Today's Real Estate Market: The Twists and Turns

2018 has held a lot of twists and turns for our real estate market.  Here are some of what you may be seeing and what to expect in the near future. 

Back in June of this year, I wrote about the shift happening in the real estate market.  It didn't take long for our market to switch from a Seller's Market to a Buyer's Market, which we are now in.  If you're not in an up-to-date knowledge of the real estate market, this news may come as a surprise as you've likely been watching homes go into multiple offers and get over asking price for years.  And while some places may still have more than one offer on them, we may not be seeing the frenzy of house buying like this again for quite some time.  The housing market, just like our economy, has its ebb and flow and the housing market had been going up strong for about the past 6 years.  So it's no surprise that we are entering into a new market.  As an agent, my job is just to set up my client's expectations with where the market is and how best to market a home for sale for my sellers in this market or negotiate a deal for a buyer.

My advice for my sellers: Market their homes with the unique features it may have that surrounding homes may not.  Make this the big, bold, first sentence marketing bit. Show the pictures of this feature first.  Does your home have solar?  A pool?  Maybe you have an "office" that could really be a bedroom if it only had a door.  I would ask my sellers to install a door or list that house as having that extra bedroom for marketing purposes than disclose to buyers that it is not a true bedroom. The way in which you market your home, and to who you market it to, is of the highest importance.  Especially in this new market.

My advice for buyers:  Don't let a home that has been sitting for a while, or gone on and off the market scare you.  This will become something we will see more and more of moving forward.  Negotiation of the price will be more and more common and prices are already showing drops so this is a good time to buy if are looking for a deal.  Especially in the winter time when people who sell their homes are usually selling because they have to, not because they want to. 

Not only am I the Valley agent that national and local media turn to when they want an expert's help in putting together their news and articles, but I am also in constant contact with other local agents and well as some of the best agents in other major markets. I listen to where other markets are and take in the ways other agents in these markets are working through their own market shifts and challenges.