Reported by Dawn ONeal, BROKER~OWNER, GRI, CRS, LTG, ePro, ASP
Updated January 17, 2012.
Current Market Rating: 3
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2
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5
Buyer's
Seller's
Current Price Trend: 3
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5
Falling
Rising
MY OPINION ABOUT MARKET CONDITIONS FOR SILICON VALLEY: September 16, 2012
SILICON VALLEY is continues to see what looks like a market bottom. With inventory of Single Family Homes decreasing by approximately 33% in the last year to approximately 1500 active listings, we will probably continue to see a very slow market.. However, the medium-high end of the market has begun to exhibit the softness that has prevailed in the low-medium market segment for 2 years and the distressed sale activity is increasing in the "prime" mortgage market properties. And even though the significant increase in the number of purchase offers moving into "Pending" status should be a positive sign for the market, the number of listings that are "distressed sale listings" (Short Sales and Foreclosure Sales) continues at the very high level of 54% at mid-January. This mitigates the positive indication from the increased pending sales because many of those, being distressed sales, will get stalled in the escrow process.
My advice? With interest rates at record lows, and home prices continuing at very low values, it is definitely a good time to buy. That makes the current Buyer Market mindset an excellent time to "move up". Sellers are very willing to negotiate price and terms and buyers can get a very good deal with that next level home. And the "spread" between what you're selling and what you're buying is measurably smaller in this market. What you save on buying your new home will certainly exceed what you might lose on selling your existing home in this market.
For several months, the key ratio of Pending Sales to Total Inventory has moved higher, with the cumulative effect showing the Real Estate market moving from a clear Buyers Market into the neutral market territory. However, the large number of Short Sales can cause this key indicator to be artificially high because of the long time they stay in the "Pending" status and the high proportion that fail to close.
In addition, a very high proportion of the sales activity involves these lower priced homes so the statistics typically quoted, average selling price and median selling price, continue to show downward year-to-year comparisons.
For sellers, properly pricing your home is the key to attracting offers, but DO fix your home for sale. Most buyers are still concerned with the confusion in the housing market and the structural problems that we are dealing with. And foreclosures continue to put some downward pressure on prices. So a home must be in very good condition to motivate the buyer to make the decision to move ahead.
The real estate market is very hard to generalize. It is a market made up of many micro markets. For complete information on a particular neighborhood or for an evaluation of your home's worth, call me. If I can help you devise a strategy, call me. Or, go to my website www.dawnoneal.com and click on HOME SALES MARKET TRENDS at the bottom of my web page for current market stats.
If you need assistance finding a good Lender, contact me. Keep your eyes open and make solid offers and you, Buyers, will find the right house with perseverance.
SOME INFORMATION ABOUT SILICON VALLEY -
For more detailed information on specific areas of Silicon Valley, visit my website and click on "Areas I Serve" on the bottom right of my website www.DawnOneal.com
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ZIP Code: 95000 Approximate Location Boundaries: San Jose's other name for Santa Clara County
Location Characteristics: This area is the home of many high tech companies including Cisco, Intel, Sun just to name a few. A concentrated number of companies have buildings in Sunnyvale, Santa Clara and Cupertino to name 3 out of our 19 zone areas. Call me for specific answers to your questions regarding this location.
