I want to start by thanking all of you who have read my blog. So far no corporation has contacted me to ask to advertise on my site because of my incredible readership, but enough of you are reading and commenting to make me feel as if my efforts are worthwhile, so thank you very much.
2009 has been quite a year for real estate. Silicon Valley has seen some changes that many people never saw coming. While some cities were not hit by huge waves of foreclosures or short sales, no place was immune from a drop in value. At the start of the year mortgages, particularly jumbo mortgages were hard to get, but that has passed. While we will never go back to the days where the qualification to get a mortgage was a pulse, there is money available for people with provable income, down payment, and credit. In many areas a flood of foreclosures caused a huge drop in value, followed by a wave of cash rich investors buying up property and the return of multiple offers for well priced homes. In Palo Alto we saw a slower drop in prices, a big increase in inventory, followed by a drop in inventory and now a more balanced market.
I have personally experienced a very different kind of buyer and seller this year, and a change in what is expected of an agent. Some of my personal encounters with buyers:
1. Buyers are better educated than ever before and pay a lot of attention to numbers, values, and market trends. The home of my dream concept has often been replaced by the deal of my dream.
2. Buyers will go to web sites like Zillow and Redfin for information, but many still want the extra help that a local agent can give them to determine value.
3. There is an increase in buyers in think they know enough to attempt to buy a home without using an agent.
4. Buyers who find me on the internet trust me more than buyers I meet at open houses. This is the fact I find more interesting than anything else I have encountered this year. I guess that my writing makes people feel they know me, which I think is a good thing.
My personal encounters with sellers:
1. While selling a home where a bank is involved, ie a REO, has a level of frustration unequaled by any other type of sale, you can be assured that the house is going to be sold at whatever price the market will bear. The bank will not withdraw the listing just because they can not get their expected price.
2. Last Jan short sales had about a 10% chance of closing. I do not know the national average for closings, but most banks are allowing the process to proceed and eventually closing many of short sales rather than foreclosing.
3. Estate sales, whether they are trusts or probates also close. The estate has to sell and will do it at market value and not throw a hissy fit and go home if they do not get what they want. Well, they may throw a hissy fit, but eventually they still make the sale.
4. Individual sellers are still often unrealistic and think their home is worth more than a buyer thinks it is worth. This is nothing new, but what is new is that these sellers now have competition from the above three types of sales so very often an individual seller will just not sell if he or she does not like the market value.
What has not changed for me this year is my belief that real estate is a wonderful long term wealth builder and if you buy a home, pay it off, and have it to live in, rent out, or give to your heirs, it is a smart way to spend your money. I also still believe in the home of your dreams, even if many of my clients do not.
Thank you all for your support and your disagreements, I learn from both.
Marcy Moyer
Intero Real Estate
D.R.E. 01191194
650-619-9285
