November 2017: Neither Rain, Nor Sleet, Nor Snow…

keeps home buyers away from the Marin market, is the full sentence there. Let’s see what ultimately happens as it’s too soon to tell. But yes, November is here in Marin, with signs of an early winter (read: rain) already on the way.

We’ve all read the forecasts for another El Nino, La Nina, La Bamba, La Cucaracha, or my favorite still, The Macarena. Just don’t get me going on the dance floor with that one. The Emergency Room at Marin General Hospital is already busy enough with buyers in shock at the home prices here. And I got news for ya, folks: it ain’t gettin’ any cheaper, at least given what we’re all seeing and reading.

A recent front page article in our Marin Independent Journal touted a 19% rise in our median price to $1 mil, up from $840k. However, this is for both homes AND condo’s. Homes themselves reached a median of $1.225 mil with condo’s being $589k, greatly tweaking the data. Rarely do people purchase both in one transaction, so why not separate them, right? Anyway, at over $1.2 mil, you can see why Bay Area Sticker Shock isn’t just a syndrome, it’s a medical malady in some areas. Like this one, SF or the peninsula.

So what’s a home buyer to do? Well, I sure wouldn’t wait around for a correction of any kind if I were you. A winter slow down? Absolutely, and you often see some pretty good deals happen in late November, December and into January. But by February 1st, we are rockin’ and rollin’ here and I don’t refer to my aforementioned injury inducing dance moves. Prices sometimes slow here, but they only drop if there’s a nationwide economic rattling event, like the mortgage meltdown of 2007. Other than that, they aren’t making any more land in Marin, so don’t wait for a fall off in prices, not unless you know something we don’t.

Sellers? Keep your prices realistic, or you’ll be one of those who sells at BELOW market value, due to value-killing overpricing. We still see it everyday and it’s very real. Keep it safe and sane and you’ll do just fine. Greed is not good, despite what Michael Douglas said in “Wall Street” and the buyers will send you into more DOM (Days On Market) than you’ll want to see, dropping your value slowly as the days tick by.

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