October in Marin: Cooler Temps For Marin Homes and Homeowners

It’s October in Marin, usually one of our warmer months for both weather and home sales. So far? Not exactly in either case. I haven’t looked up any weather data, but September was one of the coolest I can recall, ever. Gone were the lazy, hazy, crazy days of Indian Summer throughout the county. Where we used to see regular temps in the 90’s, well, we got a lot of 70’s and 80’s. Cooler indeed, but what about home sales?

Those too were almost chilly as buyers seem to take a breather from the frenetic pace of both spring and summer. Early signs at month end point to a healthy fall market, as buyers returned both online and at private showings with their agents. But questions remain as to whether or not tax changes enacted last December were finally sinking in with home buyers, many of whom are pairing down their purchase expectations. The thinking may be to compromise on a lesser size and lower price of a home in anticipation of paying a bit more in taxes next year. But we’ll see.

Who really knows as buyers (and sellers) do not submit to any Survey Monkey or polling to tell us what they’re thinking. They act more like those schools of fish we saw in the National Geographic videos in school: they all just change direction at the same time, without any communication between them.

What direction they go in October is now anybody’s guess. Both sale and rental inventory remain low and people continue to pour into the state, seeking California quality of life.They gotta live somewhere and many of them will seek out all we have to offer here in the Bay Area. It’s just a question of how warm their own buying temperature is, which may or may not be in step with the weather outside. Whatever happens, this will be a very interesting month for Marin real estate.

That’s it for now. Enjoy October, wherever you are, and thanks for reading.

Ted

415.377.5222
ted@gomarin.com

Filed under: Marin Real Estate Blog by Ted Strodder