San Carlos Home Buyers Are Stepping to the Plate.

February 2, 2011

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Surge in Pending Sales.

After what can be best described as a “watch and wait” month in January,  home buyers in San Carlos appear ready to step to the plate and do business as the calendar turns to February.   Consider the following:  In the first four weeks of 2011, only 6 single-family homes went into contract in all of San Carlos.  Fast-forward to today, where 8 homes have already sold this week — and we're only at Wednesday morning.

Now, it's generally understood that January is a slow month for real estate in every region, but the lack of production this past January was not a result of lack of interest.  Quite the contrary — open house attendance spiked right after the beginning of the year and remained high throughout the month of January.  And it's also generally accepted that anyone who is trudging through open houses in January is probably a serious buyer.  The interest was definitely there.

So why the hesitancy to pull the trigger in January?  A big part of the puzzle is simply the lack of new inventory.  As of last week, the average days on the market (DOM) for all homes for sale in San Carlos stood at a whopping 107 days.  This means that most of the homes that people saw in January were the same homes they already saw in December.. and November.. and even October.     And while these buyers whittled their short-list down to a few homes, there seemed to be nagging question burning in the back of their minds — what else is coming on the market? Some simply didn't want to make the decision to buy and run the risk of having their dream home come on the market the following week.

A Limit to Patience.. and Low Rates.

There's probably a variety of reasons behind the recent spike in pending sales.  At some point, buyers simply run out of patience.  They have waited for months for new inventory that hasn't arrived, so they lock down the top house on their list.  Others run out of time — either due to rental issues, relocation benefits, whatever…     For some, watching interest rates inch upward for the past few weeks was motivation enough to get them off the fence.

For those of you keeping close tabs, here's a list of the 8 homes that sold already this week.  You'll recognize this format from the San Carlos Real Estate Week in Review series that I post every weekend on the site. Click on the address of the respective home to get additional details:

Address DOM (days)
1800 Howard Avenue
92
309 Old County Road
20
1043 Sylvan Drive
97
15 Whitman Court
26
236 Oakview Drive
60
218 Exeter Avenue
10
144 Glasgow Lane
16
3154 La Mesa Drive
10

Check back this weekend when I post this week's Week in Review to see how much this list has grown.

Final note: It's interesting to see that the average DOM of these 8 homes is 41 days. So it's not just newer listings that are selling.  For a list of ALL of the homes that are pending sale in San Carlos, click here:   Pending Sales in San Carlos.

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3 Comments

  1. Arn on February 3, 2011 at 2:09 am

    Yes, buyers are out in force looking for property.
    Chuck reported in an earlier post over 100 groups at his open last weekend!
    After Super Bowl Sunday, there will be even more.
    The past week or so, I have had more buyers in my car than in the preceeding five or six weeks.
    I have two “younger” (age is relative) couples – one with a new born, one engaged looking to buy in San Carlos right now.
    As Bob Bredel indicated, the $850,000 to $1,000,000 is the target price zone, so too with these couples.

    Average days on market can sometimes be misleading.
    Well-priced well presented properties will sell after one or two weeks on the market.
    Over-priced poorly presented property will sit on the market for months.
    The average will be somewhere in between. But the average doesn’t mean much.
    As a seller, what side of the divide do you wish to be on?

    Buyers recognize value and they will step up to the plate and make an offer.

    Chuck’s new listing at 133 Highlands is a very interesting property with some “unique” features. Lots of square footage, fabulous view and big big lot for the $$$. I will be interested to see who ends up buying that home.

    The next few months will be telling.



  2. Michael on February 3, 2011 at 5:29 pm

    We have a neighbor putting their house on the market in a couple weeks…they will be moving to southern Cal in an area that did not see much of a downturn. They bought this (pristine) house in 2007 and know they will not recoup 100% but hope to do ok relative to the market.

    It will be priced above the hot pricepoint as Arn mentioned, but will be a nice home for some family to call home (Completely redone 4 bed, 2 1/2 baths flat lot on a culdesac).

    There are people voluntarily moving and acknowleding they wil not only lose money but will pay more for a similar house in an area where they miss their friends.



  3. Michael on February 4, 2011 at 6:50 pm

    Just saw that 100 Wellington is pending after 25 DOM
    Just goes to show you that , priced properly, a home will sell (Reduced to $1.069M).



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