Is it Time to Sell That House?
You would have to look far and wide, near and far, upwards, under, sideways, and down to find someone in the real estate business who would contradict the statement that Spring is the best time to sell a house in San Francisco Bay Area.
Based on the housing transaction data provided by Homelight for San Francisco, California, June would be the best month to sell your home in San Francisco, and since it usually takes about three months to close on your home, if you list your San Francisco home in March you could sell your house for 4.56% more than the yearly average! Clever agrees: The first couple of months of the year are typically slow with few listings to choose from. By the time spring hits, demand spikes and competition does too. Springtime is without a doubt, Clever says, the best time to sell your home in the Bay Area.
Inventory & Pricing Affects If You Sell That House or Not
Prices and inventory tend to increase during these spring months, which means sellers have the opportunity to close at the greatest percentage of their list price. Buyers with children in school also lean toward the springtime so they can move over the summer when kids are off school for the season.
The market begins to wake up early in the beginning of the year after the doldrums of the mid-winter holiday period – mid-November to mid-January – with the number of new listings as well as buyer demand rapidly climbing, and sometimes peaking, in spring. Summer usually brings a significant slowdown, hitting its nadir in August. In early autumn, listings start pouring on the market after Labor Day for the relatively short fall selling season through mid-November – with a concomitant jump in sales.
Then before Thanksgiving, activity plunges dramatically for the mid-winter period. Many listings are pulled off the market at this time to await the beginning of the new year or the next spring market.
As we have written elsewhere, the California Association of Realtors® published a housing market update with data for the entire state as well as individual counties and metros. According to that report, Bay Area home prices have risen substantially over the past year or so. In April 2021, the median sale price for existing single-family homes in the Bay Area rose by 35.6% compared to a year earlier.
Your Realtor® Can Assist No Matter the Challenge
But the best Realtors® do look far and wide, near and far, upwards, under, sideways and down. Sales across California declined 1.6% from June showing buyers might be fatigued after too many bidding wars this summer, or it might show temporary reluctance about the economy. Mortgage payments have risen and are likely suppressing sales too.
But what if now is the time you are looking to sell your home? Your professional Realtor® should remind you that as a seller, you have control over many things (although seasons are not among them). Prepare your perfect listing far in advance so you are ready to strike when the time is right and boost your potential of selling quickly.
You can also put some thought into appealing to a younger generation–younger than tradition might indicate–because of the tech boom continuing to bring Gen X-ers and Millennials to the shopping cart.
That said, here are some essential tips:
Decide on your specific market
San Francisco is a smart real estate market with experienced buyers, so being prepared ahead of time to help facilitate quick home inspections ensure closing is fast. Very fast. Buyers in this area are looking to speed up the process of making an offer as soon as they find a property they want, knowing that competition is fierce in this market. This competition can drive up your final sale price.
Renovations and repairs can help you
Properties are sufficiently expensive per square footage in the Bay Area that homes with open floor plans will seem larger than and make buyers feel like they are getting a fantastic deal when it comes to space. Knocking down walls to open up the main living spaces can make a world of a difference and add significant value to your home and therefore, its selling price.
Find the right Realtor®
As you might expect, an experienced real estate agent who knows the Bay Area well and can prepare a competitive market research analysis for your home will play a vital role in the final outcome of your sale price.
Bright Days Expected, Sell that House!
Despite pandemic and post-pandemic fatigue that has some in the market worried, the smart money says great days lie ahead. And here are some firm economic reasons why:
A rebound in the S&P 500 and tech companies. The S&P 500 returned 31% in 2019, while tech giants like Apple, Facebook, Google, and now Tesla have had GIANT years. The S&P 500 was up 16% in 2020 and the NASDAQ was up a whopping 42% in 2020. 2021 has been another banner year for stocks. Some of those gains will be diversified into real estate.
Even More Reasons It’s Time to Sell That House
The Tech IPO boom flooding the streets with thousands potential new buyers and 10,000 new millionaires. They’re all getting liquid in 2021. The IPOs of Airbnb and Affirm were huge successes. And many employees from Uber, Palantir, and Lyft have had huge windfalls.
The NASDAQ is at record highs. NASDAQ is tech heavy and the San Francisco Bay Area has the most and largest tech companies in the world.
And to end this on a run of good news, while it remains true that San Francisco remains an expensive city in which to live, Attom CTO Todd Teta told the Mercury news recently that local wages have risen between 10% and 21% during the last year, while median home price gains have topped out at 9%, and in some cases — like San Francisco — have fallen for the first time in years. Says Teta: “There are signs in parts of the region that things are looking up for buyers, with major expenses on single-family homes taking up less of the average local wage in the second quarter of 2021 than in the same period a year ago. That contrasts notably with the rest of California and other upscale parts of the country.”
Ultimately, Bay Area sellers need to find a Realtor® whose knowledge and skills reach cosmic proportions to make sure they are getting everything to which they are entitled.