Where Our Local Real Estate Market Is Headed This Spring


Market conditions vary greatly depending on location. Today, we’ll be looking at market statistics from three specific areas.


 How is our spring 2018 real estate market doing right now? Historically, this is the time of year when more homes start selling than in previous months. Typically, inventory begins to grow through this time as well. 

 If you’ve been following the market, whether you’re a buyer, seller, investor, or curious homeowner, you’ve probably heard about our recent low inventory levels. Actually, we’re in an inventory crisis right now. To give you an example, there are only 70 active listings available in Tustin right now. 

 This leaves buyers with very few options. In fact, buyers in Tustin may only be able to find two to three homes that meet their search criteria right now. This is because when inventory is low, the demand for property rises. This also causes prices to go up over time. Currently, we’re expecting prices to continue rising for between 12 to 18 months.

 Of course, we can’t really predict what will happen after that point. When people ask me, “How’s the market?” This is difficult to answer for a couple of reasons: 
  1. Every area in Orange County is different. We call these various areas “micro markets.” These can be broken down to specific cities, specific areas in a city, or even specific neighborhoods.
  2. Every person is different. It is difficult to tell people how the market is because the answer will change depending on their wants and needs. 
There are so many different factors that go into the current market condition that it’s almost impossible to give people a clear answer. But, as I’ve said before, inventory is low and demand is high. 
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Someone looking for a home in Irvine will have a much different experience than someone searching in Newport Beach.

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Today, though, I’d like to go over a few statistics in particular. 

 In the city of Irvine, which is where I live and where my team runs its business, we have 361 homes available for sale. The number of pending homes is 292, which means there’s currently about 1.3 months of inventory available in Irvine. 

 This figure is called the absorption rate. It essentially means that if no new homes came on the market, it would take 1.3 months for all current inventory to sell. 

 As I mentioned earlier, Tustin has just 70 homes available. On top of that, 75 homes already went under contract in Tustin this month. This means the city has less than one month of available inventory. 

 In contrast, there are 300 homes available for sale in Newport Beach and only 100 are currently under contract, meaning Newport Beach currently has three months of inventory. 

 Someone looking for a home in Irvine will have a much different experience than someone searching in Newport Beach. This just goes to show why it’s so difficult to answer people who ask how the market is doing. 

 If you have any other questions, would like more information, or want to have a discussion about the market in relation to your specific needs, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

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Location: Irvine, CA, USA

Your Home’s Value vs. What It Can Sell for


If you’re a home seller, what’s more important than your home’s value? What it can sell for.


 If you’re a home seller, one of the most important things you can know is that what a home is worth and what a buyer might be willing to pay for it are two different things. 

 If you’ve tried to sell your home in the past but failed, you know this all too well. I talk to several homeowners a day who’s listings have either expired or been canceled, and most of the time I 
ask them if they’d consider putting their home back on the market if I can get them the price they want.

 Their usual answer goes something like “Robert, thank you very much, but I already know what my home is worth.” My response? What your home is worth isn’t always what you can sell it for. 

 Let me give you an example of what I’m talking about. 

 The weekend before last, I met with a client of mine in the Tustin area who wanted to sell their home. I did the research going into this meeting and knew what comparable homes in the area had been selling for. When I crunched the numbers for him and factored in all the important details (what was going on in the area, the condition of the property, the time of year, the current inventory, and how the home actually showed), my opinion was that the home was worth anywhere from $720,000 to $725,000. 

 However, what I think a home is worth doesn’t matter. What matters is what it can sell for. After I gave this client my estimate of their home’s value, I told them what was most important to them was what a buyer is willing to pay for it. That’s when I started talking about my marketing strategy and how I planned to prepare the home for sale.
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What matters is what your home can sell for.

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If you’re paying attention to our market, you know that inventory is historically low and there aren’t a lot of options for buyers. In other words, it’s a hot seller’s market. Technically, you could put a home on the market and sell it really quickly. 

 Would you be leaving money on the table, though? When people hire my team and me to sell their home, we make sure they get maximum value for their property. We don’t want them to leave any money on the table. 

 After I told my client that their home was worth anywhere from $720,000 to $725,000 on paper, I told them that if they had faith in my team and me to list their home, we could sell it for anywhere between $740,000 and $760,000. That’s when I got their attention. They knew I meant business. 

 If you’re considering putting your home back on the market and you’re curious how we prepare homes for sale and market them so they sell for the most money possible, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to speak with you.

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Location: Irvine, CA, USA

The 2 Things All Buyers Want in a Home


To maximize your home’s sale price, you need to offer the two things all buyers want: a great deal and an emotional connection.


 In my 12 years of selling real estate, I’ve come to learn that every buyer wants two things. One is something they know about, but the other is something they don’t.  

