January Rings in a New Year in Marin: Will 2016 Be a Repeat?

What a difference a year makes, at least with our unpredictable Marin County weather patterns. Early rains filled reservoirs and brought snow to the Sierras, allowing most ski resorts to open by Thanksgiving. We haven’t seen that in five years and the much-anticipated El Nino isn’t even here yet.

For Marin County home sales, we saw another year like the last. Average home prices were up again another 8% to $1,481,000 with the median up 10% to $1,101,000. Sales were down again as demand outpaced supply with only 2251 homes being sold in our county of 255,000.

With more residents pouring into the state, we suspect a good portion of those will want to enjoy the quality of life here, so there’s nothing to indicate 2016 will be anything but a repeat of 2015. So if you’re looking to buy, each passing month will only force you to dip into the bank account a little further. If you’re a seller, the most active months are February to July, no question. Get your home fully prepared and as near-perfect as you can, do NOT overprice it, and you will be rewarded. Price your home with “room to negotiate” and you will find yourself chasing the market and “On Sale” instead of “For Sale”.

Even though inventory is typically low in mid winter, it tends to be a good time to buy as most buyers are off doing other things. So if you’re willing to jump in the car on a cold and rainy day, it could save you big $$$ after the spring run up in pricing that we always see.

For investors, the best place to invest remains to be the low end in any of our twelve towns, including condo’s and townhomes. With rents also projected to continue up another 9% and mortgage rates still stupidly cheap, we are seeing owners rent their properties out at break even with just 25% down on anything under $1 mil in purchase price. We also don’t see rents dropping anytime soon, but it’s still cheaper than SF where $3,000 a month might get you a 1 br apartment if you’re lucky.

That’s it for now. Please stay warm and enjoy January wherever you are. Any questions, let me know how I can help. I’m around all month.

TS

Text or call 415.377.5222 or ted@gomarin.com

Filed under: Marin Real Estate Blog by Ted Strodder