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Should Buyers Wait?

Should buyers wait a while to see what happens to the housing market?

Are we just seeing the usual end-of-selling-season malaise when where all of the motivated sellers have succeeded, and just the OPTs are stacking up?

Or has the market shifted…..for good? Is this the peak?

I think it depends on your needs:

Only buying a premium property – then stay in the hunt. In the last downturn, the prices of the premium properties held up well – most had less than a 10% decline in value, and that’s before people started hoarding real estate (not selling for any reason).
Only buying a single story – then stay in the hunt. The one-story market is red-hot, with demand far out-stripping supply, especially in the newer-home or view categories.
Willing to buy a fixer – be patient. Buy when you see the appropriate gap of 5% to 10% between the creampuffs and the ones that bark at traffic. If the home is in original condition, the gap should be larger.
Only want to steal a property – very unlikely in the near-term. Sellers aren’t that motivated, and only a small minority might consider selling for less than 5% of list.

We should be in a stagnant state for months, as everyone waits to see what happens next spring. But I think buyers will be similarly picky then too.

We’ll see the same or similar psychology take over the whole country at the same time – which is the way it always happens. What needs to adjust is the sellers’ trend to expect more than what the last guy got.

Here is a discussion guided by our friend and realtor Tom Stone about the market in Sonoma County (follow the link) – and check the comment section too, where Tom mentions the solution. Hat tip Eddie89!

Link to Full Article on Wolf Street

Posted by Jim the Realtor on Aug 16, 2018 in Jim's Take on the Market, Market Buzz, Thinking of Buying?, Thinking of Selling?, Why You Should Hire Jim as your Buyer's Agent, Why You Should List With Jim | 0 comments

Dallas

Daytrip keeps an eye out for the interesting buys – here’s one from Texas:

Only $1,725,000!

Link to Listing

Posted by Jim the Realtor on Aug 16, 2018 in Interesting Houses, Jim's Take on the Market | 0 comments

List-Price Increments

We see people changing their price by $1,000 or $5,000, and it makes you wonder what they are doing. They can’t actually believe that it will do any good, can they?

Here’s why they do it. Realtors tend to live off their MLS hotsheet, which is the day’s summary of listing activity. Every time a listing has a price change, it gets back onto the hotsheet, which reminds agents that it’s still for sale, and to consider showing it again.

But that’s the only reason. Nobody will be too impressed with a price change unless it is substantial, like 5% of the list price.

Back when houses sold in the $100,000s and $200,000s, a price change of $5,000 or $10,000 was 5% or more. But now that 94% of the NSDCC houses for sale are listed over $900,000, buyers get annoyed if you only change the price by a couple of bucks.

I used to think of pricing in easy-to-digest quarters. For example:

$999,000,

$1,029,000,

$1,049,000,

$1,079,000

$1,099,000.

But now that we have fewer comps, more listings not selling, and overall buyer exhaustion, we might as well cut to the chase. Besides, it’s hard to know where the values are when they can change +/- $50,000 in an afternoon.

Let’s make it simple and just use two price points (half and full million):

$999,000

$1,049,000

$1,099,000

Today’s pricing is slushy enough that moving in $50,000 increments is a good way to keep a listing fresh and compelling!

Posted by Jim the Realtor on Aug 15, 2018 in Jim's Take on the Market, Listing Agent Practices, Thinking of Selling?, Why You Should List With Jim | 1 comment

Dream Home

$1.3 million gets you a decent Carlsbad tract house east of the I-5 these days!

Posted by Jim the Realtor on Aug 15, 2018 in Market Conditions, North County Coastal | 0 comments

Sell Your Home Now, or Later?

So you’ve heard that the market is a little uncertain right now, and you’re wondering if you should just wait a year or two before selling your residence.

If you don’t mind keeping the home forever, then fine, the value will probably go up in the long run. But if you’d rather get your hands on your tax-free equity in the next couple of years, consider this.

In the strong seller’s market we’ve enjoyed over the last nine years, buyers had to pay the price. There was enough competition that if you didn’t pay the seller’s price, somebody else would.

But lately we’ve seen the competition dwindle.

