Would-Be Mt. Airy Home Buyers Get Creative

If you follow real estate stories, you probably know that there’s a shortage of homes on for sale in many parts of the country. This doesn’t mean there aren’t unsold houses sitting on the market, but houses in the most popular areas may be virtually unavailable.

Locally, we’re seeing low inventory in many areas. In Mt. Airy, buyers are beating the bushes to find houses for sale. There has been a recent spate of would-be buyers using a popular local listserv, Mt. Airy Parents Network (MAPN), in an attempt to find houses that haven’t hit the market yet or to motivate reluctant sellers to go ahead and list their houses already.

What does the Mt. Airy buyer want? The ones who post on MAPN have kids, so their ideal house has 3 to 5 bedrooms and 2 baths. Many people want to be within walking distance of the retail strip on Germantown Avenue between Mt. Pleasant and Mt. Airy Avenue.

The area around Weaver’s Way Co-op is even more desirable. That intersection has a bookstore, a cafe, a well-regarded public school, a dry cleaner, and a salvage shop.

“We are specifically looking within this few block radius,” a recent member of the listserv wrote, referring to the area around the co-op. “Although we’d love to find something soon, we’re pretty set on this location and willing to wait if necessary.”

Listserv moderator Catherine Collins has noticed an uptick in the number of real estate-related posts. “This type of would-be-buyer post has definitely increased over the last year,” she told us in an email. “We’ve always had some real estate posts by our members,
although not a lot. Usually, these posts were from individuals selling or renting their homes.”

Collins has no idea whether any buyers have successfully found homes on her listserv. But one thing is clear. If you own a family-friendly home in West Mt. Airy, then a lot of buyers are looking at you with envy right now.