GRANGER — When Lee Woodward and his wife listed their Granger home this spring, they didn’t expect an offer that night.
They had listed the house the previous year and received little interest. “Nobody even came to one of the open houses,” Woodward said. So, they took it off the market.
When they relisted the house in March, they had an immediate offer and several other people interested.
“The second day, we signed the offer and it was for what we wanted,” Woodward said, adding that the speed of the sale was unexpected and the couple still hadn’t found a place in East Moline, Ill., where they were moving.
“Last fall, when we wanted to move, there were a lot of places,” he said. “But this spring, it was not too good of a market.”
By many measures, the housing market nationwide has recovered substantially from the recession. Fewer home owners are underwater on their mortgages, meaning they don’t owe more than the home is worth; delinquency rates have receded and foreclosures are down.
It’s become a seller’s market — at least at some price points.