Latest news with #TalhaShahid
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Cutthroat housing market in lakeside city sees it bursting with bargains - and an average home is just $225K
Rochester, New York, is one of America's most cutthroat city for house prices and while it remains affordable, sales are as competitive as ever. While the city ranks well for affordability, Rochester's home sales are a flurry of bidding wars while real estate agents prepare their clients for auction-like sales with properties often selling for way above asking price. For Rochester realtor Jeff Scofield, the market has seen prices dramatically rise by around 60 percent in the last five years. 'We were slow and steady for most of my career, [it] was a very balanced market and it would take anywhere from a month to a year to sell a house sometimes,' Scofield told While prices have remained affordable, houses are still selling for more than they are listed for. Scofield pointed out that the lack of supply has changed how buyers and sellers are approaching home sales. 'The lack of inventory is the one thing that's been helping prolong us having any sort of slowdown... because there's just so few homes on the market,' he said. 'The buyers all descend on the property and if they like it and it's priced reasonably then they put in offers and it's gone in a week.' Talha Shahid, a realtor based in the area told Yahoo that for example, a home listed at $300,000 will likely sell for $350,000. 'After one or two offers, [clients] kind of get the hang of it, and then they listen to my advice,' Shahid continued. The median house price in the metro area reached just $225,000 at the end of March, according to the Greater Rochester Association of Realtors. While the median rose by 12.5 percent from last year, it remains one of the more affordable cities in America with the median household income sitting at around $67,000 in 2022. 'We're catching up with the rest of the country,' Jonathan long, a mortgage loan consultant in Rochester, also told Yahoo. 'The housing market is a little tough, and mortgage payments are a little tough right now, but all in all, I would still say it's a super affordable place to live... but there's just not enough inventory.' According to the Realtors association, the area had just 913 homes for sale at the end of March which is down 8.1 percent from last year. On average, homes spend just eight days on the market. Due to the lack of homes on the market, Scofield told he has seen buyers list of demands diminish significantly in order to secure a home. 'It used to be that buyers had their list of demands, like we want you to leave the dining room set, the washer, the dryer,' he said. 'Now they go, well, what do you want to take? You know, we'll take whatever you want to leave. You don't even have to clean out the junk in the basement. 'Buyers are being very gracious because they need a place to live and they've lost out on, say, five homes.' Many homeowners have been resistant to selling, especially with heightened uncertainty and climbing mortgage rates. 'If you're sitting on a two and a half percent mortgage interest rate, you're not going to move right now. You're going to sit tight,' Scofield added. Currently, Zillow has 37 homes listed for sale between $200,000 and $250,000. One home, listed for $224,900, has spent five days on Zillow and features two bedrooms and three bathrooms on 1,765 square feet. A $239,900 listed property has spent four days on the site with three bedrooms and two bathrooms on 1,821 square feet. Another three bedroom property, listed for $250,000, has spent seven days on Zillow with three bedrooms and two bathrooms on 1,853 square feet. But Scofield pointed out that despite affordable home prices, taxes in the area have held a significant weight in house listing prices. 'Our taxes are high. You know, New York's got high property taxes, so historically we'd have people coming in from California or out of state and they'd look at a house and go, 'this is only $500,000. This would cost a million where I'm from.'' He said that often, despite the low listing prices, the taxes stun prospective buyers. 'So that's the downside. Our prices are good, but the taxes are high.' Yet, house prices are increasing across the country and Rochester remains relatively affordable. 'You know, average sales price has gone up to probably around three hundred right now for the average in our area,' he said. 'Which is still less than what it is in New York City.'
