Home is more than a place; it's a feeling. I think we can all attest to that now more than ever.
You may have heard that the real estate market was crazy in 2020. Or maybe you witnessed it first hand as a seller getting a top dollar or a buyer struggling to make a competitive offer before every house in your price range is taken.
With interest rates at record lows, we did see a strong seller's market in 2020 despite a pandemic. Or perhaps, partly, because of the pandemic.
Interest rates certainly helped, but it's hard to discount the fact that Americans were and are reevaluating where and how we live.
A small two-bedroom, one-bath house maybe seemed plenty until you were spending months at a time in it. It had become not only where you sleep and heat up leftovers, but now must be your office, your child's school, and where you spend your recreational time.
I think many of us realized that if we can work from home, "home" can be anywhere.
Many of our city-dwelling friends realized this early in the year and made their way to our beautiful area to take advantage of life in the Adirondacks and Lake Champlain. But many home purchases in 2020 were also your small-town neighbors.
Some were upsizing or downsizing. Some are just finding "home" to be more than a house but a community. So they decided the house size they had was just fine, but it wasn't near the things they wanted to be near. Or they were looking for their tribe and found it in a different small town.
In this area of many small communities, we have a lot that is similar, but I think we can all agree they are each a little different and unique in their own way.
We are beginning a new year and hope that many challenges will not be quite so challenging this year. However, I do think that how we view where we live and the importance of finding a great fit will stick with us well past the pandemic.
Finding the perfect fit for town, people and also structure is so important during any time in our lives, but I think now it's more important than ever to feel at home.
To assist you in your search for the perfect home, buyers and sellers should always rely on real estate professionals to make sure the job gets done right. So when you decide to buy or sell, choose a REALTOR® and work with someone who will work with you.
Kira Witherwax is a licensed associate real estate broker and member of the National & NYS Association of Realtors® and also serves as the Vice President of the Clinton County Board of Realtors®
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