 The first thing every buyer wants is a great deal. We’re in a hot market, so any home that looks great will sell. How can you squeeze out as much money as possible from the buyers who are looking, though? That’s easy—you have to maximize your home’s exposure. When every buyer in your area looks for homes online before actually seeing them in person, you need to make sure that when they see your property, it makes them want to check it out immediately. 

 A lot of times, when I talk to sellers, they’ll say something like “Robert, what if we price our home aggressively and price it low and we only get one offer?” If you do the research up front, you know what your home is worth on paper, and you price it aggressively, you’ll more than likely attract multiple offers. 

 When you price your home as a great deal, buyers will naturally want to see it because they’re looking for a great deal. The best part of this strategy is the paradigm shift that happens to the buyer the minute they walk into your property and fall in love with it. Not only will you get multiple offers, but the sale price will exceed the list price.
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Buyers want a great deal for your home and to be able to feel emotionally connected to it.

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However, none of that matters unless you also offer the thing that buyers don’t know they want—something that makes them feel good. Most buyers don’t search for homes to find something that makes them feel good. Instead, they usually have a more logical mindset that’s focused on bedroom counts, bathroom counts, square footage, etc. In my experience though, buyers will pay more for a home if it gives them the right emotional connection. 

 To make an emotional connection with buyers, you need to take time to prepare your property for sale. If a buyer is going to spend as much as $1 million on a home, they’re going to want to move into something that makes them feel good. This means you might have to spend money to make some minor repairs or upgrades. 

 Most importantly, though, never overlook the option of home staging. Whether you live in the property or not, you should strongly consider hiring a designer who will put together a complete package so that the buyer instantaneously feels emotionally connected. 

 If you have any questions or you’re thinking about selling a property and you want to learn more about how my team and I help your clients sell for top dollar, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to speak with you.

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Location: Irvine, CA, USA

What’s the Best Way to Combat Buyer Fatigue?


Buyer fatigue is a common problem for homebuyers in our market, but there are couple things you can do to get past it.


 If you’re a homebuyer in the Orange County area, I’m sure at some point you’ve felt what’s known as “buyer fatigue.” 

 In a nutshell, buyer fatigue happens when buyers try so hard to buy a home, but for some reason they continuously miss out on opportunities. Over time, these buyers can get stressed out and question whether they should even be looking for a home. 

 If you’re currently suffering from buyer fatigue, I have some advice that will help you get through it. There is so much opportunity in our current marketplace. Both homes prices and interest rates are expected to continue to rise for the next 12 to 18 months, if not longer, so the sooner you buy a property, the better the deal you’ll likely get—especially if you’re buying a home to actually live in it. 

 In the Irvine area, there are 345 active listings. You might think that’s a lot of properties for sale, but if you consider how large of an area Irvine is, all the different types of properties available here, the unique characteristics of those properties, the different price ranges involved, and each buyer’s specific tastes, you find that buyers themselves only have three to five realistic buying options. 

 If you’ve been watching the news, reading the newspaper, or browsing social media lately and you’ve heard about low inventory, that’s what they’re really talking about. We’re finding that every one of our buyers is lucky to find three to five homes available in their price range that fit their needs. 

 If you consider that the average price point in the Irvine area is roughly $700,000 and above, many buyers we work with want to see more than just three to five homes. Unfortunately, though, there’s just not a lot out there. We have had clients find a home they love, submit an offer for it, and win that home, but that’s not very common. Most other buyers are waiting patiently and eagerly for new inventory to come on the market. As we know, once new inventory comes on the market, everybody gets excited about it. 

 To put things into perspective, there are more buyers out looking for homes than there are homes available. If a property comes on the market and it’s priced right and shows well, it will likely attract multiple offers. We even listed a property recently that got 24 offers. 
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You might not get the first property you submit an offer for in our market.

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So picture this: If there are, for example, 10 offers on a property, that means nine buyers are going to miss out on it. Some may be missing out for the first time; some may be missing out for the fourth, fifth, or sixth time. Those buyers have to then wait for another property. If they don’t get the next one, they have to wait again. And again. And again. 

 A lot of these buyers aren’t seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. They’ve done everything they need to do, but they’re still not getting the properties they want. 

 The best advice I can give you as a homebuyer is to focus on why you want to buy a certain home. There are a couple other things you need to understand going into the home buying process. First, you will be paying a premium for any property because inventory is so low. Second, you might not get the first property you submit an offer for—it might have to be the fourth, fifth, or sixth.

 Every time I’ve worked with a client who previously missed out on three or four homes and then finally got an offer accepted, they tell me they’re glad those three or four other homes didn’t work out because they finally found the home they love. 

 If you or anyone you know is looking for a home in our market or you have any other questions or real estate needs, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to speak with you.

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Location: Irvine, CA, USA
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