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Overview of Sacramento Housing Market for January 2018
Sacramento housing market for January 2018.
January has barely left us, and the snapshot of the Sacramento housing market for January 2018 mirrors pretty much what I have been experiencing. Some of you know, of course, that I spent the months of December and January working from my house in Hawaii. Not on Hawaii real estate as some incorrectly assume. I am not licensed to sell real estate in Hawaii. No, no, no, I am a Sacramento Realtor, and I work on Sacramento real estate from our vacation house.
I do such a bang-up job of it that I placed as the #1 Agent at Lyon Real Estate for January, and I wasn’t even in town. To put this into perspective, we have around 1,000 agents at Lyon.
Our Sacramento housing market for January 2018 is still red hot. One of the ways I can tell is buyer’s agents are calling me to ask if I will share details of upcoming listings. Complete strangers out of the blue. Most of these agents I don’t even know, but they know who I am. They also know I answer my phone, and I’m always working. I tend to sell a couple of homes a week. And last week I completed 5 listing appointments. I have others in the pipeline waiting to go live in MLS. Buyers are out there.
I’ll put it to you this way. When I have a pending listing that is a bit difficult to sell and we also hold a back-up offer on that listing, it’s a hot market. It’s a hot market for sellers because, get this, we are still getting showings for that home. Why, you might task? Because that happens to be in the best interest of my sellers.
We had a slight uptick of inventory in the Sacramento housing market for January 2018 as compared to the same time last year. However, that surplus was wiped out almost double that amount by the pending sales. Our inventory for all residential properties in Sacramento County increased 9.4%; yet our pending sales in year-over-year comparisons jumped by 18.1%. The closed sales, which resulted from pending sales over November and December remained at seasonal numbers, about par.
If you’re wondering about the Sacramento housing market for January 2018 and whether this is a good time to sell, it doesn’t get much better than this. Well, it will be more frantic in April, I predict. But if you own a home that you want to sell which has any kind of drawback, put it on the market now! Today! Buyers will overlook bad locations, defects, even high prices . . . if only, if only they could buy a home today.
Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 44 years of experience to work for you.
Used with permission from Trendgraphix, January 2018 Sacramento Housing Market Trends.
Does Quantum Entanglement Apply to Sacramento Buyer’s Agents?
It is interesting to note Einstein rejected the theory of quantum entanglement, and he was wrong.
Some of the conversations I’ve been having lately with buyer’s agents in Sacramento seem as bizarre as the actual weirdness of quantum entanglement. For those of you who haven’t spent much time pondering quantum entanglement, this is an instant thing that happens in the universe. No, I’m not talking about the life-on-a-blade-of-grass theory, derived from dropping acid in the ’60s; this is not that foo-foo stuff. This is science. It’s a real phenomenon.
It’s what happens when two particles mirror each other after an interaction. You’ve got this one particle, which could be a Sacramento buyer’s agent, and another particle, which could be, say, a San Diego buyer’s agent. These two agents meet and become entangled to the extent that if the Sacramento buyer’s agent skins her knee, the agent in San Diego feels the burn. You think this sounds like craziness, a movie plot, but it’s real.
Even Einstein pooh-poohed this as a paradox and said it was impossible, which was the version I heard when in school. But along the way, scientists in the physics community managed to prove that entangled particles truly exists. Regardless of the distance between the two, when change happens to one particle, it happens to both. I read about quantum entanglement in the news a few days ago and it blew me away. I bring this up now because my husband picked up a book at the library for me about quantum entanglement, which I’m very excited to begin reading.
Further, I should point out that although quantum entanglement might be old news to some of you, it’s not to me. Even though I’m an old person now, my inquisitiveness remains in full force.
While I am really not saying that agents share any sort of quantum entanglement, sometimes the similarities between agents amaze me. Over the weekend I received several offers that contained the requirement for a security deposit to be paid on a free rent back by the seller. That’s a new one on me, too. It’s fairly insulting, don’t you agree? To tell a seller she needs to pay a security deposit to the buyer on her own home, a place where she’s been living for years without destroying the property.
