As the local weather heated up, the Scotts Valley real estate market cooled off a bit as we currently are seeing 37% of single-family (SF) homes on the market being reported as pending or contingent (offer accepted, in escrow) versus 63% in the beginning of June.
July closings were also showing more signs of “normalcy” as we saw 20 SF closings with an average sales price of $801,668 versus the average list price of those properties being $818,213. This means that buyers paid on average about $16,545 less than asking price, or 97.9%. This is about a 4% swing in sales price to list price ratio over May of this year which averaged 102%. Remember, April, May and June are one of the hotter times of the market and July had a lot of vacations, time away from seeing homes, etc. A sales price to list price ratio of 98% is pretty solid, although not the red hot market that spring was.
Market Ripens for Move-Up and Move-Down Buyers
If you are looking to sell your home, get it on the market by October to get the best price if you are looking to max out your profits and move out of the area. If you are staying, it will not make much of a difference as the higher you sell your home for, the higher you will also pay in the new home so it is a pretty even trade. The difference is that when the market cools a little, there is more opportunity for move-up or move-down buyers who want to sell contingent on their home selling because the market is a little cooler today than it was just 2 months ago.
Buyers, this has to be good, if not great news for you as you are seeing more inventory staying on the market a little longer and in most cases, you will get a better deal. However, be aware of the local market and understand that some areas and price ranges are still strong especially if buying a home in the $900,000 range and under. The $700-800,000 market is hot so don’t get too caught-up in comparing with homes in the higher price ranges that have cooled a little.
Robert Aldana
REALTOR® since 1986
BRE # 00921165
American Dream Realty in SV
5522 Scotts Valley Drive
Scotts Valley, CA. 95066
831-252-3959 Direct Line
robert@robertaldana.com
www.RobertAldana.com/Testimonials
Robert Aldana is a 29+ year licensed real estate veteran with American Dream Realty in Scotts Valley, and also a long-term resident and homeowner here in town. He is the founder of MyScottsValley.com and the popular local news and events page at Facebook.com/MyScottsValley.
He was voted as the “Rave” winner in the category of “Favorite Real Estate Agent” in the Scotts Valley Press Banner’s contest for 2014, and also awarded the Scotts Valley Man of the Year in 2014 for his contributions to the community.
Robert was also a nationally syndicated real estate journalist and was a highly sought after interviewee on the topic of real estate by local, national and even international media, in addition to appearing on HGTV and local NBC’s “Best of the Bay”. Many of his articles and interviews can still be read at RobertAldana.com, DeadlineNews.com, RealtyTimes.com, Forbes.com, among many other real estate and finance news sites and publications.