I recently closed on 768 Allbrook Ct. in Brentwood! I was introduced to Hakim and Sediqa by a good friend and a recent past client. Schools were very important to this couple as they searched for a home since they have a 3-year-old daughter. We initially started looking in Concord, but everything in their price range needed a lot of work. They also briefly considered Tracy, but the commute would have been too long for Hakim. Also, Tracy is in San Joaquin County and the conforming loan limits are lower, so the competition was equally frenetic (if not more) than in Contra Costa County. That’s when I recommended Brentwood as a place that would cut down on commute time, have highly-rated schools, and newer homes.
Our first weekend in Brentwood, we visited five houses and one really stood out. I started speaking with the agent and recommended an offer price. My clients did not want to go too high, as we didn’t think it would appraise. When I submitted the offer, I asked the agent to give us a counter if we were close. She had the lender approval, which stated a higher amount. I got a phone call from her saying they were going to give us a counter, but there were two other higher offers than us. She had a gut feeling about my clients, though, and after many discussions with the lender and my recommendation to lower the amount down so they had extra cash if the appraisal came in higher (so they could put more down), they came up to the counter price (plus $1,000) and they won the house!
It ultimately did not appraise, but it came in at the high end of my estimate. Overall, my clients are very happy and by next month the comps will support what they paid, if not more. The issue around the first three months of the year in a rising price market, is there are not enough comps to support increase in prices that buyers are bidding up. Due to the holidays, the last couple months of the year are always slow, so there are not many homes on the market and the prices are usually a bit softer. When January 2nd hits, everybody is back on the house hunt and it often takes sellers a few months because they want their yards to be in bloom. If buyers are worried about paying too much, the outlook is for continued rising prices, but not at the pace we have seen recently – that is for another blog. Please start following me on my new Page @ https://www.facebook.com/kristinlanhamrealtor
