Shift happens. But is our California real estate market shifting now too?
There are all kinds of stories out there that seem to be saying that it is. Last week I was at a meeting with some big time Silicon Valley real estate brokers, and they agreed that the market has definitely changed. They said that multiple offers are history for now, properties aren’t selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars over asking price, and there’s no need to set an offer deadline anymore because you’re lucky if a seller gets so much as a single offer.
This is radically different than the kind of talk we heard earlier in the year about our market, so I did some research of my own on this topic. From what I can tell, the market is pretty much just following its normal yearly pattern.
In the summertime, the market usually hits a bit of a lull. In our area, we have two big markets—the spring market (which was a very strong seller’s market this year) and the fall market. We’re just now sliding into the fall market, and based on the numbers I’m seeing, we should still have a strong market for sellers.
Inventory has built up over the year (as it does, every year). You’ll note there are price reductions happening because people overpriced their properties earlier in the year and now they want to get them sold before winter, so you will see a lot price reductions. It’s important to note, though, that these are asking prices. I haven’t yet seen actual sale prices dropping in any substantial way.
Around here, the fall market is a great time to sell a home – some years, the highest sale prices of the year are recorded in October and November. If you’re thinking about selling your home, my advice is to sell while we know the selling is still good. Rather than rolling the dice and seeing how good 2019 could pan out to be, give me a call so we can talk about what we can do to get your home sold for top dollar in what’s shaping up to be a strong fall market.
As always, if you have any other real estate questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d be glad to help you!
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