Zillow has come out with their analysis of when the best time to list a house in each metro area. I scoffed at the accuracy factor in my video, but Zillow is large enough that the headline is all that matters – and people like to hear a date that confirms their belief.
San Diego is one of the warm-weather states that has an earlier start, and the last two weeks of March are the ideal time here to sell for a whopping 1% more!
It probably doesn’t matter when or how much, or even how accurate. It sounds like good advice, and it coincides with expectations. If potential sellers go along, we should see a healthy dose of new inventory over the next 30 days!
There were 123 new listings this week, compared to 80 the previous week, and it was the highest count since early July. The season is here!
Last week we saw how the higher-end inventory had ballooned, and now there are 666 active listings over $1,400,000 in NSDCC.
But since last Monday, 26 houses listed over $1.4M have gone pending!
In 2015, there were 973 higher-end sales (avg 81/mo.), and 53% of them closed in the first half of the year. It is conceivable that we could do it again!
Click on the link below for the complete NSDCC active-inventory data:
Down the hill yesterday, there was a competing open house of a smaller 2,400sf single-level with a west view – their list price is $699,900. If you don’t need a big house and can live with some freeway noise, that would look like a deal.
Yet, it must have made my $1,119,000 listing look good – I have two offers in hand, and a third expected today.
The CAR sent out a survey recently, and these are my answers – plus I added a few extra questions at the end:
Please comment on how technology changes such as online homebuying platforms may change your compensation and role as a homebuyer agent:
Homebuying platforms will be forced onto the consumer by outsiders while the old-guard realtor industry stands by idly.
Please briefly comment on which lender services provided to agents are most important and why:
Having a competent staff that can close a loan on time without drama. Very hard to find.
Please comment on how recent actions of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may affect services that lenders provide to real estate agents:
No impact – they need perp walks to wake up realtors and lenders to RESPA violations.
Please briefly comment on why preapproved homebuyers are a plus or minus:
Preapproved doesn’t mean much today with the incessant re-underwriting of the loan package by nervous lenders. It doesn’t occur to buyers that they should ask their realtor for a lender referral. They are empowered by the internet to shop for themselves, and many like to walk into their local branch, which is usually the worst place to go.
Please comment on how you make mortgage recommendations:
Based on loan type needed – different lenders have different specialties.
What is the impact of TRID on your closings?
One more thing for bank employees to blame for their own blundering incompetence. Realtors have to babysit the lenders every day if they want a sale to close on time. For some reason – probably due to their refinancings not having a time crunch – most lenders are oblivious to their customers planning their move around the close date.
Other questions:
Why hasn’t there been more disruption to the real estate industry?
Because change would need to come from the consumers – realtors like it fine the way it is. But consumers just grab an agent and go – they get what they get, and move on. Until an outside company spends million of dollars to advertise their disruptive new alternative, any changes will happen slowly.
How many off-market sales are happening?
I’d say less than 5% of total sales. I just saw a good example where a seller/agent could have sold her house to an early buyer, but decided to hit the open market instead. These days, it is irresistible for sellers to find what the market will bear. The pocket/off-market sales happen where sellers aren’t as invested in getting every last dollar, like out-of-town inheritees who just want to hurry up and get their hands on the money.
How is agent competency?
You really see it now that Zillow is publicizing the agents’ sales history. Most are single-digit for the last 12 months, and those are agents who are paying to advertise on Zillow – think of the rest!
Is another bubble forming?
Probably, but it’s not as pop-able because the vast majority of new buyers over the last five years have used a decent down payment, and had to survive a rigorous qualification to get a loan. It would take an economic downturn for the overall market to ‘pop’. Let’s call it a perma-bubble for now, where sellers are prone to wait for months or years to see if any buyer will come along.
When we think of home security systems, we usually think of alarms that make a lot of noise, but do they really deter the intruder before they steal anything?
Check out the fog cannon. It’s a security device that fills the room with dense fog in seconds, making it very difficult for the intruder to see anything.
A fog cannon is mounted in plain sight, and looks similar to an air conditioner. Connect it to your traditional alarm, and when the alarm is triggered, fog will fill the room in less than five seconds.
The fog is harmless to humans and pets, fixtures and furniture, and computer equipment. Once the fog has filled a room, it takes about 20 minutes to clear out by opening windows and using fans.
Watch the 35-second video below to see a fog cannon in action:
During the bust that followed last decade’s housing boom, hundreds of thousands of Californians lost their homes to foreclosure. It was a process later found to be rife with problems, such as overwhelmed bank employees who sometimes didn’t even read the foreclosure documents in front of them.
But challenging foreclosures on the basis of paperwork problems proved to be mostly futile, given California courts had ruled that borrowers who weren’t paying their mortgages didn’t suffer financial harm.
Now, a recent decision by the California Supreme Court will allow some of those former homeowners to pursue lawsuits and possibly win damages for wrongful foreclosure even if they were in default.
“They opened the courthouse doors,” said Katherine Porter, a law professor at UC Irvine and a former monitor for a national settlement over foreclosure abuses.
A statute of limitations of four years might mean that the decision won’t help most of the nearly 1 million California homeowners who were foreclosed upon from 2007 to 2012, according to real estate data provider CoreLogic.
