NJ house-buying frenzy: Bidders aren’t even looking at homes

New Jersey’s red hot housing market has cooled off a bit over the last few months, but would-be buyers are still making eye-popping offers on homes they’re actually never seen before.

According to real estate agent Rob Dekanski of RE/MAX 1st advantage, who heads up the Rob Dekanski team, this is happening because after buyers initially enter the market they realize there is such competition they will have to act very quickly in making an offer on home to have a chance of actually getting it.

He said typically, after multiple bidding wars the buyer will start offering above the list price right away, sometimes way over list, then they may start waiving their appraisals and inspections and their offers get more and more attractive.

“A house comes out on the market, they know they want to be in that neighborhood or they know they want that community or they know it’s going to work for them, and they’re just going to fire an offer with their agent without even seeing the home, contingent of course on them walking through it," he said.

Dekanski said he’s never seen this kind of frenzied market before.

“That’s how little there is to choose from. They don’t want to waste any time. They’ve missed out on enough at that point, and sometimes yes, they are sending out offers sight unseen,” he said.

He pointed out in many cases buyers feel like this is the only way they’re going to wind up getting a home.

“They’re coming out, they’re looking, they’re making offers, they’re getting rejected and they’re losing bidding wars, and then they start getting more and more aggressive,” he said.

So who buys a house without actually seeing it?

Dekanski said this is happening across all different age groups.

“It’s anything from Millennials to Baby Boomers to even people retiring and going into adult communities,” he said.

He noted there are many variables that are affecting the housing market, including what town the home is located in, how it’s initially priced, and its proximity to New York City.

‘This is the most heated up sellers market in history according to people that follow this and they go back to the beginning of time with the housing market,” said Dekanski.

He explained after the market initially contracted at the beginning of the pandemic, it exploded in the late spring of 2020 as many people left cities and tall buildings in search of a more social distanced lifestyle.

Dekanski said even though there continues to be great demand for homes and prices are at extremely high levels, “it doesn’t mean you can’t go out and compete and get a house today.”

He pointed out some homes aren’t priced where they should be and “those are great opportunities for a buyer to negotiate.”

You can contact reporter David Matthau at David.Matthau@townsquaremedia.com