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A midsize city in upstate New York is the country's toughest housing market this spring
To hear local Realtors tell it, losing a few bidding wars is a rite of passage for any prospective homebuyer in Rochester, N.Y. In the western New York city, homes typically go from listed to under contract in a matter of days. A well-kept home can command dozens of offers. Listing prices might as well be starting bids. Agents often advise clients surfing online listings to set their price filters well below what they actually hope to pay, to account for the inevitable bidding wars. By many metrics, Rochester, a city of 200,000 on the banks of Lake Ontario, has the most competitive housing market in the country. Zillow's market heat index, which measures factors like time on market, interest in active listings, and price cuts, ranks Rochester as a tougher place to buy a home than San Francisco, San Jose, Boston, and New York. The index considers any reading over 70 to be a strong seller's market. Rochester scores a 146.5. 'After one or two offers, they kind of get the hang of it, and then they listen to my advice,' said Talha Shahid, a real estate agent in the city. He tries to prepare his buyers for the reality that a home listed at $300,000 will likely sell for $350,000, and that any offers with inspection contingencies usually aren't competitive. Learn more: Is now a good time to buy a house? So, how did a city whose population peaked in 1950 end up with one of the most cutthroat real estate markets in the US? The answer, somewhat counterintuitively, has to do with its affordability. The median home in the metro area of about 1 million sold for $225,000 at the end of March, according to the Greater Rochester Association of Realtors. That's up 12.5% from a year earlier, but still cheap enough to be achievable for buyers earning $60,000 to $80,000. The area's median household income was around $67,000 in 2022, and major employers span several relatively well-paying industries like healthcare and higher education. Paychex, a publicly traded payroll provider, is headquartered in the city, while the corporate offices of East Coast grocery store chain Wegmans are in a nearby suburb. Read more: How much house can I afford with a $70,000 salary? 'We're catching up with the rest of the country,' said Jonathan Long, a Rochester-based mortgage loan consultant with 1st Priority Mortgage. 'The housing market is a little tough, and mortgage payments are a little tough right now, but all in all, I would still say it's a super affordable place to live.' 'Nothing out there' Meanwhile, the region has struggled for years with a deep inventory shortage. There were just 913 homes for sale at the end of March, down 8.1% from a year ago, according to the Realtors association. On average, a home spends just eight days on the market. 'There's nothing out there,' said Mark Siwiec, the CEO of Elysian Homes, a Rochester-based real estate brokerage. 'Post-Great Recession, we are shy 18,000 housing units.' Siwiec blames the inventory problem on multiple factors: a lack of building throughout the region due to factors including higher costs and local politics, homeowners staying in place longer, and, of course, people with 3% mortgages who don't want to move now that rates are more like 6.8%. Learn more: When will mortgage interest rates go down to 4%? Right now, homebuilders have little incentive to come to the area because low home prices often translate to thinner margins. According to Richard Deitz, a Buffalo-based economic policy adviser at the New York Fed, while Rochester is reinventing itself as a healthcare and education hub after decades of manufacturing job losses and the shrinkage of Eastman Kodak and Xerox, the area's economy is relatively weak and its population is slowly falling. 'This isn't a matter of a booming economy and population growth bidding up home prices,' Deitz said. 'There's so little for sale that it's bidding up prices of what's there.' With little new construction available, many buyers are considering older homes. Colonial styles are popular in the region, as are American Foursquares, a boxy two-story home type commonly constructed between the late 1800s and the 1940s. By subscribing, you are agreeing to Yahoo's Terms and Privacy Policy Buyers are often a mix of investors, locals, and relocators. Homeownership costs in the region are fairly low compared to average rents, making it a popular place to own rentals. But Siwiec sees signs that the tides are turning, if only slightly. Since April, he says he's noticed the market slowing, which he thinks may be related to heightened economic uncertainty. He's cutting costs at his brokerage to prepare. 'Today, of the 18 properties we list for sale, I should have 18 sales under my belt,' he said. 'I will have 10 or 11. That's shocking.' Ahmed Munasser, 33, has plenty of experience navigating the Rochester market. He works in the mortgage industry and has previously purchased investment properties in the region. When it came time to buy a home for himself, he searched for about four months and switched real estate agents after several of his early offers didn't pan out. He ended up buying in the nearby suburb of Greece, N.Y., with a strategy that included a larger-than-typical deposit and giving the home's previous owners a month to vacate after closing. Despite the challenges, Munasser said this was one of his easier searches. These days, 'a lot of houses don't go for a lot more than the asking price,' he said. 'Some of them do — I was looking at one house that went for $120,000 over the asking price. But others only go like 20, 30 or 40K over.' His winning bid? $9,000 over list. Claire Boston is a Senior Reporter for Yahoo Finance covering housing, mortgages, and home insurance. Sign up for the Mind Your Money newsletter Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A midsize city in upstate New York is the country's toughest housing market this spring
