Rough Winter Creates Challenging Real Estate Market In Mass.
BOSTON (CBS) - With snowbanks so high you can't even see homeowners' "For Sale" signs, this winter has offered a challenging real estate market.
"Buyers can get a little discouraged; sellers certainly can get frustrated in this situation," says Sheri Sibley, Owner/Broker at Vantage Point Realty Advisors.
Among the challenges: who would buy something they can't see?
"That's a challenge for people coming onto the market right now, underneath this snow," says Amanda Carr, one of Vantage Point's realtors.
The team at Vantage Point Realty has been offering a Duxbury home and horse farm on Congress Street for quite a while. But now, with the picturesque property buried by a few feet, it kind of loses its appeal.
Keeping up with snow removal proved too much for the owners, who pulled their listing off the market last week.
"We needed a break," explains homeowner Anna Eriksson. "We just wanted to take rest for a little while. But actually we plan on putting it back on in April, just to get through the winter."
Luckily this house was photographed before the deep freeze, a decision that always works well for anyone hoping to sell in the winter.
"Some properties don't have the advantage of people being able to see what it looks like," Carr says.
That might be keeping both buyers and sellers out of the market. The number of homes for sale in Massachusetts is now at an all-time low.
"These last few weeks have been a little challenging," adds Sibley, who says the current conditions might present an opportunity for those who take advantage of them. She suggests buyers and sellers get into the market now, before a glut of activity slows things down in the late spring and summer.