Let’s don’t call it a buyer’s market just yet. Let’s call it neutral.

If buyers feel they have more negotiating power, they are going to use it. They wait more patiently now, critique the comps more closely, and skip the fixers unless the price gap is appropriate. Sellers of the fixers got away with selling for just a little under the superior homes, but now the 5% to 10% gap is back.

Once the market has turned that corner, it probably won’t just bounce back to being a seller’s market the next spring.

How do you know if you should sell now, or take a chance?

Sell now if you have good comps.

You’re not going to have better comps next year. Why?

Because once buyers they recognize a slower market, they are going to dig in on price and only pay the same as the comps, or less. They will wait patiently for the more-motivated sellers who price close to the comps or just under. Those are the sales that will be setting the market.

So the best-case scenario is to have next-year’s prices be about the same as today. So you should sell now while you have the certainty.

Posted by Jim the Realtor on Aug 14, 2018 in Jim's Take on the Market, Listing Agent Practices, Market Buzz, Thinking of Selling?, Why You Should List With Jim | 3 comments

Instant Agent

At least you get to choose the realtor, instead of getting stuck with whoever shows up. I was able to install the mobile app from the Play Store but couldn’t get it to work (I’m rocking the Pixel 2 now). Hat tip Eddie89!

You’ve hailed rides using a mobile app before, but have you hailed real estate agents on one? If not, a new tool called ArriveHome seeks to change that.

A new app called ArriveHome is looking to streamline the real estate market. Designed for buyers who don’t yet have an agent or those who want to browse a home ASAP, ArriveHome makes finding a Realtor and scheduling a showing instant and easy.

Upon seeing a home they like, buyers log onto the app, browse the many “live” agents listed in the area and choose one they want to work with based on their profile and details. Next, they can click to text or call the agent and schedule a showing on the spot.

According to Jeff Narlinger, co-founder of ArriveHome, the app will help speed up the often slow showing process.

“[We are] melding the ‘on-demand/Amazon effect‘ into real estate, giving the consumer faster, easier access to properties,” Narlinger said. “No more sign calls or long e-mail threads that do not get returned quickly enough.”

The app isn’t just for the buyer, though, Narlinger said.

“Basically, what Uber did for the Taxi Industry, in providing efficiencies and advantages that both providers and consumers never knew they needed, that’s the impact we believe ArriveHome will have on the residential real estate industry in its benefits to the home search process for both agents and consumers alike,” he said.

ArriveHome is currently available in Colorado, California and Arizona on both iOS and Android devices. The company plans to expand to Nevada and Texas next.

Link to Article

Posted by Jim the Realtor on Aug 13, 2018 in Jim's Take on the Market, The Future, Tips, Advice & Links | 0 comments

Early Cardiff

A piece of coastal North County’s history from the early 20th century will be preserved, thanks to an alert citizen, some conscientious construction workers, and the cooperation of regional authorities.

In conjunction with the placement of a second track along the railroad that runs along California’s coast, the San Diego Association of Governments is overseeing the installation of a segment of the corridor’s regional biking and hiking trail in Encinitas’ Cardiff-by-the-Sea community.

Encinitas resident Ron Dodge, a student of the region’s railroad history, has been observing the rail trail project’s progress with particular attention to its path through the site of the old Cardiff train station.

The depot, which opened in 1913, and halted operations in 1921, was situated along the east side of the tracks just north of what today is the intersection of Chesterfield Drive and San Elijo Avenue.

On June 30, Dodge said, he observed that workers had uncovered a concrete slab at the site, which he believed was a remnant of the old station. He immediately contacted city officials, including Councilman Tony Kranz, who is also a railroad buff, and Mayor Catherine Blakespear, to get their help in verifying the discovery.

“I was pretty sure, but I was hedging my bet until I talked with Catherine and Tony,” Dodge said in an interview along with Blakespear at the site last week. “I wanted to obtain some additional details because you never can be too sure. It’s very exciting to uncover an artifact from the past.”

Blakespear is the city’s representative on the board of directors for the government association, and she worked with administrators there on preserving the slab.

Once its significance was confirmed, association administrators agreed to redesign and reroute the trail so the remnant of the station can be preserved.