As I mentioned yesterday, the Sacramento real estate market appears to be experiencing some increased activity which is good for my business and hopefully for some of the sellers out there. I enjoy helping clients buy or sell and being busy sure beats waiting for the phone to ring.
Unfortunately the Sacramento area real estate market is still overburdened by the large number of homes on the market. Typically, February is the month we start to see inventory starting to grow after five months of declines. As expected we have seen an increase in homes on the market in the past month. According to HousingTracker, inventory is up 1.5 percent from a month ago to 15,311 as of the first week of February. It is also down 16.3 percent from six months ago which is part of the normal decline after an August 2007 peak. The decline this year was not as rapid or as much as many of us hoped it would be and the result is we
have over 20 percent more homes on the market today than we did a year ago.
With fewer potential buyers able to qualify for more restrictive mortgages and foreclosures still on the horizon it will continue to be a difficult market for sellers.
With this situation in mind, sellers should be very careful not to overprice their homes. Nice homes priced attractively and marketed are selling. They are selling here in the Sacramento area and all across the county. Sellers must go look at the competition and have a Realtor who will provide you with a Comparative Market Analysis. Price your home to attract buyers not to scare them away. They days of, "Let's put it on high and lower it" are over. Regardless of the market every house will sell if priced right, and it will sell quickly.
Our recent listing in Lincoln, was priced aggressively, heavily advertised on the internet, had seventeen showings over the weekend and was in contract with an over asking price offer in 3-days! Does that beat being on the market for 6 to 8 months and lowering the price by a few 000's every few weeks?
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