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price sensitive market

6 ways buyers have changed since the housing bubble

September 25, 2018 By Ryan Lundquist 16 Comments

There’s lots of focus on how home prices have changed since the previous “bubble”, but let’s talk about how buyers have changed. Here’s some observations. What else have you noticed?

1) More picky: During the previous housing “bubble” buyers seemed so desperate to purchase that they pulled the trigger on about anything, but they’re much more discerning these days. Of course let’s remember underwriting has changed dramatically though too. In the past many properties flew through the loan process without hardly any scrutiny, but lenders today are incredibly strict, which has certainly propelled a more picky feeling in the market.

2) More patient: Despite a housing shortage buyers aren’t willing to pull the trigger on junk. They’re simply more patient for the right house and they want to make an informed purchase (and even feel like they’re getting a good deal where possible too).

3) More informed: Just as the “bubble” began to pop we had companies like Zillow and Redfin coming to the forefront. Well, now they are household names and buyers are basically obsessed. Seriously, buyers scour these sites day and night, and they know about every single new listing, price reduction, and sale. This doesn’t mean buyers don’t make value mistakes still, but it does mean they are more informed than EVER about prices. At the same time, guess who is not looking at Zillow as much? Sellers. This is a huge issue because it means sellers are not as in tune with the market these days, which means they’re prone to overprice.

4) Financial mistakes: Buyers remember the pain of financial turmoil in the past, so they’re sensitive to repeating mistakes. For instance, I talked with a buyer considering purchasing the highest-priced listing in a neighborhood, but he’s concerned we’re at the top of the market. This buyer asked, “If a buy right now and the market turns, would it be possible I’d have to hold on to the house for 10 years before values come back?”

5) Higher expectations about condition: These days buyers have higher expectations about homes being in good condition. In other words they are much more picky about properties that are not in “move-in” shape or upgraded. Wait, there aren’t granite counters? What the? There could be many reasons for this, but I think heightened investor flipping activity played a huge role. In a fairly short period of time investors had a gluttonous real estate feast by purchasing an avalanche of bank-owned homes, rehabbing them, and selling them. This helped quickly upgrade the housing stock, and also widen the price gap in some areas. What I mean is values used to be very tight together as you can see in the graph below, but now the price spectrum is simply wider since buyers are willing to pay more for rehabbed homes in today’s market. I’m not saying this dynamic is in every neighborhood, but I definitely see it in quite a few areas.

6) Less cash-out refinances: Everyone and their Mom had a boat before the “bubble” burst because people were using their house like an ATM to buy toys. Well, today we don’t have that dynamic (image from Leonard Kiefer). Home owners are clearly cashing out less, which makes them sound financially wise, but let’s realize lending guidelines have changed to make it more difficult to ATM your house. Moreover, many owners are sitting on 3% interest rates, so why the heck would they trade pulling out cash for a much higher rate?

NOTE: I updated this post with “more informed” above after Peter left a stellar comment (thanks). This is such a big point. I can’t believe I didn’t mention it while writing this, but it didn’t come to mind at the moment. The irony is I’ve been talking about this in other posts and in person so much lately. Ha. Well, it’s fixed now.

I hope that was interesting or helpful.

MARKET UPDATE VIDEO: A few days back I did a screencast to talk through trends. Lots of people are wondering if the market is tanking or softening, so I wanted to pitch in two cents. Well, the video is actually 20 minutes (there’s lots to say). Anyway, give it a view if you’d like here (or below).

SPEAKING GIGS: If you’re around, I’m doing a blogging class on October 11th at SAR. I’ll be speaking at the AI’s 2018 Fall Conference in San Francisco on October 19th and AppraiserFest in San Antonio on Nov 1-3.

Questions: What else do you think has changed about buyers since the “bubble” burst? Any stories to share? I’d love to hear your take.

