Summer Home Sale Activity in Sacramento

Trend over 15 months of average square foot prices of sold homes in Sacramento.

The summer home sale activity in Sacramento has fallen into a bit of a lull, but that doesn’t mean sales are not happening. It’s seasonal — homebuyers often do not start hunting for a home in the dead heat of August dog days. Buyers are still looking at homes but at a much more leisurely pace. Inventory is increasing, but not enough to make much of a dent in the demand. There are still crummy homes in bad condition that sellers expect to get top dollar for without lifting a finger and those still linger.

When I went to Parkway Estates yesterday, near 99 and Florin, to talk with a potential home seller, I was asked about the summer home sale activity. He thought it was the best time to list a home. I asked why he harbored that opinion. Well, he’s been talking to agent after agent and every single agent told him the same thing. NOW is the time to sell. Who woulda thunk? Actually, that’s what is drummed into every agent’s head, NOW is always always always the time to sell because guess what? Any time an agent makes money, that’s a good time.

It’s not necessarily so good for the seller. If sellers want to optimize a home selling experience, sometimes it is better to wait for the fall market and the busload of fall buyers who suddenly appear on our horizon. And I don’t say this simply because I have a two-week vacation in Spain approaching as I always take my laptop along on trips, and I stay in touch no matter what. No, I say this because every summer I see the same results of summer home sale activity in Sacramento, which means it slows down in August.

The Sacramento real estate market heats up again right after Labor Day. That’s when all the kids are back in school, vacations are over, and families probably enjoyed a little bit too much closeness with each other over the 3-day holiday weekend. That’s when they say, you know what we need? A bigger house!

In any case, I assured the seller this Sacramento Realtor will take care of him. He wanted to know how I juggle all of my listings and was a little bit embarrassed to ask if his price range was below the normal average sales price that I sell. He was asking if I discriminate against lower priced listings or work harder on higher priced listings. Silly, yes, but not for him. Broke my heart he had to ask. His sale is every bit as important to me as the sale of a $3 million home. Every single one of my sellers gets my undivided attention. In fact, they often say I make them feel like my only client.

This seller needs to fix up his home a little to get top dollar. Brush off the cobwebs, paint, spruce it up. That doesn’t happen overnight. NOW is not the right time to sell his home, and I would like to pound the heads of the agents who pushed him like that. But I won’t have to because he’s listing with me, and we’re going on the market in the fall.  The summer home sale activity in Sacramento shows this is not the right time for him.

We had 2,000 homes close escrow in June in Sacramento County and only 1,668 in July. I predict that number will be even lower for August. The one thing that is constant, though, is the rising average per-square-foot price. Take a look at the Trendgraphix chart on this page. It speaks volumes.

If you need to sell a home in Sacramento, call Elizabeth Weintraub, 40-year veteran and top producer, at 916.233.6759.