Southern California’s Wet Winter and The Real Estate Market.
In Southern California we don’t have snow days. Which means we typically don’t have any days off in our real estate market. In 2017, I did witness “rain days” due to the large amount of rain we received in December, January and February. I had three homes on the market in cities that typically don’t have homes on the market for long. All these homes were listed in early January. While I expected it to be slow, I didn’t expect the cycle of showings that occurred with each heavy storm.
If it was expected to rain the coming weekend, then that week before would be very quiet. I didn’t get agents calling me, asking questions or requesting showings. Before the rain had cleared, and I was looking forward towards a dryer week, agents would start calling me like crazy. The first time I thought this was a fluke, but when it occurred over and over again for each storm I realized… These were our snow days of real estate.
With that being said, your home’s potential value is still affected by the time of year that you put your home on the market. Winter is very slow. Buyers are hibernating. Typically a homeowner can expect to see home values anywhere from 5-20K under what the prices were during the summer. This is all dependent upon the city you live in as well.
Spring is known as the beginning of home buying season. That’s just what it is, the beginning. While the amount of buyers increase, it’s still not as substantial as the activity that you will see in May.
The month of May is typically the start of the real estate rush. Buyers are submitting multiple offers on properties. Sellers are receiving several offers above asking. It’s the best time to sell your home. However, it is a tough time to buy a home if you are limited by budget.
The largest number of homes go on the market during the summer time. This is why it is very important to price your home competitively and not overpriced. With multiple homes that buyers can select from, they will be less likely to view your home and submit offers because of this price inflation.
Hopefully as we continue through this wet winter, homebuyers will continue to shop for homes to buy. If not, once the storms clear, we are certain to see an incredible demand for homes. Will our market be able to keep up this year?