While it is far too early in the year to forecast projections and expectations, what I am seeing is that for the vast majority of luxury homeowners in Marin County, selling is discretionary and when the market softens, many home owners decide to stay put. It looks like lack of inventory will continue to be a big challenge in 2023. Buyers and sellers should take note that A+ homes in A+ locations continue to sell quickly and often with multiple offers and often at Q1 2022 prices. Sellers with lesser homes and in B or C locations can no longer get away with deferred maintenance and dated interiors. These homes are likely to stay on the market longer and when they sell, they will be at pre-COVID prices.
Rates are stabilizing, and after seven successive rate hikes in 2022, the Fed plans to slow the rate hikes to a more traditional quarter percentage point when the Fed meets on February 1. Patrick Carlisle, Chief Market Analyst for Bay Area Compass, shared in his January 2023 Macroeconomic Report that inflation has dropped for the 6th straight month from 9% in June to 6.4% in December.
Last week on CNBC, Compass CEO Robert Reffkin shared, “For the first time in 10 months, all the statistics I look at are trending positively.” He added that Q4 would be considered the bottom of the real estate market. Q1 may be the last time for buyers to negotiate against sellers. https://www.cnbc.com/video/2023/01/23/we-are-hiring-moderately-says-compass-ceo.html
Getting a top ROI is always a priority when we work our magic on homes before listing them. We are currently preparing a number of homes for the market, which is a big part of what we do as a listing team. Our clients are always thrilled with the results. “Move-In Ready” is what most of today’s buyers want, and they speak with their wallets.
Finally, collaboration with trusted colleagues is important to us and helps our team better serve our clients. On Friday, we hosted four other top Bay Area teams in our office to share best practices, how we can improve on collaboration and our process and systems on behalf of our clients. The event was led by our strategic advisor, Jonathan Lack. Joining us was the Dana Green Team of the Lamorinda area, Missy Wyant Smit Team of San Francisco, Neal Ward Properties of San Francisco, and Shana Rohde-Lynch of Go2Marin in Marin County.
|