No Surprise Here!

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) conducted an annual survey to create a profile of home buyers and sellers. It helps define the trends of the past year and look forward to those of the next. I want to share some of their key findings:

Homes typically sold at a record pace of one week and received full asking price from July 2020-June 2021.

Kristin’s take: That has been the theme in Contra Costa County all year. Right now, condos/townhomes (those with HOAs) are not as robust and might provide an opportunity not to compete. Or, if it has been sitting for more than 20 days, you might get it at a lower price. I believe that will change at the beginning of the year, as it did this year.

Tenure in the home dropped from 10 years to 8 years, the largest year-over-year decline in the history of the data set (40 years).

Kristin’s take: It used to be seven years was the average time in a home. That changed with the meltdown and now it’s dropped again, primarily from the pandemic. The ability to work from home allowed people to move, whether it is out of state or to a bigger space.

Among repeat home buyers and home sellers over the last year, a key factor for moving was the desire to live closer to family and friends, while an equally important motivator was the need for more space or a bigger home.

Twenty-eight percent of first-time buyers reported that they used a gift or a loan from friends or family in order to make a down payment on a home and 29% said saving for a down payment proved to be the most difficult step in the entire buying process. For repeat buyers, 56% cited using equity generated from the sale of a primary residence toward their down payment. For first-time buyers, the typical down payment was 7%, while it was 17% among repeat buyers.

Kristin’s take: This is how first-time homebuyers are getting into homes. I have seen family members gift $300k for the down payment and pay for closing costs.

Forty-seven percent of buyers said the agent they used was referred by a friend, neighbor, or relative, and 13% used an agent that they had already worked with on a past transaction. Seventy-three percent of buyers reported that they needed to interview only one real estate agent during their home search, and a whopping 90% said they would use their agent in the future or recommend the agent to others.

Kristin’s take: It all comes down to trust and how good of a job the agent does communicating, managing expectations, and explanation of the market. It can take some time to get an offer accepted and it is a process buyers have to experience and learn from. For selling a home, the key is to price it correctly, as buyers are paying over list, but if it is listed where you think it might sell, buyers are expecting to offer more, and then it may sit.

Mt. Diablo’s 100th Birthday!

Did you know 2021 is Mt. Diablo’s 100th birthday? In 1921, it was just a few hundred acres of land you could reach by private toll round. Now, in 2021, it has grown into the 20,000-acre park we all get to enjoy today!

For thousands of years, the caretakers of the land were Native Americans who considered Mt. Diablo a sacred place. Of course, there were gold seekers and ranch owners who eventually forced Native Americans from the land but we are lucky that the park we have today is preserved and protected from development.

A few months ago, my son was visiting from the East Coast with his girlfriend and he wanted to show her where he grew up. We decided to head to Rock City to see the wind caves and the sentinel. Surprisingly, I had never been there before. After a few hours of hiking and adventures of rock climbing, we took a drive to the summit for 360-degree views of the Bay, Marin, and the Valley.

It was still a bit hazy with some leftover fire smoke, but you could see the tower of the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance and the Salesforce Tower in downtown San Francisco. I had forgotten there was a beacon atop the Mt. Diablo tower to navigate night planes before electronic navigation. It now only lights up once a year, in remembrance of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7. What a fascinating tidbit – keep your eyes peeled for the blinking light this December!

One other bonus of the fall atop Mt. Diablo is that October is mating season for tarantulas. Over the years, I’ve seen several tarantulas while hiking through Shell Ridge, but the Park Ranger said they seem to congregate at the Mitchell Canyon entrance area in Clayton. He also mentioned that mornings and evenings are the best time to see them. It’s quite a sight, but not for the arachnophobes out there.

All in all, we are lucky to live in such a gorgeous place, under the shadow of an amazing peak like Mt. Diablo. Here’s to 100 more years of exploring it!

Rates Have Never Been This High!*

*since 2021…

My friend Jay Vorhees at JVM Lending recently wrote about this, and I wanted to share a couple graphs he included in the blog to give context to the “rising” interest rates.

As Jay mentions in his blog, there is perspective to be considered when discussing the rising interest rates. They HAVE risen (1/4% – 3/8%) since last summer, but did you know they are actually lower now than they were on April 1st of this year?

Or that they remain lower than they have been for most of the last 10 years? And significantly lower than where they were for most of the last 45 years? As Jay puts it at the end of his blog, today’s rates remain a gift!

Here are those graphs for context (first, mortgage rates over the last 10 years, followed by rates going back to 1971):

So, if you are on the fence about purchasing, rates are still very low and we are only just starting to experience some inflation. You will lose more purchasing power with rates going up (which usually occurs when inflation comes around) than with prices going up.

I have not had any recent issues with appraisals. I just had a buyer increase the offer price by more than $100k over the list price and the appraisal came in. Who knows what the future will hold, but overall it is still a good time to purchase.

Pumpkin Hacks & Tips!

It’s that time of year! Halloween is just around the corner and you want to carve the most epic pumpkin of your life. Well, lucky for you, I’ve found a few great tips and even a pumpkin hacks video. First, tips on how to make your pumpkin last longer:

  • Before you start, let your pumpkin dry completely. Scoop out all the guts and then let the interior get completely dry before starting carving. This means less moisture inside the pumpkin to accelerate rot.
  • Did you know cutting the stem off the pumpkin is actually bad for it? That stem is still delivering vital nutrients to the pumpkin, even after it’s been off the vine. Try cutting a hole on the side or back of the pumpkin to keep the stem attached.
  • Once you’ve carved, try making a DIY pumpkin spray! Just fill up an empty spray bottle with water and add one tablespoon peppermint castile soap. Shake the bottle to mix, and spray your carved pumpkin daily to slow down the decay process.
  • This may seem counterintuitive in a carved pumpkin, but you can avoid candles and keep the pumpkin from drying out too fast. Use one of those flickering battery-operated lights in there instead.
  • Those edges of your carved pumpkin that start to rot first? Try putting a little petroleum jelly on them to lock in moisture. Olive oil and coconut oil should have a similar effect!
  • If your pumpkin is starting to shrivel, that’s an indication that it needs a cold shock (pumpkins resist heat). Try giving it an ice bath for an hour or leaving it in the fridge overnight.
  • Finally, to keep fruit flies from eating away at your pumpkin, make sure ALL guts are removed (this is what attracts the flies). If they’re still coming, throw a small fruit flay trap nearby to get rid of those pests.

Now, on to some fun pumpkin hacks! Check out the YouTube video below. Enjoy your pumpkin-carving and trick-or-treating this weekend!

Another Buyer Closing!

I recently represented a buyer for a home in the Antioch area. It was a 4-bedroom fixer listed at $575,000, but my client got it for $540,000. The picture below shows what the house looked like when my client put the offer in. He has since landscaped the front.

This was a trust sale, and the renter had been there for years with low rent and would fix some things for the previous executor who was ousted out by a relative via a court battle. I was told he was spending all the trust money. After we did our inspections, we found it needed a new HVAC system, the tenant who was an electrician replaced a part to keep it running for $400, saving the previous executor (however, that was a few years ago and it should have a completely new system). The home also needed fresh paint, new flooring, and some updating. You can see a glimpse of the work my client has done in the yard so far here.

The neighbors are happy and my client is slowly getting the work done, which will give him some sweat equity. If you know of any fixers, give me a call! I have a bunch of contractors looking for opportunities.