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Filed Under: Resources Tagged With: appraisers in Sacramento, buyers picky about condition, buyers picky about upgrades, change in buyers, change since housing bubble, finicky buyers, granite counters, higher expectations, House Appraiser, Housing Bubble, informed buyers, patient buyers, picky buyers, price sensitive market, quartz counters, Redfin, Sacramento Home Appraisal, trend graph, unrealistic sellers, wider market in sacramento, Zillow

Speaking fluently in real estate cliches

November 11, 2015 By Ryan Lundquist 4 Comments

It’s easy to get stuck in a rut of speaking fluently in real estate clichés. While there’s maybe nothing wrong with saying, “The market is ‘on fire'”, or “It’s a good time to buy and sell,” there has to be more depth we can tap into, right? It’s almost like if I asked someone how they were doing, and the person said, “I’m on fire at work” or “It’s a good time to be alive.” Okay, that’s great to hear, but what does that really mean? I want to catch specifics because it’s in the details where I can really know a person. The same is true in real estate. When we step away from vague clichés and begin to speak fluently in current market trends, it can be very powerful. Whether you’re an agent, appraiser, or home owner, I hope you can glean something from this post as you tell the story of the market to clients and contacts, and I’d love to hear your take in the comments below. If you’re not in the Sacramento market, how would you describe your area? Are trends unfolding in similar ways?

CHALLENGE: Share one talking point below with a client or contact today (or include a point in conversation on Facebook).

real estate market cliches - by sacramento appraisal blog - image purchased and used with permission from 123rf dot com

Two ways to read THE BIG MONTHLY POST:

  1. Scan the talking points and graphs quickly.
  2. Grab a cup of coffee and spend a few minutes digesting what is here.

DOWNLOAD 62 graphs HERE (zip file): Please download all graphs in this post (and more) here as a zip file (or send me an email). Use them for study, for your newsletter, or some on your blog. See my sharing policy for 5 ways to share (please don’t copy verbatim). Thanks.

One Paragraph to Describe the Sacramento Market: The latest stats show a couple of things: 1) The market is slowing down as it almost always does during the fall (no surprise there); yet 2) The market is definitely not as slow as it was last year at the same time. For instance, last month in the region it took one day longer to sell a home than the previous month, which shows the market is cooling, but it’s actually taking ONE WEEK LESS to sell a home this year compared to last year. There is roughly two months of housing inventory in the Sacramento region, which essentially means there are only two months worth of houses for sale on the market. This is very low considering last year inventory was at 2.65 months at the same time. This might not seem like a big difference, but the market is actually VERY sensitive to increases in inventory, which is one of the reasons why the market last year felt much slower (and even sluggish) compared to this year. Many times we hear 5 months of inventory is normal, but keep in mind values have declined any time inventory even approached 4 months in Sacramento County over the past 15 years. Anyway, despite inventory being low right now, buyers are not pulling the trigger unless the price is right. In short, Sellers, if you want your property to sit on the market, overprice it. In terms of values, the overall median price in Sacramento County has been about the same for 6 months and the regional market has softened by 2% in recent months. By the way, if you missed my recent post, I gave some perspective on “real estate bubble” conversations, and it’s a very relevant conversation as we see price metrics begin to soften at this time of year (and people freak out about that).

Sacramento County Market Trends for October 2015:

  1. The median price has been hovering around $290,000 for 6 months in a row.
  2. It took an average of 38 days to sell a house last month (up 2 days from the previous month).
  3. Last year at this time it was taking an average of 45 days to sell a house.
  4. FHA sales were 28.5% of all sales last month.
  5. Sales volume is 9.8% higher so far in 2015 compared to last year.
  6. Sales volume was 7.8% higher in Oct 2015 compared to Oct 2014.
  7. There is a 1.78 month supply of homes for sale (similar to previous month).
  8. Housing inventory is nearly 28% lower right now compared to Oct 2014.
  9. The average price per sq ft is 186.5 (7.1% higher than last October).
  10. Cash sales were only 15.5% of all sales last month (18.5% last year at the same time).