I know what the real problem is. The real problem is the buyer’s agent is not spending enough time educating the buyer. This is probably a situation that requires face-to-face dialogue and in-depth discussions to get buyers over that fact that many sellers expect a little break in today’s HOT HOT HOT Sacramento real estate market. That little break is to give them a week or more to move out without demanding rent or deposits. It speaks volumes to the seller. It tells the seller the buyer is completely serious about buying the home and isn’t planning to nickel and dime us to death.
It can be what entices a seller pluck that one offer out of multiples. If you’re thinking about selling a home in Sacramento, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759, and put 40 years of experience to work for you.
The Insane State of Our 2017 Real Estate Market in Sacramento
Agents can’t work with every buyer in our 2017 real estate market in Sacramento.
Because of our bizarre 2017 real estate market in Sacramento, buyer’s agents right now have to be very selective when choosing respective clients. The basic problem is we have thin inventory (few homes for sale) and an excessive number of buyers. There are only so many homes available to buy, meaning there are not enough homes for every buyer who wants to buy a home. If agents are hauling around buyers who want to make lowball offers, those agents are wasting valuable time that could be spent working with serious buyers who desperately need our help.
Agents don’t get paid for their good looks, you know. We get paid when an escrow closes. If buyers are not listening to their agent nor being realistic, those unfortunate souls are not players for our 2017 real estate market. Agents, your buyer either conforms or the buyer doesn’t. If the buyer does not conform, you need to let go. If you’re not responding to new business because you’re beating a dead horse, that’s not good for anybody.
Instead, refer the buyer to another agent who can knock himself out trying to write offers that go nowhere. Maybe a new agent who needs offer writing practice. But don’t you waste your valuable time with these guys. These kind of buyers will always be with us and they are often oblivious to the market movement. These types of potential clients are immune to external forces and refuse education. Especially when these buyers lowball brand new listings that others drool over. You can talk yourself blue in the face and they won’t listen.
Well, agents, why don’t you stop? You have the power to say no.
Over a 24-hour period this weekend, I sold every listing I have (thank goodness I have a new listing on the market Monday). And one of those listings I sold wasn’t even on the market. It was in off market status. Yet, I received two offers. We are witnessing a May market in February. I put 5 homes into escrow, many with multiple offers. We had sent out 5 seller multiple counters on one property, eliminating the buyers who did not quite fit our profile, and while we were evaluating the 4 counters that returned accepted, a high cash offer slipped in the door and stole the house.
I was asked about a potential open house for a brand new listing yesterday, and the truth is I don’t think we’ll make it to Sunday. I think the home will sell with multiple offers over the next couple of days. I cannot plan that far ahead. Five days is too long to predict whether the home will still be available. The average sold price to average list price for our 2017 real estate market in Sacramento is 100.40%. That the statistic for ALL home sales within 30 days on the market since January 27th in the entire county of Sacramento.
An MLS search reveals 1,409 homes for sale in Sacramento County. Pending sales, those in escrow, are 1,658. With pending numbers like, we could sell every home in about 3 weeks! If you need a Realtor, call Elizabeth Weintraub at Lyon Real Estate at 916.233.6759.
Sacramento Real Estate is Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh, My!
Sacramento real estate encounters lions and tigers and bears, oh my!
Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh, my! That pretty much describes the Sacramento real estate market over the past couple of weeks this fall. It also probably explains why I sat up with my husband last night watching the Cubs, which ran way past my bedtime. Then, with “just 2 outs to go,” as my husband put it, I gave up the ghost and retired. I’m not from Chicago like he is, so although I may root for the underdog, I’m just not a big baseball fan — not like I was when a kid and the Twins came to my Midwestern town. Although, I’ve got to admit that grooving on baseball, especially the last game of the World Series, is a good distraction from some of the weirder things happening.
