If you see a house you want to buy in Huntsville, be ready to make an offer the day it goes up for sale.

That’s the advice from Cindi Peters-Tanner, president of the Huntsville Area Association of Realtors.

By all accounts the local housing market is sizzling.

“We have homes selling at a faster pace than we ever have in the past and we have probably the lowest inventory we’ve had in 15 years,” she said.

In April 2018, 4,200 homes were on the market compared to 3,300 a year later, association statistics show.

“We are a thousand homes less than the same time last year on the market in Madison County,” she said. “It’s insane.”

In Huntsville and Madison County, 668 homes sold in April, she said. A typical month is 400-450. In North Alabama, 1,325 homes sold in April. A good month would be 1,000.

“We haven’t had a typical week in two years,” she said. “The market’s been growing for two years. It’s just kind of gone nuts this year.”

Prices are still affordable and interest rates remain at 4 to 5 percent, she noted, but homes under $200,000 are snapped up. Historically most sales in this region would be houses under $150,000.

“If you can find anything under $200,000 it will be gone right away,” she said.

Besides frustrating some buyers, that means lower-income homebuyers aren’t able to grab an affordable property and are forced to rent.

Investors ‘buy anything’

Huntsville has been awash in great economic news lately, especially the tsunami of 4,000 jobs coming to the area in association with the Mazda-Toyota manufacturing plant. Auto supplier YKTA expects to hire 650 more. The FBI will be relocating 1,350 jobs here and its eventual presence on Redstone Arsenal is expected to total 4,000 to 5,000 people.

The demand for new homes is “primarily due to more and more people moving to Huntsville and first-time home buyers in the $250,000 and under range,” said Barry Oxley, executive officer of the Huntsville-Madison County Builders Association.

“The new home construction market in this area continues to be very strong with an increase in new construction permits by 15 percent over last year,” Oxley said. “Total home sales over the last three years has increased year after year by over 11 percent, while home prices have increased by 8 percent.”

Oxley said the association expects the strong demand for new home construction to “continue for at least the next five years.”

“We have one of the greatest economies around,” said Tanner. “If you want to work you can work. People are ready to start their families and get in a home and we don’t have any homes for them.”

All this means a good economy for home buyers and sellers as well as investors.

“I’ve got investors calling me from across the country,” she said. “North Alabama is getting national recognition.” Investors will “buy anything,” she said.

“Investors have bought up all the stuff in certain price points because they’re either flipping them or they’re renting them out.”

Some investors who want to snap up houses before they go on the market are sending direct mail to homeowners, often with a picture of their property, promising cash and as-is sales with no inspections. Sometimes people understandably need to sell quickly, Tanner said.

“The offers these sellers receive are typically much less than the market value for the home and don’t account for the demand in the market as well,” she said. “They will give you many reasons for the low offer they are making.

“If you are considering selling, take the time to make the phone call or e-mail to a Realtor and get the true picture of your home’s value.”

‘Never enough’

People love new homes but builders are running out of places to put them, Tanner said, and those often start at $250,000. The new 850-acre mixed-use development announced by the Hays family in south Huntsville may attract some people who want to move up to the expected 500 high-end homes. If so, maybe their older homes will go to first-time homebuyers.

“We need their homes to sell,” Tanner said. “The next generation needs a home.”

Still, “it’s never going to be enough right now,” she said.

“I am experiencing multiple offers on all of my properties,” she said. Tanner listed one house for $300,000 and it sold for cash, over the list price, with no closing costs and no inspections — in 12 hours.

“Just because it’s a seller’s market you can’t reach for pie in the sky,” she said. “It does not mean you can stick a sign in the yard and get it.”

If a buyer needs a mortgage the home must appraise for the sale price. That takes into account location and demand.

Prospective homeowners need to “have your financing lined up before you even get in the car” to look, she said. “Not every home will sell day one but a lot are.

“If it hit the market today you better be prepared to make an offer today. You can’t sleep on it anymore. If you see the perfect home today you’re going to kick yourself if you don’t do it” because the owners may get six offers overnight.

“We have people that come in and will buy a house in a weekend. They don’t have a choice. They’re relocating here,” Tanner said.

Characteristics buyers are looking for include hardwood floors, smooth ceilings (no popcorn), neutral paint colors, updated kitchens and bathrooms, granite or quartz countertops and at least some landscaping.

Even though the pressure is on to pounce on a home if you see one, Tanner said Realtors can help anyone wanting to buy or sell in this brisk market.

“This is what I want people to know. It’s not about sticking a sign in the yard. It’s about knowing the numbers. We do this every single day,” she said.