Inaugural Post!

Welcome to the inaugural post of Team Green Realty’s blog. We have a newly redesigned site that we hope you will enjoy and find useful. We will be posting information about real estate to this site often, to include our local Los Angeles area market conditions. We will also be posting a little bit of ourselves here as well and invite you to join in on our discussions at any time. If you prefer, you can receive an email each time the blog is updated by using the links on this page to subscribe. There are also links on this page to email our blog to your friends and colleagues.

We are here for you, so please do not hesitate to ask questions or jump in at any time.

We would like to start with this month’s market snapshot for Burbank and the San Fernando Valley. Here are this month’s basic numbers compared to previous months this year. We will be including the Glendale and Pasadena areas in future statistics and discussions.

Click Here for Overall Stats
Click Here for Total Active Listing Stats
Click Here for Sold, New and Expired Listing Stats

So what does all of this mean? Well, that is an excellent question and I am very glad you asked. We will start with the easy stuff first.

As you can see, the total number of active listings declined in November. This is partially due to a drop in new listings for the month and a slight increase in expired listings. Expired listings are those listings that were contracted to a listing agent to sell within a given time period, however, they did not sell within that specified time; therefore the listing has expired.

This decline in total available houses on the market in these areas is not necessarily a bad thing. There are a few aspects of our local market that have been driving prices down:

• A high number of short-sales and foreclosures available, which tend to drive down the value of neighboring properties
  
• A high number of total inventory
  

While the total numbers of sales throughout this year look pretty good, they have not been able to keep pace with the total amount of active listings (or inventory) available. This is reflected in the monthly absorbtion rate. This rate is basically the total number of homes sold that month, divided by the total number of homes available. We use this figure to estimate how many month’s supply of homes are on the market, or in other words, how long would it take to sell all of the current inventory.

The basic law of supply and demand is that when homes are readily available prices tend to drop. As we see the monthly absorption drop, prices should start to stabilize and then potentially rise. What does this mean for you?

Buyers: In many areas prices have already started to slowly stabilize and, based on where were sitting, it is an excellent time to buy a home. It is still a buyer’s market and there is plenty of inventory for buyers, including plenty of foreclosures and short sales to choose from and save money. Loans are easier to get approved than in past months as the credit market has loosened somewhat. It is still not as easy as it once was, but the interest rates are phenomenal and VA loans with no money down and less than stellar credit are available. FHA loans with as little as 3.5% down are available with reasonable credit. In short, this is a terrific time to buy! If you have the time and patience to wait our a short sale or foreclosure, you can save even more money.

Sellers: Unless you are selling your home and moving to a different market, or not purchasing another home, I have good news for you. If you want to make a move, our standard logic applies when staying within one market. “If you sell high, you will buy high and if you sell low, you will buy low.” So while prices may be down and you may not make as much on your existing home, the good news is that your new home will be cheaper as well. Also note that the average days on market, or in other words, the average time it will take to sell your house, has increased slightly to 88 days. This means that if you want to sell your home quickly, reasonable pricing and solid appeal to buyers are your best assets in addition to agents who will actively market your property…agents like us.

Buying or selling, if you are ready to make a move, please do not hesitate to call us at 818.568.8402, or click here to contact us. We look forward to hearing from you.

Still not sold on us? See what our clients are saying about us by clicking here.

Happy Holidays!