Kayla and I saw this house on broker preview day in May, and filmed this for a potential buyer. It has since closed for $3,050,000 cash last month, which shows how Del Mar Terrace is getting more love these days!
I said in the video that you’d be seeing some dazzling sunsets, but, if so, it would only be in the winter that you’d see the sun actually set:
There is so little confidence in realtor.com that the major players are creating their own real estate search portals. These portals could require the consumer to at least register your name and email address, and then the solicitations will commence. The article asks agents, “Would you pay 35% referral fees for scrubbed leads?” – and 71% of them answered No.
The nation’s largest real estate brokerage, NRT LLC, is preparing to launch two new search portals that are aimed at reducing the company’s reliance on leads from Zillow, Trulia and realtor.com, attracting homebuyers by offering access to a complete set of MLS listings in markets where NRT operates, plus bells and whistles like automated valuations.
NRT is hoping to not only boost the number of leads it generates in-house, but to more than double the number of high-quality “scrubbed” leads that it can collect a 35 percent referral fee on from select agents.
One of the new search portals, code-named “Project Flanker,” will feature automated valuations like Zillow’s “Zestimates,” and Internet Data Exchange (IDX) listings sourced from the multiple listing services in the more than 40 large U.S. metros where NRT has offices. The other website will consolidate most of NRT’s local operating company websites under one URL. Both websites are expected to launch by the end of the year.
Last year, NRT handled 1.5 million Internet leads for its agents, NRT CEO Bruce Zipf told analysts attending an investor day hosted by Realogy this spring. Only 30 percent of those leads came from NRT’s local operating company websites, Zipf said. The remainder came from more than 700 real estate-related websites that the company uses to generate leads — the top sources being realtor.com, Zillow and Trulia.
Read full article here:
We are still getting reports that year-over-year sales are declining, and that means something is wrong or bad. Below they are comparing the counts to last year’s frenzy numbers and are crying wolf. But what do you expect when the frenzy is over?
Our local stats look great – this year NSDCC has about the same number of July sales as we did two years ago, when prices were 20% lower (some late-reporters still coming too).
| NSDCC Sales, July | ||
| 2001 | ||
| 2002 | ||
| 2003 | ||
| 2004 | ||
| 2005 | ||
| 2006 | ||
| 2007 | ||
| 2008 | ||
| 2009 | ||
| 2010 | ||
| 2011 | ||
| 2012 | ||
| 2013 | ||
| 2014 |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From the U-T:
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/aug/03/housing-market-flashes-caution/
A time-tested signal of weakness in the housing market is flashing yellow.
When you compare the number of home sales (which are highly seasonal) with those from the same month a year earlier, this key measure has declined in San Diego County for nine consecutive months through June — with five at double-digit rates.
Statewide trends are similar, with 11 straight months of year-over-year sales declines, according to the latest figures from DataQuick, a company that tracks transactions reported to county governments.
“My sellers are in complete shock. We’re getting no calls, no inquiries. It’s like the market just went away,” said Kimberly Dotseth, a San Diego real estate broker. “Buyers think prices are too high.”
An exception is the lower-priced segment of the market, where homes listed for $400,000 or less are still receiving multiple offers and quick sales. This supports the view that high price might be a primary factor discouraging many sales, rather than other factors such as tough lending standards or too few homes on the market.
In the history of housing markets, downturns typically have begun with sales weakness that sometimes ended up forcing down prices, but not always.
This holds back the wider economy, even if home prices don’t fall in the near future — as they have twice since 2006. That’s because low sales activity reduces a giant source of spending for remodeling, decorating and new construction.
Given the trauma of the last decade, the condition of the local housing market is a serious subject.
Read the full article here:
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/aug/03/housing-market-flashes-caution/
Snippets of things happening around town. There’s a guy in here who could use your help – if you can do anything for him, he’d probably appreciate it:
Last month we had 452 new listings in NSDCC, which is the second lowest July total of the last five years. But they aren’t selling like they used to, and the count of active listings has risen sharply over the last few weeks:
The UNDER-$800,000 Market:
| Date | ||||
| November 25 | ||||
| December 2 | ||||
| December 9 | ||||
| December 16 | ||||
| December 23 | ||||
| December 30 | ||||
| January 6 | ||||
| January 13 | ||||
| January 20 | ||||
| January 27 | ||||
| February 3 | ||||
| February 10 | ||||
| February 17 | ||||
| February 24 | ||||
| March 3 | ||||
| March 10 | ||||
| March 17 | ||||
| March 24 | ||||
| March 31 | ||||
| April 7 | ||||
| April 14 | ||||
| April 21 | ||||
| April 28 | ||||
| May 5 | ||||
| May 12 | ||||
| May 19 | ||||
| May 26 | ||||
| Jun 2 | ||||
| Jun 9 | ||||
| Jun 16 | ||||
| Jun 23 | ||||
| Jun 30 | ||||
| Jul 7 | ||||
| Jul 14 | ||||
| Jul 21 | ||||
| Jul 28 | ||||
| Aug 4 |
The $800,000 – $1,400,000 Market:
| Date | ||||
| November 25 | ||||
| December 2 | ||||
| December 9 | ||||
| December 16 | ||||
| December 23 | ||||
| December 30 | ||||
| January 6 | ||||
| January 13 | ||||
| January 20 | ||||
| January 27 | ||||
| February 3 | ||||
| February 10 | ||||
| February 17 | ||||
| February 24 | ||||
| March 3 | ||||
| March 10 | ||||
| March 17 | ||||
| March 24 | ||||
| March 31 | ||||
| April 7 | ||||
| April 14 | ||||
| April 21 | ||||
| April 28 | ||||
| May 5 | ||||
| May 12 | ||||
| May 19 | ||||
| May 26 | ||||
| Jun 2 | ||||
| Jun 9 | ||||
| Jun 16 | ||||
| Jun 23 | ||||
| Jun 30 | ||||
| Jul 7 | ||||
| Jul 14 | ||||
| Jul 21 | ||||
| Jul 28 | ||||
| Jul 21 |
The full tour of mostly Chevys below!
