DENVER (KDVR) — Denver’s hot housing market has convinced some homeowners now is the time to sell even if they don’t need to.
Robert Thompson bought his home in the Whittier neighborhood in 2000 for $215,000.
“You know, when we first bought this 20 years ago, my mom came and walked through and she looked at me and said ‘You paid how much for this?’ She thought it was a total waste of money. She thought it was a total dive neighborhood.”
But even Thompson and his husband Genaro Mercado Perea never guessed their 1,680 square foot home would sell for $775,000, without even having to list it.
“As this drama in the market continues to build, we both thought, ‘Well, we can wait and probably not get as much or see what happens now.’ So we saw what happens now and we took advantage of it,” said Thompson.
They’ve already bought their retirement home in central Mexico where Perea is from. The new house located in a gated community is twice as big but only cost $150,000.
“The market there and the market here, there’s just no comparison. This is insane here,” said Thompson.
What Thompson and Perea took advantage of is what others like Sally Dehetre are considering.
“If I want to make a change, now might be the perfect time,” said DeHetre, who lives in the Cherry Creek Farm subdivision in Englewood.
In late April, she posted a message on Nextdoor that read in part, “I’m seriously considering selling my house in this crazy market” and would-be buyers immediately contacted her.
“I’m now up to about 15 people that have asked for more information,” said DeHetre.
She hasn’t even decided if she’s going to list her home, but after seeing her neighbors sell their home for $770,000 when the asking price was $700,000, she figures now might be the time.
“I definitely want to maximize, maximize what I can get for it,” said DeHetre, before adding, “The age my kids are, they’re really young. They can still deal with a change in school.”
Zillow and Redfin have already made her hassle-free offers, but DeHetre knows she could get more in a bidding war from desperate home buyers.
Still, the profit she and her husband would earn only makes sense if they’re willing to leave the suburbs of Denver for somewhere cheaper.
“It would be great to not have a mortgage, I mean it’s very, very tempting,” said DeHetre, who acknowledged that would only be possible if she relocated her family to a place with a lower cost of living. “I do have relatives in Florida or south Texas, or my brother is in Kansas, so there are different options.”
Thompson said selling now was a no-brainer for him and his husband.
“We can have a great retirement, we can now plan for that.”