Does the recovering housing market keep away investment buyers?

Does the recovering housing market keep away investment buyers?

KPCC’s Airtalk does a great job of covering local (Los Angeles) and national issues. Yesterday’s show was about the housing market and how buyers with loans are having a hard time competing against all cash buyers.  It’s a good segment.  The segment is worth a listen, but if you want to hear my personal take, my call comes in around the 5:45 mark.

Click here to listen to the segment.

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Here’s the other commercial I forgot to post last month. ¿Olé?

 

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I shot this a few months ago and it looks like I never posted it.  Well, here it is.

Cheviot Hills 1st Quarter Prices Kick Serious A$$!

Yes, that’s an unprofessional headline, but I’m quite enthusiastic about the direction of Cheviot prices (and other stats) for the first quarter of 2013 (that’s January through March for those of you who prefer to measure markets using pennies, nickels or dimes).

The big news is that the Sold Price Per Square Foot is up close to 23% over the average for 2012, going from $531.79 up to $652.63!  Really.  Check it out:

Now, I don’t like to pop balloons, so let me let the air out of this slowly — there have only been 10 sales so far this year in Cheviot Hills, with 5 of the ten sales above $1,600,000 (and three of those were above $2 million).  Here’s the list:

Because so few homes were sold, the $Sold/SF numbers are easily skewed, but the news is still really good, because it shows that we are still in a seller’s market.  There are currently only 5 homes for sale in Cheviot, from $1,250,000 up to $3,795,000.  Of the 5 homes, four of them are priced above $1,750,000. (We’ll be doing a video review of the homes at the end of the week.)

Here’s what I’m thinking that you should be thinking: If you are thinking of selling your home, we have a great selling climate — low interest rates are mixing with low inventory, and very high buyer demand.  Homes are selling in multiple offers, and even off market sales are selling at very high prices.

Yes, it is possible that the market can keep going up, but if the number of homes for sales increases, the market momentum could stall.  Plus, with so few homes on the market, it’s easy to make your home stand out (especially if it’s priced below $1,750,000).

Okay, you know the drill.  If you are thinking of selling, give Chad and me a call.  We’ll give you a free evaluation of your home (and a free notepad… maybe even two notepads).

Look back at the end of the week to see our video update on the market.

What’s happening with housing prices? They are going up, that’s what.

CNN Money reported that we are seeing the biggest spike in home prices since the bubble (here’s the article: http://money.cnn.com/2013/03/26/news/economy/housing-recovery/index.html?section=money_realestate).

To be fair, CNN calls it the “Biggest home price rise,” but if you’ve read anything that I’ve written of late, I prefer to call it a spike because I think it’s a situational rise brought on by two things: low (or no) inventory and low interest rates.

If you are looking for a home on LA’s westside you are experiencing this phenomenon first hand (and either you are celebrating a victory of finally getting a home in this market, or nursing the wounds of yet another crushing defeat in the multiple offer atmosphere). I’ll be posting how I help my buyer clients win at multiple offers (and how I suggest sellers should evaluate offers that they receive) later this week, but here’s what I’d like you take away for now:

If you are thinking of selling, stop thinking and just do it!*
Yes it is possible that the market may go up more in the near future, but it’s also possible it won’t. As sellers “catch on” and more inventory comes on the market, buyers will feel that they have more choices, demand will decrease and prices will begin to settle (or even, gasp, retreat).

Buyer, seller, economist or palm reading psychic, call me and let’s talk!

*Apologies to Nike.