The non-gearheads can repeat the first Kayla’s Korner video (she does has more than one outfit):
The son of a past client scored a good job in San Francisco a few years back, and is looking at 1-bedroom condos going for $700,000 – $800,000.
They wondered if I had any tips.
Good golly, at that rate I better come up with something!
HOMEBUYING TIPS
1. Get a good realtor. These high-dollar areas pay big commissions and thus, attract plenty of real estate licensees. But you need a great agent who knows more than you do, and brings extra value to the equation. Ask how many times they’ve talked someone out of buying a home recently.
Not only will a great agent make you feel comfortable about the price/value equation, but their market cred will help too – because good agents want to work with good agents. It happens regularly that my personal relationship with the other agent makes a difference in the outcome.
How do you find a good agent? The best luck I’ve had is searching for agents at Zillow, but you have to read through sales histories and testimonials (in that order) of each agent to find the right fit. Also check their recent sales history to see if they have been selling similar homes and/or working your area.
I don’t care what company an agent works for, because real estate is an individual sport. I’m not impressed by the big realtor teams either – I want individual attention. I reviewed the first two pages on Zillow for San Francisco agents, and found this one:
http://www.zillow.com/profile/Deborah-Nguyen/
An agent’s recent sales is the best measure, and not only is she selling 3-4 per month but she also lists her annual production too – and she was consistent during the downturn. She has been a realtor for 20 years, and has over 300 closings submitted to Zillow.
She has three listings, which, in this market, is about right – if you are good, they should be selling, not sitting. Plus she has a 1-bedroom listing for $735,000! I don’t know if she passes you off to an assistant, but if not, she’s a qualified possibility.
The agents input their own listings and sales history, and Zillow provides a form for them to email to past clients to solicit their testimonials. But all of her client ratings were the full five stars, which is exceptional.
2. Buy For the Long-Term. You may get stuck with this one for a while, so make sure you get what you want and need. Keep exploring other areas for alternatives you haven’t thought of yet.
3. Know the Inventory. You may only have minutes to make decisions, be prepared. Get auto-notifications of new listings to stay up on the market, and go to open houses – not just to find a home to buy, but also to study the market patterns. You may not buy this one, but when you see it go pending, know why somebody else found it attractive. If nothing else, at least be an online expert that follows the data closely – and don’t be surprised if you keep seeing crazy sales; they are almost always attributed to buyer frustration and lousy representation.
4. Get Pre-Qualified. Once you select a realtor, get pre-qualified for a mortgage using their recommended lender – they might bring some street cred too. You either use a 20% down payment or you don’t, and either is fine. If you don’t want to use a 20% down payment, you can do an 80/10/10 (1st and 2nd loans) that will at least lock you in to a low-rate 1st mortgage for the duration. If you end up with less than 20% down and only want a first mortgage, you need PMI – private mortgage insurance. But if you get lucky, you can have the seller pay the entire premium up front (around 3%), so it won’t cost you anything monthly.
5. Know the Contract. With Docusign, the electronic-signature process, signing a contract goes a little too fast. Instead of reading the contract together with your agent in the corner booth at the local coffee shop, today you just rapid-click on your phone or PC to imprint your initials and signatures and whoosh, off it goes. Know what you are signing! The two most important paragraphs are 3K and 14.
6. Time is of the Essence. It is likely that most buyers will lose at least one property because they don’t react fast enough. I just had a case where I called the listing agent of a house that my clients had just decided to buy. The listing agent told me that she had been working back-and-forth with a buyer and other agent, and had just received a counter-offer that was acceptable to her sellers – and she was about to send it to them for final signature!
In these moments, your agent has to say the right thing. In this case, not only did I stop the agent from signing a cash offer, I got her to accept my financed buyers’ offer instead!
