A Seller’s Market

The current housing market news here at the beach is both encouraging and alarming.  If you are planning to sell your place, you probably couldn’t pick a better time.  But, you’d better have a firm plan about next steps.  “It’s a seller’s market,” as they say.  And, once you’ve sold, finding something to buy is another story entirely — especially if you want to stay here at the beach.

I can’t really remember ever hearing about bidding wars over and above the listed prices happening before.  Not here on the Peninsula.  Nor have I heard of people just approaching homeowners whose houses are not for sale, and making an offer they can’t refuse.  But, that’s what’s going on now according to several of our friends who have had recent first-hand experiences along those lines.  Unbelievable!

Great Place To Visit…

But, of course there’s a downside.  Most sales are being made to out-of-area folks — people from California or Seattle or Portland.  Local residents simply cannot afford the prices.  Even scarier — “some renters are being asked to move with nowhere to go,” according to realtor Doug Knutson.  “Rents are being driven up beyond some folks’ ability to pay.”

I remember visiting in Nantucket some years ago and finding that several restaurants were still closed even though “the season” was well under way.  The problem as one owner explained to us — “The workers have been priced out; they can’t afford to live here any more.”  His answer was to build a housing facility for his employees and to fill it with seasonal workers from the Barbados or other Caribbean Island Countries.  “Not my first choice,” he told us.  “But we’ve run out of options.”

We’ve already heard that one of our well-known Peninsula businesses is considering a similar move — building affordable housing for their employees so they can keep good workers here.  It reminds me, once again, of Ted Holway and “The Apartments” that he had his oyster workers build for themselves in the 1940s.  His purpose was to encourage seasonal workers to stay year ’round by providing low-cost housing for them.  Maybe we are circling back to a similar solution to providing for our local work force.

“Ted’s Apartments” – 1950

Meanwhile, the number of second homes here appears to be on the increase.  There seems something so wrong with this picture — houses empty for much of the year while hard-working parents need to move their families elsewhere to be able to find a place they can afford.  And yet, I can scarcely begrudge those vacation home-owners their opportunity to have “a place at the beach.”  It’s the American dream come true.  I doubt that there is an easy answer…