Lately, in my little neck of the woods, we’ve had our unfair share of business that cancels, extends and dies, oh, shit, which is the Sacramento real estate equivalent of lions and tigers and bears, oh, my! I listed a home in East Sacramento the day I returned from a vacation in Barcelona around Labor Day, struggled through 3 days of negotiations between the seller and potential buyers. At one point I even said to the seller, “How is it we have two good offers over list price and we can’t come to an agreement?” This seemed completely bizarre to me. Little did I realize that the seller did not want to sell. Lions and tigers and bears, oh, my!
We helped this same client to buy a million-plus home overlooking the American River. Truly a spectacular setting. Before I even listed the home in East Sacramento, which is pretty much unheard of in a contingent situation. When clients ask for clarification about whether they can cancel and be at no expense, that can be a red flag. Inspections dragged on for weeks. We renegotiated the supposedly good-faith contract and the sellers of that river-front property agreed to an unheard of $100K price reduction. The clients offered no reason for canceling, no apologies. Since it was contingent, they canceled the sale of the home in East Sacramento as well and shattered that poor buyer’s heart.
Further, three escrows that were on schedule to close this week are getting pushed to next week, all for a variety of reasons, mostly related to the buyer’s mortgage. Those sellers had expected to close on schedule, and now those hopes are dashed. Our sole recourse is to make the buyer compensate. Perhaps it’s the fact we are so sick and tired of seeing Mr. Tangerine Man on the news and in the paper? The 2016 presidential election has been gnawing at our souls like rats feasting on shit. November 8th can’t get here fast enough for most of us. Lions and tigers and bears, oh, my!
I am also selling homes in Sacramento more than once. We do our best to vet the buyer, make sure they have the cash or the qualifications to obtain a mortgage, we listen to their buyer’s agent sing their dubious praises with a grain of salt and verify, verify, yet they still buy and flake. It makes little sense. They negotiate so hard and when they win, they cancel. Lions and tigers and bears, oh, my! We just go with the flow. It’s bound to get better after next week.
The difference between me and a few other Sacramento Realtors is perseverance. I do not get discouraged. I do not throw in the towel. I never ever give up, and I’m always there for my clients. It’s how I’ve stayed true to the real estate business for 40+ years. Even though I did not catch the end of the World Series, I care about the Sacramento real estate business far more.
Is There a Real Estate Bubble in Sacramento?
The only real estate bubble in Sacramento is from this little girl in her kitchen sink.
The first wrong conclusion to which many people spring when they hear median home prices in Sacramento have increased to $305,000 is that we are heading toward a real estate bubble in Sacramento. There is no bubble in Sacramento on my horizon, and I watch the market like a hawk. Don’t just take it from me, a Sacramento Realtor, whose business it is to put a positive spin on negative crap. Listen to other experts. Not a single respectable real estate analyst predicts a real estate bubble in Sacramento.
You have to look at what got us to that point 10 years ago. We had very different market conditions then. More than 10,000 homes were available for sale, versus the piddly 2,540 we have today. Our median sales price was $374,000 in August of 2005 vs $305,000 today, according to CoreLogic. And mortgages were easily obtainable, especially the 80 / 20 combo loans with zero down. Today, even a preapproval letter is little guarantee a buyer is qualified to buy a home. Mortgage guidelines are very strict. Rates are super low.
You might not even find out a buyer is rejected until the file gets into underwriting. There is a lot that can go wrong in underwriting. On top of which, many buyers today pay cash, believe it or not. Cash does not produce crash.
People who predict a real estate bubble in Sacramento are simply speculating, talking out loud, wondering about the fate of the universe, although the Chicken Littles are often uniquely unqualified to render such an opinion. We have a seller’s market in Sacramento. It’s to the point that I made a recommendation to an elderly seller yesterday, which I rarely recommend because I never want to eliminate even one potential home buyer from bidding. Yet, I suggested we schedule 6 days for showings and to discuss offers on the 7th day. That will produce more than enough buyers for her home in Tahoe Park.
We don’t need 2 dozen buyers all offering the same thing. There is only so far we can move on price. It’s a tough market without sufficient inventory, but it’s certainly no real estate bubble in sacramento.