This is a fast-moving environment and each day the best deals get picked up – if you like a home, chances are somebody else does too.
7. Consider Fixers. Be picky about location and floor plan, because you can’t change those. But most buyers shy away from homes that need work, which can open up opportunities. Get comfortable with the costs of fixing in advance, and know what you are looking at. You can get a full evaluation and cost estimate during your contingency period.
8. Make Offers. Once your first salvo goes over the bow, the comfort level improves greatly. Include a love letter that tugs at the sellers’ heartstrings.
9. What to Offer. The price to offer is directly related to the time on market. If it is the first week of the listing and you recognize it to be a good value, you will probably have to pay all the money. But I hate to offer full price, because in the first week the sellers want to dicker, and full price doesn’t give them anywhere to go. If you know there aren’t any other offers, then come in $20,000, $30,000 or $40,000 under the list price so the math is easy for the seller to split the difference. If you hear subsequently that there are other offers, re-submit your offer with a higher price so you don’t get forgotten.
10. Use Bubbleinfo.com as a Resource – You may not get any local-SF specific data but general information is available by using the Search feature at the top of the front page here. For example, I typed in ‘Bidding Wars’ and got this link to a wide-ranging set of blog posts about winning a bidding war:
https://www.bubbleinfo.com/?s=bidding+war&x=0&y=0
You and your agent need to be bidding-war experts. The low-end is what’s moving the fastest, and though $700,000-$800,000 sounds insane for one-bedroom condos, it is what it is.
Plan on devoting time and energy to this project. The more invested, the better the results!
Zillow’s “Coming Soon” feature is picking up steam – up to 16 listings in SDCO:
Here is the list of 16 properties:
But that’s out of 8,669 properties for sale, which is only 2/10s of 1%.
We would need hundreds of Coming Soons to have any impact on the way homes are sold. Besides, the consumers won’t pay much attention unless they see several “Coming Soon” listings in their target area and price range.
Only the Premier Agents can utilize it, which probably cuts it down to a couple of hundred agents at most.
It would take a major advertising campaign by Zillow to turn the ‘Coming Soon’ feature into anything that benefits the masses.
As prices rise, the inferior locations are the first to feel it – although this is an extreme example. But hey, it’s Carmel Valley!
The folks at Inman News asked people in the business how they thought the ZT merger would affect brokers and agents:
http://www.inman.com/2014/08/01/the-bottom-line-of-the-zillow-trulia-deal-for-brokers-and-agents/
I was one of the agents invited – here are my thoughts:
Realtor.com should be the pre-eminent real estate website on the planet, but instead it just got ran over by Zillow-Trulia. The people at Move, Inc. and the N.A.R. leadership have failed you miserably, but it is too late now.
Get over it.
What does the merger mean? It means that Godzillow will be doing more to drive consumers to their websites. Transparency will increase, and consumers, armed with more knowledge, will be empowered to make better decisions.
At least that’s what the consumers will think.
Have you noticed how consumers can recite the comps off the top of their head now? Can you do that? You better hope so, because consumers will expect their agent to know more than they do.
The agents who stay ahead of consumers by immersing themselves in their craft should enjoy a healthy business for years to come.
Other things the merger will cause, and agents should embrace:
1. Agent Rankings – Zillow already allows each agent to list their past sales, and testimonials from past clients. It is inevitable that they or someone will create a place for consumers to check on individual agents. Don’t like it? Increase your production and you will like it more.
2. Big Real Estate Corporations To Partner with Zillow-Trulia – It will be easier and more cost-effective for the big franchisors to ride on the Z-T coattails, than to fight it. Their ‘strategic partnerships’ will solidify the legitimacy of Zillow-Trulia in the consumer’s mind. Realtor.com should join the Zillow-Trulia team while we still have leverage!
3. Accurate Enough – Agents need to quit bashing Zillow with the ‘wildly inaccurate’ claims. They are much closer than they used to be, and Zillow is accurate with their other vital information, like the nearby listings and comps, schools, maps, mortgage payments, etc. The consumers take a zestimate with a grain of salt, and are tired of hearing agents harp on it so much.
4. Transparency – The merger is just the beginning. Other outsiders are taking direct aim at realtors, hoping to create a fancy internet website to replace us. Everything about the properties, realtors, and how we do business will be under scrutiny – get used to it.
The merger is just another press release. The bottom line is that Zillow-Trulia is another place for agents to farm for prospects. Agents can either get leads from your listings (which are still advertised for free) or they can choose to pay for advertising packages. Or you can ignore Zillow-Trulia, but at least know that the consumers love their websites.
Agents should acknowledge the existence and benefits of Zillow-Trulia, and keep providing better and more powerful information – that is what consumers want and need. Realtors who work harder and smarter will keep providing the critical part of the equation – expert help in the moment of need.
Are you looking for an experienced agent to help you buy or sell a home?
Contact Jim the Realtor!
CA DRE #01527365, CA DRE #00873197
