CityState: Reporter l by Ellen Liberman
Closing Costs
In Rhode Island’s hot real estate market, sellers reign supreme
and demand far outstrips supply — even amid a pandemic.
The hard rock blasting from the radio fights the whine of the
skill saw as carpenters cut trim. Developer Hugh Fisher, dapper in
tasseled loafers and green cords, picks his way over dirty Ram Board
to show off a rare and precious commodity: a newly built-single family
home. The Cottages at Stonebrooke, hard by West Shore Road in
Warwick, features eighteen units elevated by high-end touches such
as tray ceilings and lofts.
With construction on the first nine units wrapping up in May, and
a starting price at $242,900, only one unit is still for sale. Christina
Thomas, a forty-four-year-old veterans service representative, had
gotten an early peek and promptly put down a deposit.
“I knew at that location, that it was probably going to go really fast,”
she says.
In May, the Rhode Island Association of Realtors reported a 7.5
percent increase in the median price of single-family homes sold in
April 2020 over April 2019, to $295,500. Foreclosures and short sales
were down by 41 percent over the same time period.
The state of today’s market is no echo of “the sub-prime conditions
that led to the last burst,” says Shannon Buss, president of the Rhode
ILLUSTRATION BY MARIA FABRIZIO
Island Association of Realtors. “Our lenders have very tight requirements
now. The buyers entering the market are qualified. In fact, I
tell the buyers that they have to have all their ducks in a row and be
ready to act, because if you sleep on it, you might not sleep in it.”
Under the new normal of the coronavirus pandemic, realtors have
adjusted some of their sales practices to provide physical distance.
The temporary halt saw April’s sales soften compared to those of
March and of April 2019. Nonetheless, property is moving and supply
still outstrips demand.
“We have a delayed spring market,” Buss says. “But we are deep in
a sellers’ market. And interest rates are so low, it’s a win for both parties.
Refinances are saving $500 a month. That’s a big chunk. There
is opportunity.”
The luxury market, which floats on its own peculiar currents, has
seen a consistent uptick.
“Even during the COVID situation, the market is surprisingly
strong. We had a couple of $3 million-plus properties go under contract
within a couple of weeks of coming on the market,” says John
Hodnett, president of Lila Delman Real Estate. “This is similar to
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