Realtors are mediators between buyers and sellers, but I do not deny they play games in between, but they are not decision makers. Greed (and fear) are common on both sellers and buyers. FOMO is high with buyers.
I know how much my agent (buyer agent) struggled to get me the home. He was caught between seller and buyer as we both were adamant, not yielding a bit. I can not explain further, but he was frustrated, I pity him !
Yes, both seller and buyer (me) did not yield at final issue on counter offer. I was frustrated and told him walking out,I really meant, let the seller give the home to any one, but I did not agree on some terms. They struggled and finally made it, somehow convinced seller to agree on. Hindsight, I feel pity on those realtors.
Yes, counter is high priced enough and no one will accept the counter price if they go for another bidding.
I guess I am better than other party in terms of cash reserve, 75% down payment with 85% cash source proof.
I agree with your main point.
However, looking at Qualcomm engineersā affordability to predict SV market doesnāt sound correct to me.
FANG engineers represent SV market buyers way better Qualcomm engineers in SV.
Went to a couple of open houses today. I donāt know if things are slowing down or we have bad taste, but one house the realtor actively asked what would make us want the house and said that prices below ask would be considered. She was very concerned at the low foot traffic. Granted, the house lacks curb appeal and is on a major street.
Another house, only 3 packets out, and only two serious buyers. No one came by during the 1/2 hour we were chatting with the realtor. Nice house too.
Things are slowing down, i feel the same. went to some openhouses and felt similar. The question is - this happened almost all of a sudden, what triggered it?
Although I am looking at different area, I feel the same way.
Good_location/no_issue homes are selling well (One house I bid last week had open house over the weekend, accepted offer on Tue and went pending immediately. Mine didnāt win and there were 7 offers.).
Another house I didnāt bid (because there were too many people in open house) a few weeks ago was sold with 37% over asking price.
However, the houses with little downside (close to somewhat busy road (4 lane local road) for example) are not selling and their listing prices seem same with last winter. Some of them were removed from listing recently.
I guess buyers become picky.
At the same time, most recent listing prices are based on sold price from Jan-Mar this year.
It would be interesting to see how those new listings are going to be sold.
Wasnāt it always the case? busy streets got less foot fallsā¦
With the recent sudden spike in price, there is some fatigue tooā¦Iām guessingā¦
With Trump Tax plan cost of buying is also higher. That should sometime show itās effect in the marketā¦
Slow down or not, the longer you wait the worser it gets. Even if you had bought during the peak back in 2006, your home value would still double fast forward to today. And I donāt think anyone here is smart enough to time the market exactly at the trough.
March 2018(latest I could find) report for CA cities.
Find your city.
April 2018 prices are up @20% higher than March 2018 in my area(based on following up in my area).
Thatās the long-term view. If youāre buying in the next 3 months, you want to know whoās in chargeābuyer or seller. Iām hearing that the tide is turning, but slowly.