DENVER – Prospective home buyers in the metro area dealing with historically low inventory are getting creative, resorting to door knocks and handwritten letters to land a home.
“We had [someone] walk up on the porch and just offer to buy the property sort of outright,” said Wash Park resident, Kim Troggio.
Kim and her husband moved into their neighborhood 12 years ago. It’s where they’ve raised their two boys, Max and Leo.
“I love the families that are here,” Kim said from her front deck as hotdogs sizzled on the grill. “I love being able to take my kids up to the park only a block away.”
The Troggio family isn’t looking to move from the neighborhood they love, but that hasn’t stopped the offers from prospective buyers.
“We’ve certainly received handwritten letters that have been left on our doorstep,” said Troggio. “In addition to that, we often get legal-typed letters that say, you know, ‘I’m a real estate agent and I have a client who’s interested in purchasing your property.”
Real estate agent, Anthony Rael is familiar with these tactics.
“It shows you the level that some buyers will go to, to try to let it be known that look, I’d love to live in this neighborhood,” said Rael, who serves as chairman of the Market Trends Committee for the Denver Metro Association of Realtors.
The latest DMAR Market Trends Report showed the metro area closed out February with a historically low 3,963 active listings. That’s a six percent decrease in inventory over January and a 2.8 percent decrease year over year.
“Usually around this time of year, as we start to enter the spring market, we start to see more and more inventory online. So far, it hasn’t materialized,” Rael explained. “We’re hopeful, for the buyers’, sake we get some more inventory coming online really soon here.”
Rael also pointed out inventory depends on price-point. For example, single family homes in the $200,000 to $300,000 range are tough to find. The latest Market Trends report shows the equivalent of only two weeks’ worth of inventory for homes in that price range.
Some prospective buyers aren’t even waiting for the ‘for sale’ signs to pop up. They’re leaving letters and making offers on homes like the Troggio’s.
“I don’t even read the full letters anymore,” Kim Troggio said with a smile.