NOTE: The graph below shows an increase in the average price last month, but keep in mind the median price and average price per sq ft were flat (this reminds us to not isolate one metric and make it all about that one point).

price metrics since 2014 in sacramento county

inventory - October 2015 - by home appraiser blog

seasonal market in sacramento county median price

seasonal market in sacramento county sales volume 2

seasonal market in sacramento county inventory 2

CDOM in Sacramento County - by Sacramento Appraisal Blog

layers of the market sacramento county since 2011 - by sacramento appraisal blog

Sacramento Regional Trends for October 2015 (Sac, Placer, Yolo, El Dorado):

  1. It took 7 less days to sell a house this Oct compared to Oct 2014.
  2. Sales volume was up 5.5% in Oct 2015 compared to Oct 2014.
  3. Sales volume for the year is up 10.3% compared with 2014.
  4. The median price at $326,000 is up 6.8% from last year, but down 2% from the past few months.
  5. It took an average of 42 days to sell a house last month (1 day longer than last month).
  6. FHA sales were 24.5% of all sales in the region last month.
  7. There is 2.06 months of housing inventory (same for past 3 months).
  8. The average sales price is $364,829 (7.7% higher than last year, but down slightly from $370K a few months ago).
  9. FHA sales volume has increased by 30% in 2015 compared with 2014.
  10. Housing inventory is nearly 22% lower right now compared to Oct 2014.

sales volume 2015 vs 2014 in sacramento placer yolo el dorado county

prices in sacramento region - FHA and conventional - by appraiser blog

months of housing inventory in region by sacramento appraisal blog

days on market in placer sac el dorado yolo county by sacramento appraisal blog

median price and inventory in sacramento regional market

number of listings in sacramento regional market

Placer County Market Trends for October 2015:

  1. Sales volume was the same in October 2015 compared to October 2014.
  2. Sales volume for the year is up 14% compared with 2014.
  3. The median price in Placer County is $397,500 (it’s been fluctuating up and down between $390-400K over the past 6 months).
  4. Cash sales were 16.8% of all sales last month (very normal level).
  5. It took 47 days on average to sell a house last month (1 day longer than the previous month month).
  6. Last year at this time it took 7 days longer to sell a house.
  7. FHA sales were 18.6% of all sales in Placer County last month.
  8. There is 2.26 months of housing inventory (18% lower than last year).
  9. The average price per sq ft is 201 (3.6% higher than last year at the same time).
  10. REOs were 2.4% of all sales and short sales were 3.6% of all sales.

Placer County sales volume 2 - by sacramento appraisal blog

number of listings in PLACER county - October 2015

months of housing inventory in placer county by sacramento appraisal blog

days on market in placer county by sacramento appraisal blog

Placer County price and inventory - by sacramento appraisal blog

interest rates inventory median price in placer county by sacramento appraisal blog

I hope this was helpful. Thank you so much for being here.

Quick Pricing Advice:

  1. Remember the market isn’t as soft this year as it was during the same time last year, but we are still seeing values cool during the fall.
  2. Talk about the difference between actives, pendings, and neighborhood sales on your listing appointments and in your appraisals. If listings are selling for less than sales from the Spring market, that shows us the market has changed (and we need to price accordingly). See How to use a CMA to gauge the temperature of the market for a fantastic way to quickly explain what the market is doing to your clients.
  3. The market has been very price sensitive all year, which means buyers are not biting on overpriced listings despite inventory and interest rates being relatively low.
  4. Remember there are many markets within a market, so price according to the neighborhood market rather than county-wide trends since your neighborhood might be more or less aggressive compared to the entire county.

DOWNLOAD 62 graphs HERE (zip file): Please download all graphs in this post (and more) here as a zip file (or send me an email). Use them for study, for your newsletter, or some on your blog. See my sharing policy for 5 ways to share (please don’t copy verbatim). Thanks.

Questions: How does the market feel to you this year compared to last year? What are you seeing out there? I’d love to hear your take.

If you liked this post, subscribe by email (or RSS). Thanks for being here.

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Filed Under: Market Trends Tagged With: appraisers in Sacramento, average price per sq ft, average sales price, Home Appraiser, House Appraiser, housing inventory, market trends in Sacramento, Median Price, Placer County real estate, price sensitive market, regional real estate market, Sacramento County Real Estate, sacramento regional real estate, soft fall market, softening fall market, trend graphs

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