In California last year it was mystery that the real estate market was moving, buyer demand was high, and the listing inventory was low.  Obviously different areas, communities, counties, etc. did better than others, but overall, the CA housing market appreciated in 2013.

If you have friends or family that work in the real estate industry, or just friends or family that bought or sold or house, I’m sure you heard about how competitive it was, and has continued to be, for buyers coming in and putting offers on homes.  Well the California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.) decided to look at the stats over the last nine years and compare the numbers for homes sold for more than the asking price.  So take a look at it here:

Fifty percent for 2013.  Wow!  That means that half of the homes sold in CA last year sold for over the price that the sellers were asking for.  From working with my buyers and sellers in Mammoth Lakes, CA I knew it was high, but I would have never imagined that it was 50% of all the homes sold.  As stated in the above infographic, that is the highest ever recorded.

So what does that mean?  To me that means a few things:

1)    The Market is Hot – Buyers are feeling good about getting back into real estate as an investment and for those buyers that can’t buy with all cash, interest rates are still at historic lows and are probably the lowest we are going to see for quite some time.

2)    Listing Inventory is Thin – Buyers wanting to get into a purchase know that there is very little to choose from.  So that means either bid high in hopes of getting that home, or lose out on another one to a higher bidder and have to sit patiently for the next quality home in your price range to come on the market and hope that you don’t get outbid again.

3)    The Market is Appreciating – With this sort of trending in the real estate market, it becomes very evident that we are in an appreciating market.  So as a buyer, you need to quickly get in on the market before the market out prices you on what you want or what you can afford.  Many buyers feel that the time to get back into real estate is now and missing the boat could put them back on the sidelines for another housing cycle (approx.. a decade).

If you are a buyer interested in learning more about the offer process in this competitive market, or wish to discuss offer strategies for buying a home, please contact me and I can advise you on what I feel has the best success rate based upon my experience and recent transactions in my representation of both buyers and sellers alike.

Written by Eric Leach of Resort Property Realty, Inc.
800-921-6520
Eric@ResortPropertyRealty.com