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As we all have come to see, interest rates remain steady and the housing inventory is plummeting from its historic high.  That’s the best news for home sellers in months.  It’s a funny thing to me, the market we emerged from where at best 400 properties were on the market across the SCV (vs. 2300 today).  Folks sold homes for top dollar, and then had little inventory to choose from, but they had to pay through the nose at “non-negotiable” prices for whatever could be found (the same went for all buyers, move up sellers or not), was called a “great market.

 

Today, home prices are adjusting (10 percent from the peak, averaged across the board), but homebuyer choices abound, at “negotiable” prices.  Here’s another part of the housing/economic paradox of today vs. any recession/depression, folks don’t have to sell.  Times are good, payments can be made.  If home sellers don’t get their “price,” they simply take their homes off the market; they don’t have to be held over a barrel as in the recession.  Most folks in our valley have good neighborhood awareness, they see the “for sale” signs around, and they also see the signs coming down, with no moving trucks to follow.  There may be a silver lining to that, the housing inventory is declining by nearly a dozen homes a day.  We think that will bring a very healthy home buyers-to-sellers balance by the New Year.

Where we’ve reported in the recent past that “very” entry level properties (+/- $350,000 to $450,000) were slowly being absorbed, there has been a “blip” on the screen, and a sudden increase in sales.  There has been greater activity in the mid-range prices too, (+/- $500,000 to $800,000).  While the top-end, the $1,000,000-plus range, if it’s turn-key, spotless, well located and amenitized, may even sell with multiple offers.  In fact, of our team’s recent sales, several have been in multiple offer situations.  Some of our listings which had fewer than a desired number of broker showings, have suddenly had lookers through them.

Nonetheless, many homesellers remain frustrated with their situation of being on the market with very few showings, let alone offers.  A lot of folks who are on the market today have sold homes before, even as it was during the recession, many agents either previewed or actually showed their homes more than they are experiencing today.  There’s a very clear reason, the internet.  Most home sellers don’t realize their properties are being “seen” more than ever, while actually not being physically “visited.”  In the not so distant past, the only way an agent or would-be buyer could view a home was to personally visit it.  Today, with all the “virtual” tools we have at our disposal,f there’s really no need to physically preview a home before showing a buyer, or for a buyer to be dragged through non-matching properties.  Both can point-and-click their way to a perfect glove match via the Web, then hop in the car to “visit” it.

For more information, please call Mike Lebecki at 661-284-5030 or visit www.tracy-mike.com.

Santa Clarita Magazine

Santa Clarita Magazine