December in Marin: SALT Bill Passes, But What Will the Impact Be in Marin?

December is here in Marin and the housing market has once again cooled with the weather. Right on schedule, we saw a drop off in activity prior to Thanksgiving as many buyers put their housing searches on hold and a seemingly equal number of sellers started to pull their homes from the market. This “break” is a regular course in our county (and many, I’m told) and is a healthy one. We all need a break now and then. What better time than the holidays to focus on family, fun and food, so long as you don’t use too much SALT.

That’s right, there’s a lot of talk out there now on the State And Local Taxes (SALT) bill just passed by the Senate, capping capping deductions for state and local income taxes and up to $10,000 in property taxes. There’s an additional proposal to limit mortgage interest deductions on loans up to (only) $500,000. Fewer deductions means less affordability to some degree. But who knows what will really happen, as we have no history on this. It could mean nothing, or it could lead to a small decrease in property values in Marin and in much of California, according to the estimates.

There’s not much we can do on our end except wait and see. But we feel as long as people continue to want to move to any low (or no) growth area like Marin, we expect demand to remain high and the supply to remain fixed. As always, compromise and flexibility will have to remain in place for both buyers and now, yes, even sellers. Buyers just may have to reduce their expectations on getting that fourth bedroom and may have to make it work with three. Sellers may not get that whopping over asking offer they were hoping for.

Let me know what I can do to help. The market is changing, often by the day or week. Thanks for reading and here’s to a great holiday season for all of us.

TS

Text or call 415.377.5222 or ted@gomarin.com

Filed under: Marin Real Estate Blog by Ted Strodder