A hot market for housing

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The housing market typically tends to cool as winter approaches, but that doesn’t appear to be happening in Rockville Centre.

After the housing market crashed in 2008 and the recession hit, home prices across the country fell to historic lows. But the market is recovering and prices are climbing, while interest rates remain low — meaning that now is a good time for both buyers and sellers.

According to Rich McQuillan, the owner of Exit Links Realty, homes are being bought up almost as fast as they’re going on the market. “Inventory is low at certain price points,” he said. “In the $550,000 to $700,000 range, the minute it goes on the market, there’s a tremendous amount of activity. That’s a tremendous price point.”

Real estate agents all over town are busy. McQuillan said that there are currently 81 houses on the market right now located in both the village and the school district, and they’re hot. Of those, 21 are priced at more than $1 million. They are moving slower than the others, but they’re still moving.

“I’m actually putting offers on four houses this afternoon,” Kathy Durkin, an associate broker for Century 21 Sherlock Homes, said last week. “I have three closing before the end of the month, and six closed in July.”

With the local market moving as quickly as it is, there is still time for people to put their homes on the market before the winter slowdown. And even though activity may slow, it’s still possible to sell in the winter.

“It’s still a good time,” said Carol O’Leary, branch manager for Coach Realtors in Rockville Centre. “The only thing that slows the market down is snow. That’s really it. We’ve had winters where we’ve done very well and we’ve been really busy.”

One of the most important things sellers can do, especially in the colder months, is to make sure their front yards are well maintained. “A lot of people will pull [the house] up online or drive past,” Durkin explained. “If you’re not taking care of the front of your house, they’re not going to bother going inside.”

It’s also important to make sure the interior of a home being sold is clean and uncluttered. “De-clutter and de-personalize,” McQuillan said. “You want to make it look like [buyers are] walking into their home, not somebody else’s. Brighten it up.”

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