April in Marin: Will The Market Spring Forward, Or Fall Back?

April is here in Marin County and the sun is out. For now, anyway. After record rain and Sierra snowfall, the trees, flowers and weeds (in my yard, anyway) popped aplenty.

What hasn’t popped up in many yards, however, are For Sale signs. Not yet, anyway. Sure, rains tend to dampen the process of launching on MLS, but given that March (and April) are one of our busiest months for selling, you’d think more people would have taken a chance and gone out there to test the busy market. The month has just begun, so we’ll see where we go from here.

The bigger questions seems to be, in an inventory-short market such as ours, will sellers try to capture this 8th year of appreciation, or stay put to ride out the uncertainty of the new tax changes. And if they do sell, where will they go? The sellers I’ve been talking to each seem to be in their own unique situations and very few of them show conviction as to which way to go: Sell and move out of Marin? Sell and trade up, down or sideways in Marin? Sell and rent here or elsewhere? All are possible and all take some planning and hard work.

But let’s say they do choose to move out of Marin. They’ve sold their house for a ton of money, now what? Cheaper locations to live are plentiful. Nearly every place in the U.S. is less-expensive than Marin, but there are reasons for that. Namely, our quality of life is pretty tough to beat. We have great weather, that has only gotten better in recent years, no smog, little crime or heavy traffic, miles of hiking and biking, all with over 75% dedicated open space. The only thing pushing people out of California to other areas could be the new tax changes, which is also too soon to tell if that will be the case.

Whatever happens, look for property values to be in step with population changes that may occur in your area. Here in Marin, all of us busy agents have lists of buyers in every price range, eager to buy and lock in a mortgage before rates push ever-higher. I wouldn’t bet on prices declining here, at least over the next six months. Not yet, anyway. But we’ll see.

That’s it for now. Enjoy April, wherever you are. Any real-time questions though, let me know what I can do to help. Thanks for reading and here’s to a great 2018 for all of us.

TS

Text or call 415.377.5222 or ted@gomarin.com.

Filed under: Marin Real Estate Blog by Ted Strodder