Windsor Star

BUNGALOW GOES FOR $205,000

Bidding war boosts price by $65K

- DAVE BATTAGELLO dbattagell­o@postmedia.com

A small, nondescrip­t bungalow with little landscapin­g and gravel driveway in LaSalle and offered for $139,900 attracted a whopping 29 offers and sold for more than $65,000 above the asking price. It is yet another sign of the Windsor area’s red-hot real estate market and buyer desperatio­n for entry-level homes, said realtor Teresa Macri of Caldwell Banker, the agent who sold the home with a final price of $205,000.

“If you told me two years ago that home would sell for $205,000 I would have said you were crazy,” she said of the property.

“I would have never expected the market to be as hot as it is right now.”

The home, owned by a middleaged couple in the 500 block of Laurier Drive in LaSalle, was listed on the market several weeks ago. Showings did not start until a couple of weeks ago and her phone “was going nuts” with other realtors and potential buyers asking to see the house, Macri said. “A property in that price range in LaSalle is difficult to find, it’s a nice wide lot,” she said. “But I didn’t expect it to be that crazy. I didn’t expect to get as much interest as we got.”

Over five days, there was a steady stream of showings — well over 100 in total — with Macri showing the house 18 times herself.

A date was set to accept offers and they started rolling in — 29 in total.

“My sellers looked at all 29 and took the highest offer,” Macri said. “It was $205,000, had no conditions at all.

“They were very happy to get that price for their house.” The realtor indicated it was by far the most offers she has experience­d — noting another recent sale she handled in the 1300 block of Bruce Avenue in Windsor attracted a dozen offers.

The price range of entry-level homes between $150,000 and $250,000 remains in the greatest demand locally, Macri said. “There is not enough in the market, so you have a lot of people waiting for that price range,” she said.

“Then you have some investors, as well, who only want to buy a house, fix it and flip it.”

If you do an online house search anywhere in LaSalle, Tecumseh or Lakeshore currently for a house under $200,000 you will be lucky to find one, said Daniel Hofgartner, president of the WindsorEss­ex County Associatio­n of Realtors.

So when the home on Laurier popped up at $139,900, “everyone was, ‘Oh my God!’” he said. “There has been a couple like that recently where that happened,” Hofgartner said. “Anything above five to seven offers tells me the house was underprice­d greatly. But a lot of times you underprice to create a frenzy.”

He added how Windsor’s entrylevel housing market is no longer primarily a domain for young couples or first-time home buyers. It is crowded by investors looking to renovate and flip the house or other investors looking to simply rent to others for an income property, he said.

“You are still seeing a lot of people from the GTA who feel they can get a better return on their investment if they come and buy here,” Hofgartner said.

With such a crowded entrylevel home market in the Windsor area, that has actually led to many young couples extending themselves to buy their first home in the $350,000 to $400,000 price range, he said.

“I see many of them jumping into big homes and mortgages,” Hofgartner said.

“They might be double-income with no kids yet. The interest rates are low, so the mortgage payments still seem good for them.”

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 ?? DAN JANISSE ?? Teresa Macri, left, a real estate agent with Caldwell Banker, sold Tammy and Dennis Lenz’s home in the 500 block of Laurier Drive in LaSalle for $65,200 over the asking price after receiving 29 offers.
DAN JANISSE Teresa Macri, left, a real estate agent with Caldwell Banker, sold Tammy and Dennis Lenz’s home in the 500 block of Laurier Drive in LaSalle for $65,200 over the asking price after receiving 29 offers.

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