To hear local Realtors tell it, losing a few bidding wars is a rite of passage for any prospective homebuyer in Rochester, N.Y. In the western New York city, homes typically go from listed to under contract in a matter of days. A well-kept home can command dozens of offers. Listing prices might as well be starting bids. Agents often advise clients surfing online listings to set their price filters well below what they actually hope to pay, to account for the inevitable bidding wars. By many metrics, Rochester, a city of 200,000 on the banks of Lake Ontario, has the most competitive housing market in the country. Zillow's market heat index, which measures factors like time on market, interest in active listings, and price cuts, ranks Rochester as a tougher place to buy a home than San Francisco, San Jose, Boston, and New York. The index considers any reading over 70 to be a strong seller's market. Rochester scores a 146.5. 'After one or two offers, they kind of get the hang of it, and then they listen to my advice,' said Talha Shahid, a real estate agent in the city. He tries to prepare his buyers for the reality that a home listed at $300,000 will likely sell for $350,000, and that any offers with inspection contingencies usually aren't competitive. Learn more: Is now a good time to buy a house? So, how did a city whose population peaked in 1950 end up with one of the most cutthroat real estate markets in the US? The answer, somewhat counterintuitively, has to do with its affordability. The median home in the metro area of about 1 million sold for $225,000 at the end of March, according to the Greater Rochester Association of Realtors. That's up 12.5% from a year earlier, but still cheap enough to be achievable for buyers earning $60,000 to $80,000. The area's median household income was around $67,000 in 2022, and major employers span several relatively well-paying industries like healthcare and higher education. Paychex, a publicly traded payroll provider, is headquartered in the city, while the corporate offices of East Coast grocery store chain Wegmans are in a nearby suburb. Read more: How much house can I afford with a $70,000 salary? 'We're catching up with the rest of the country,' said Jonathan Long, a Rochester-based mortgage loan consultant with 1st Priority Mortgage. 'The housing market is a little tough, and mortgage payments are a little tough right now, but all in all, I would still say it's a super affordable place to live.' 'Nothing out there' Meanwhile, the region has struggled for years with a deep inventory shortage. There were just 913 homes for sale at the end of March, down 8.1% from a year ago, according to the Realtors association. On average, a home spends just eight days on the market. 'There's nothing out there,' said Mark Siwiec, the CEO of Elysian Homes, a Rochester-based real estate brokerage. 'Post-Great Recession, we are shy 18,000 housing units.' Siwiec blames the inventory problem on multiple factors: a lack of building throughout the region due to factors including higher costs and local politics, homeowners staying in place longer, and, of course, people with 3% mortgages who don't want to move now that rates are more like 6.8%. Learn more: When will mortgage interest rates go down to 4%? Right now, homebuilders have little incentive to come to the area because low home prices often translate to thinner margins. According to Richard Deitz, a Buffalo-based economic policy adviser at the New York Fed, while Rochester is reinventing itself as a healthcare and education hub after decades of manufacturing job losses and the shrinkage of Eastman Kodak and Xerox, the area's economy is relatively weak and its population is slowly falling. 'This isn't a matter of a booming economy and population growth bidding up home prices,' Deitz said. 'There's so little for sale that it's bidding up prices of what's there.' With little new construction available, many buyers are considering older homes. Colonial styles are popular in the region, as are American Foursquares, a boxy two-story home type commonly constructed between the late 1800s and the 1940s. By subscribing, you are agreeing to Yahoo's Terms and Privacy Policy Buyers are often a mix of investors, locals, and relocators. Homeownership costs in the region are fairly low compared to average rents, making it a popular place to own rentals. But Siwiec sees signs that the tides are turning, if only slightly. Since April, he says he's noticed the market slowing, which he thinks may be related to heightened economic uncertainty. He's cutting costs at his brokerage to prepare. 'Today, of the 18 properties we list for sale, I should have 18 sales under my belt,' he said. 'I will have 10 or 11. That's shocking.' Ahmed Munasser, 33, has plenty of experience navigating the Rochester market. He works in the mortgage industry and has previously purchased investment properties in the region. When it came time to buy a home for himself, he searched for about four months and switched real estate agents after several of his early offers didn't pan out. He ended up buying in the nearby suburb of Greece, N.Y., with a strategy that included a larger-than-typical deposit and giving the home's previous owners a month to vacate after closing. Despite the challenges, Munasser said this was one of his easier searches. These days, 'a lot of houses don't go for a lot more than the asking price,' he said. 'Some of them do — I was looking at one house that went for $120,000 over the asking price. But others only go like 20, 30 or 40K over.' His winning bid? $9,000 over list. Claire Boston is a Senior Reporter for Yahoo Finance covering housing, mortgages, and home insurance. Sign up for the Mind Your Money newsletter
