square foot – in February 2023.

1006 Halcyon Ave

Compass Realtors Haleigh Sport and Lacey Newman listed that house and sold it before it hit the market with Parks’ agents Donald Berschback and Lorene Hetherington representing the buyer.

Clever, visionary Realtor David Binkley says the 1006 Halcyon house is one of four that will bring similar numbers since they were designed and built as a group.

The 5,208-square-foot house was designed by the architecture firm of Allard and Ward, a forward-thinking firm in its own right, and the interiors are by JL Design.

The property is co-listed with Lee Harris Lunsford, both of Parks, for now, Compass later, unless not.

The two agents described the house as “loaded with luxury, amenities, conveniences and building science.” There will be a pool added at a later date, and this is the only one of the foursome with a finished basement.

Additionally, the house has four bedrooms, four full bathrooms and one half bath.

The buyer’s agent was none other than Julia Corker Spickard, whose buyer will profit from this early purchase. Spickard’s name often appears alongside higher-end sales, and she hails from Fridrich and Clark, a company that has not been absorbed.

Quiet day in the Parks

News from the Compass-Parks merger? Crickets for the most part. There is some rumbling of new firms emerging, as well as Compass acquiring more companies. Many of the Village agents had become comfortable at Parks only to learn that they were moving to Compass.

What does that mean for the consumer? Not much. Same agents, different logos on their “For Sale” signs. The good brokers will carry on doing well and the rotten apples will continue to fester, only now they are someone else’s problem.

As for the much-ballyhooed real estate commission lawsuit settlement, Compass agreed to pay $57.5 million, the National Association of Realtors is good for $418 million and Redfin $9.25 million, some reports state. And The Associated Press had a story stating that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has agreed to pay $250,000.

A few hundred million here and a few hundred million there. Before long, they are talking about some real money.

Richard Courtney is a licensed real estate agent with Fridrich & Clark Realty and can be reached at [email protected].