Consumer Sentiment January 2022

 Tough times for buyers....

My advice, after working through several of those up and down cycles: save yourselves all the rookies mistakes in purchasing a home (like working with a discount agent): hire an experienced professional who is patient and persistent, and well-known in the Realtors community.

For sellers: yes it is easy to find a buyer for your property right now, but it is not a reason to cut corners with your mandated disclosures.  Here again, I would advise the same: work with a seasoned professional. 

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Francis

Silicon Valley real estate
Tre

nds: Local prices and graphs.

How much is your home worth?

California Homebuying Behaviors

California Homebuying Behaviors - Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic continued to drive strong homebuying interest and intensify market competition while changing consumers’ housing preferences and fueling sellers’ home equity, according to C.A.R.’s 2021 Annual Housing Market Survey. 

With remote working becoming the norm, buyers’ reasons for purchasing in 2021 were unchanged since the Coronavirus outbreak, with the top three reasons remaining the same as last year. More than one-fourth of REALTORS® said their buyer clients purchased a home because they were tired of renting;

One in five said their buyers purchased because they desired a larger home; and one in six REALTORS® said buyers bought because they wanted a better location.  Source: CALIFORNIA ASSN. OF REALTORS®

 

More supercharged buying info in this article from the CaliforniaAssociation of Realtors®

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Francis

Silicon Valley real estate
Tre

nds: Local prices and graphs.

How much is your home worth?

Buyers Get Ready for Another Crazy Housing Market in 2022

Source: CNN Business

As baby boomers hit retirement, more millennials will reach peak first-time homebuying age, which means they’ll be competing in a market short on housing inventory. While the market will slow a bit from the surge in demand it saw in 2021, sellers will remain in control. Zillow expects prospective buyers will face bidding wars, difficult trade-offs and frustration.

Zillow expects more than 6 million people to buy a home in 2022, many of them for the first time. To be sure, the obstacles they will face are many. The continued intense competition will add upward pressure to home prices, making it especially difficult for first-time buyers to afford a home. 

See the full article here.

Like my updates? Subscribe to my Blog! Thank you for reading,

Francis

Silicon Valley real estate
Tre

nds: Local prices and graphs.

How much is your home worth?

Poor Landscaping Vs Real Estate Values

 What is the effect of landscaping on the value of your real estate?

A study by Trees.com surveyed real estate agents throughout the country to find out the impact of landscaping and hardscaping.

According to 43% of real estate agents, poor landscaping has a “very” negative impact on a home’s value. Another 35% say it will “somewhat” impact how much a home is worth.

Real estate agents have differing opinions on exactly how much a home’s value decreases with poor landscaping. Twenty-four percent say a home’s value decreases by 10%, while 22% estimate the value decreases by 20%. Eighteen percent predict that a home’s value drops by 30% or more if the property lacks an appealing landscape.

Also, it is interesting to note the findings on value-added elements of landscaping on this infographic:

Click to view larger

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Francis

Silicon Valley real estate
Trends: Local prices and graphs.
How much is your home worth?

For sale now:   Impeccable 3B. 2Ba in Sharon Heights, Menlo Park

                               Remodeled - 2 balconies - inside utilities

                                         $1.288 million    -     3-D Model

                        

Family Trusts and the Title Process

 Family Trusts and the Title Process

It stands to reason, when it comes to estate planning, that a growing number of homeowners establish a living trust instead of relying on a will. That’s because, when properly prepared, a revocable living trust can save the family the time and cost of probate when the homeowner dies.

 
It can also save on estate taxes and protect inheritances for children and grandchildren while allowing the trustees, typically the owners of the trust, to retain control of their assets during their lifetime.

To understand more about revocable and irrevocable Living Trusts, read on, with this article from Barbara Pronin, provided here by our own Kelly Vincelette from Cornerstone Title.

Note:  Barbara Pronin is an award-winning writer based in Orange County, Calif. A former news editor with more than 30 years of experience in journalism and corporate communications, she has specialized in real estate topics for over a decade.

Like my updates? Subscribe to my Blog! Thank you for reading,

Francis

Silicon Valley real estate
Trends: Local prices and graphs.
How much is your home worth?

For sale now:   Impeccable 3B. 2Ba in Sharon Heights, Menlo Park

                               Remodeled - 2 balconies - inside utilities

                                         $1.288 million    -     3-D Model

                        

Real Estate Forecast Anyone? The Real Estate Markets Expected to Grow The Most in the Next Year

Home prices were up by "a lot" this past year, and according to forecasters, and the Real Estate Project Porch.com website, next year is going to be even more so an up year.  

According to the Redfin website, more than 60% of buyers were putting offers on houses sight unseen and the number of homes being bought without an inspection nearly doubled compared to the previous year.  [NOT a good idea, according to me].  The message was clear: buyers knew the real estate market was hot, and they did everything they could to get homes under contract and close the sale.

This article by Adriana Lopez lists the projected increase in prices in several smaller and larger metropolitan areas.  Prices are slated to continue their way up!

As an example, Santa Cruz is projected to go up in price by 28.9% next year, and San Jose by 24.5%

Sacramento is supposed to go up about 18%, and Las Vegas about 23%.

Article by Adriana Lopez, dated Aug.19,2021.

Like my updates? Subscribe to my Blog! Thank you for reading,

Francis

Silicon Valley real estate
Trends: Local prices and graphs.
How much is your home worth?

Price Seasonality - Los Altos vs Santa Clara County

 Seasonality of median prices for single family homes shows well in those two graphs, one for the County as a whole, the other for the specific city of Los Altos.

A value for a month usually corresponds statistically to the sales price of the previous month's transactions.  For instance a value for January would typically correspond to the aggregate sales started in December.

Click on any graph to see it larger.

Of course, as all statistics, one has to take them with a grain of salt.  Some large single sales can skew the figures quite a bit, and the smaller the sample is, the less they are meaningful.

Like my updates? Subscribe to my Blog! Thank you for reading,

Francis

Silicon Valley real estate
Trends: Local prices and graphs.
How much is your home worth?

Closed sale:  766 University Ave, Palo Alto - 2 B. 2 Ba     -   $1.375 million.

Check out the 3-D model!

California: Consumer Sentiment - August 2021

Good time to buy is at 18%, up 1 percentage point from last month and down 15 percentage points from last year, while good time to sell is at 72%, up 2 percentage points from last month and up 18 percentage points from last year. 

Source:  CAR.org

Like my updates? Subscribe to my Blog! Thank you for reading,

Francis

Silicon Valley real estate
Trends: Local prices and graphs.
How much is your home worth?

Closed sale:  766 University Ave, Palo Alto - 2 B. 2 Ba     -   $1.375 million.

Check out the 3-D model!