Green Ink and Multiple Offers: It’s the end of the buyer’s market in San Carlos…

September 3, 2009

Money Bag in Tug of War --- Image by © Lawrence Manning/Corbis

We have hit the bottom…

There…I said it.

Call me crazy, or foolishly optimistic, or blind (or all three.)   I have resisted joining the drum beating of others who have been saying all summer “NOW'S the best time to buy!”  But my answer to the often asked question “When will the real estate market hit the bottom?” has always been when:

  1. We start to see multiple offers on a consistent basis, AND
  2. The green ink makes its return to the Weekly Review…(translated:  Homes start to fetch more than asking price.)

Well sports fans, based on that definition, we have found the bottom of the market in San Carlos.   And this means that as quick as a flash, the control that had been in the hands of the buyers has been cruelly ripped away by the sellers.   The brief “buyer's market” we had in San Carlos is over…for now.

It's NOT 2005 again.

This doesn't mean that every house is going to start flying off the market.  Homes that are in lousy condition and are over-priced aren't going to sell.  They didn't back in the super-heated market of 2005, and they won't now either.  But in the past couple of weeks, we've seen an absolute stampede to buy attractively priced homes that are in good condition.  Multiple offers are almost becoming commonplace again — two listings were just on the market up by Highlands Park both got multiple offers (both listed in excess of $1M) and Dave Blewett's listing at 145 Beverly Drive proudly proclaims that it sold with multiple offers.   And believe me, there will be more.

The bottom is a process, not an event…

Finding the bottom of a market is like watching a jumbo jet land — it will bounce off the runway a couple of times and then roll for a mile or so before it ultimately starts its journey upward again.  Right now, we're feeling one of those bounces in the real estate market.  Does this mean all is good and prices will start to climb again?   If I had the answer to that question, I wouldn't be here right now.

Much as I'd like to forget about it, we still have double-digit unemployment to contend with.  And there's strong evidence that there's another wave of foreclosures coming to the area.   Hard to say how this surge of inventory will impact the market.  But for now, if you're shopping for a home in San Carlos, you need to change your mindset.  Now.

“Same as it ever was..”

That line in the great Talking Heads tune is fitting for where we're at right now in San Carlos.   Remember how it was just a year or so ago when you got that new-listing alert in your email inbox, or when your “plugged-in” agent called you about a hot new home that hit the market — and you had to go see it that very night?  Well, we're almost at that point again.   Some of the hotter listings are only on the market for a few days.  That means if you wait until the open house, you're either too late, or best case you're days behind your competition.  That could be the difference between winning the home, or continually missing out.

So keep an eye on the upcoming San Carlos Real Estate Week in Review posts.   If the short days-on-market (DOM) numbers and the green ink stick around, then you can safely assume we're at the bottom.

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