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A midsize city in upstate New York is the country's toughest housing market this spring
To hear local Realtors tell it, losing a few bidding wars is a rite of passage for any prospective homebuyer in Rochester, N.Y. In the western New York city, homes typically go from listed to under contract in a matter of days. A well-kept home can command dozens of offers. Listing prices might as well be starting bids. Agents often advise clients surfing online listings to set their price filters well below what they actually hope to pay, to account for the inevitable bidding wars. By many metrics, Rochester, a city of 200,000 on the banks of Lake Ontario, has the most competitive housing market in the country. Zillow's market heat index, which measures factors like time on market, interest in active listings, and price cuts, ranks Rochester as a tougher place to buy a home than San Francisco, San Jose, Boston, and New York. The index considers any reading over 70 to be a strong seller's market. Rochester scores a 146.5. 'After one or two offers, they kind of get the hang of it, and then they listen to my advice,' said Talha Shahid, a real estate agent in the city. He tries to prepare his buyers for the reality that a home listed at $300,000 will likely sell for $350,000, and that any offers with inspection contingencies usually aren't competitive. Learn more: Is now a good time to buy a house? So, how did a city whose population peaked in 1950 end up with one of the most cutthroat real estate markets in the US? The answer, somewhat counterintuitively, has to do with its affordability. The median home in the metro area of about 1 million sold for $225,000 at the end of March, according to the Greater Rochester Association of Realtors. That's up 12.5% from a year earlier, but still cheap enough to be achievable for buyers earning $60,000 to $80,000. The area's median household income was around $67,000 in 2022, and major employers span several relatively well-paying industries like healthcare and higher education. Paychex, a publicly traded payroll provider, is headquartered in the city, while the corporate offices of East Coast grocery store chain Wegmans are in a nearby suburb. Read more: How much house can I afford with a $70,000 salary? 'We're catching up with the rest of the country,' said Jonathan Long, a Rochester-based mortgage loan consultant with 1st Priority Mortgage. 'The housing market is a little tough, and mortgage payments are a little tough right now, but all in all, I would still say it's a super affordable place to live.' 'Nothing out there' Meanwhile, the region has struggled for years with a deep inventory shortage. There were just 913 homes for sale at the end of March, down 8.1% from a year ago, according to the Realtors association. On average, a home spends just eight days on the market. 'There's nothing out there,' said Mark Siwiec, the CEO of Elysian Homes, a Rochester-based real estate brokerage. 'Post-Great Recession, we are shy 18,000 housing units.' Siwiec blames the inventory problem on multiple factors: a lack of building throughout the region due to factors including higher costs and local politics, homeowners staying in place longer, and, of course, people with 3% mortgages who don't want to move now that rates are more like 6.8%. Learn more: When will mortgage interest rates go down to 4%? Right now, homebuilders have little incentive to come to the area because low home prices often translate to thinner margins. According to Richard Deitz, a Buffalo-based economic policy adviser at the New York Fed, while Rochester is reinventing itself as a healthcare and education hub after decades of manufacturing job losses and the shrinkage of Eastman Kodak and Xerox, the area's economy is relatively weak and its population is slowly falling. 'This isn't a matter of a booming economy and population growth bidding up home prices,' Deitz said. 'There's so little for sale that it's bidding up prices of what's there.' With little new construction available, many buyers are considering older homes. Colonial styles are popular in the region, as are American Foursquares, a boxy two-story home type commonly constructed between the late 1800s and the 1940s. By subscribing, you are agreeing to Yahoo's Terms and Privacy Policy Buyers are often a mix of investors, locals, and relocators. Homeownership costs in the region are fairly low compared to average rents, making it a popular place to own rentals. But Siwiec sees signs that the tides are turning, if only slightly. Since April, he says he's noticed the market slowing, which he thinks may be related to heightened economic uncertainty. He's cutting costs at his brokerage to prepare. 'Today, of the 18 properties we list for sale, I should have 18 sales under my belt,' he said. 'I will have 10 or 11. That's shocking.' Ahmed Munasser, 33, has plenty of experience navigating the Rochester market. He works in the mortgage industry and has previously purchased investment properties in the region. When it came time to buy a home for himself, he searched for about four months and switched real estate agents after several of his early offers didn't pan out. He ended up buying in the nearby suburb of Greece, N.Y., with a strategy that included a larger-than-typical deposit and giving the home's previous owners a month to vacate after closing. Despite the challenges, Munasser said this was one of his easier searches. These days, 'a lot of houses don't go for a lot more than the asking price,' he said. 'Some of them do — I was looking at one house that went for $120,000 over the asking price. But others only go like 20, 30 or 40K over.' His winning bid? $9,000 over list. Claire Boston is a Senior Reporter for Yahoo Finance covering housing, mortgages, and home insurance. Sign up for the Mind Your Money newsletter Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