Still, Porter estimated there may be tens of thousands of Californians who could conceivably argue for damages given inconsistencies in documents that transferred their loans.
Others are more skeptical.
George Lefcoe, a professor at the USC Gould School of Law, said it will be very difficult for borrowers to prove that the ownership of their loans was so muddled that the foreclosure process was fatally flawed.
And even if borrowers do win the argument, it’s unclear what damages they may receive, if any.
The number of sales is a leading indicator, and a precursor of things to come. It’s doubtful that home sellers will get too concerned about a couple of data points, but it will be interesting to see if the trend of fewer sales continues:
NSDCC Houses Sold in February
Year
Under-$1,400,000
Over-$1,400,000
Total # of Houses Sold
2012
154
30
184
2013
144
44
188
2014
139
41
180
2015
111
59
170
2016
88
45
133
Up until this year, the mix seemed about right – fewer lower-end sales, and as prices climbed, more high-enders. But last month saw both totals drop – significantly.
There will be a few more late-reporters, but last month also had one additional business day so the 22% drop in sales year-over-year is noteworthy. The 45 sales over $1,400,000 doesn’t look too bad compared to years prior to 2015, but here’s the kicker – there are 660 of those houses for sale, or a 15-month supply!
The GSDAR is still suing their fellow realtor associations in town over MLS data syndication. But that didn’t get in the way of them forging an agreement with this outside company to promote pocket listings.
But I don’t think they understand the ‘pre-market’ listings. Realtors who ‘pocket’ their listings are looking for their own buyers. If they are going to share them with fellow realtors, just put them on the regular MLS.
If any agent uses this new system as a private club to promote their Coming Soon listings only to their buddies – and are willing to cut a deal prior to MLS submission – it shouldn’t take long for them to get sued for breaching their fiduciary duty to their seller. The evidence will be everywhere!
I’m all for the international initiatives, and hopefully that will be the main thrust of this partnership. But it sounds like GSDAR is trying to set up their own MLS too.
VANCOUVER, BC–(Marketwired – March 01, 2016) – RESAAS Services Inc., a cloud-based social business platform for the real estate services industry, is pleased to announce that it has signed a five year agreement with the Greater San Diego Association of REALTORS.
This agreement will allow all 12,000 member REALTORS® of SDAR, the largest real estate association in San Diego County, to share lightweight property listings with one another while providing SDAR visibility into this pre-market activity.
This is the second real estate association to take advantage of the revolutionary real-time listing sharing solution that gives member REALTORS® and the MLS themselves instant visibility into listings that are of pre-market status. In addition, the creation of a SDAR network on the RESAAS platform will allow its members to grow their international referral business and expand the exposure of their property listings.
“We pride ourselves on continually offering progressive technologies to our 12,000 members,” said Michael Mercurio, CEO of the Greater San Diego Association of REALTORS®. “We see RealTimeMLS as a key addition that will allow our agents to share listings and referrals quickly and easily amongst each other. Apart from communicating about local news and listings, we are looking forward to expanding the international reach of real estate in San Diego County. We have a number of international initiatives underway and see RESAAS as a vital component in facilitating those goals.”
Pre-market transactions are often difficult to track and measure, which can lead to a large percentage of sales not being recorded in the MLS records. As a result, there is incomplete sales data, making the Comparative Market Analysis (CMAs or “comps”) inaccurate. The solution provided by the RESAAS platform will allow MLSs to track data more easily, in an efficient manner.
“The increase in pre-market activity has heightened the need for real estate associations and MLSs to continually enhance their value proposition for their membership,” said James Hayden, VP of Enterprise Accounts. “At RESAAS, we always focus on real scenarios that are facing the real estate industry and use our technology to provide complete solutions that are implemented to benefit the entire organization at large.”
BOSTON (CBS) — See a house for sale in Boston? Like the price? Don’t get too comfortable.
If you want to buy property in certain areas around the city, real estate agent David Bates says you should be prepared to shell out a lot more money than what the sellers are asking.
“We’re seeing, literally, condos selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars more than the list price,” said Bates. “It’s almost like their listing prices don’t exist.”
Bates says limited inventory and a steady demand has created a market where buyers are typically going at least $50,000 over the asking price–and sometimes, a whole lot more.
“The highest over-ask in Boston was $675,000 more than the list price,” said Bates.
He says he’s never seen such a competitive market. He said another of the most extreme examples was a $15 million condo.
“Because the competition was so intense for it, it ended up selling for $15.4 million, $400,000 over,” said Bates.
Bates, who also authors the Bates Real Estate Report, says buyers need to know that going in, so they’re not shocked when a bidding war ensues.
“Buyers aren’t trying to negotiate value in Boston anymore,” Bates said. “They’re trying to win.”
The problem, Bates said, is happening in other markets, too–but he cautioned buyers who want their money to go further to consider a town or neighborhood just a little farther down the line.
“If you’re thinking in Cambridge, you can move one market over and consider Somerville,” suggested Bates. “If things seem too overwhelming, too competitive that you’re not getting enough for your money, consider the next market over.”
Bates says he warns his clients to be ready so they can make a decision–either offer up more money, or consider a different location.
