What Do Recent Trends in the Southern California Market Mean for You?

There are many great Orange County and Coachella Valley area homes for sale. Click here to perform full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (949) 441-0701 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

With a month under our belt here in 2015, there's no better time to take a look back at what we saw from Southern California real estate in 2014. After that, we'll take a look at predictions for the upcoming year.

DataQuick and CoreLogic have just recently released some relevant market information we think you should know about. Last year was a relatively strong year, even though sales dropped by about 9% over 2013. The drop is largely attributable to the amount of cash investors dropped from the market, which is actually a good sign for our market, as it means home prices are on the rise.

So far in 2015, we've noticed that inventory is on the rise, and this will likely continue throughout the year. If you're looking to sell, now is the time to get your home on the market. As we get closer to spring, more and more people are going to be putting their homes on the market, making it more difficult to maximize your home's value. Come March and April, you're going to have to make concessions in order to beat out the competition, and you don't want to have to do that. 

For buyers, it's also a good time to act. We just saw FHA lower their monthly mortgage premium from 1.35% to .85%, which is fantastic news for first-time home buyers. Last year, we saw home sales in the $500,000 to $1 million price range level out, so there is a lot of inventory in the $500,000 price range and the $1 million+ range as well.

Because it's taking longer to get homes sold in this market, pricing your home right is absolutely critical! Putting the right price on your home from the get-go will make the all the difference in your home sale.

We've just come out of 33 months of consecutive appreciation. Since most real estate cycles last two to three years, we're expecting our market to really stabilize in 2015. We're not expecting any huge gains or drops, which is fantastic news for the Southern California market. 

If you have any questions about conditions in your specific area, or if you need real estate assistance of any kind, don't hesitate to give us a call or shoot us an email at any time. We would love to help you! 

3 Tips for Preparing Your Home for Sale

Today I wanted to discuss three or four critical factors a seller can do to prepare their home for sale and to get it sold. The first factor being that the first impression is the only impression. If you need to make any repairs, tidy up landscaping, retile a bathroom or paint a wall, I highly recommend doing so ahead of time. Buyers typically buy what they see and it’s very important that your home is ready to go and staged properly right out of the gates.

Secondly, you need to price your home competitively against your competition. Most sellers want to keep their home at a higher price and wait until they hopefully get an offer. The reality is, and statistics show, that the longer a home sits on the market, the less money it sells for. So, call me and I can price your home competitively and we can get your home sold.

Another factor is making your home showable. We want to give your home as much access as possible with as much showings; our job is to get as many qualified buyers in your house for the shortest amount of time. When we create completion within your property and get people excited about seeing your home, it drives demand to your home and increase price. You get the price you want, closing date you want and buyers that will do anything to buy your home.

Those are just a few tips I would recommend to any seller looking to list their home. You can always reach me for a free home evaluation at (760) 567-1823. If you are in Orange County, my number is (949) 916-4988 or if you’re in the desert, my number is (760) 568-1515. Thanks and have a great day!

What Can You Expect From the Market?

What has taken place in the last 10-12 months in Southern California has been an almost “feeding frenzy” mentality. Inventory is at an all-time low based on what has come out of the banking boom of all the foreclosures and short sales that have taken place and we’ve seen the private equity investor enter the market at a pace we have never seen before. This has caused a lot of competition for the “every day” buyer, a buyer purchasing their second home, looking to buy a vacation home or even an investor looking to buy their first rental. This creates a more competitive market and raises the price causing buyers to pay all cash, over asking price, as-is or no contingencies. We’re seeing that market start to slow down heading into the fourth quarter. In the last 30-60 days, we’ve seen inventory start to rise and sales begin to slow which is very interesting because interest rates are still an all-time low.

You can always reach me at (760) 567-1823. If you are in Orange County, my number is (949) 916-4988 or if you’re in the desert, my number is (760) 568-1515. Thanks and have a great day!