May Real Estate Market Update - Greater Sacramento - California - National Trends

This is a comprehensive breakdown both in video form at the top and charts/ graphs below. In both I work to give a breakdown of the data and my opinion on some occasions. This is your Sacramento Real Estate market in May 2024 with a look at Placer, El Dorado, and California stats as well as a national perspective on prices and interest rates.    Quick Market Update: The market feels cooler than it did a month ago. The market isn’t scorching hot, but there are still groups of 10-20 home buyers at most open houses. I’m still showing various families multiple homes and I have multiple listings. Buyers are taking longer to make buying decisions and rightfully so since their payments are so substantial without a large down payment. Most sellers are selling because of big life changes or to use the equity to keep the payment on their next house low. Sac median price remained the same from March to April, though interest rates    Sellers:  Now is the time to get your home on the market if you’re thinking of selling in 2024. The Sacramento Market peaks out in May / June each year and then prices begin to drop until the bottom out in Jan / Feb of the following year.    Buyers:  There is a new down payment assistance program that gives $15,000 toward buyers down payment for first time home buyers* and the rate only increases by 1/8th of a percent, which is NOTHING compared to past programs. We are going to see the prices grow steadily in the coming month and peaking out around July. Interest rates appear to have hit a plateau hovering around 7% down from 7.5%, this year's high. Though not moving much from this range in the last few weeks. If they change significantly in either direction, this will skew the market. *First Time Home buyer for this program is someone who has not purchased a home in 3 years. They CAN own a home. They may have purchased homes in the past.    Interest Rates Interest rates provided here are only provided as a national average, and can vary from person to person, and lender to lender. I can help you find a lender with exceptional service who does not charge points or fees when you’re ready. A no fee, low interest rate lender, will keep your costs down, improve your experience, and help you to qualify for more houses with a smaller payment. They can beat other lenders because of how compensation for lenders is calculated. Smaller companies have less overhead, thus are able to outcompete larger companies.    By my calculation 7.42% - Historical Median Interest Rate from 1971 - 2023 In RED below, you will see rates are trending downward and are now on average below 7%, in our last report we were above 7% are trending upward.. This is great for buyers and sellers alike, BUT will increase competition on an already limited number of available homes if the trend continues.     Detailed Sacramento Market as of the last published report: Sacramento County (including City of West Sacramento): Median Price Month / Month- 0% Change vs April which was up 2.8% (Slowing growth) Median Price Year / Year - Is up 5.05%, April was up 9.9%, (5% is healthy and sustainable) Housing Inventory - Inventory is keeping pace with demand, 0% change from last month.  Monthly Median Price Sold - as of the end of April 2024 is $550,000, 0% change from March.  Current Median Price Approx. - As of 5/12/24  $555,000, .9% Increase Mnth/Mnth   My Take on the Sacramento Market: Median price appears to have plateaued for the year, lower than the all-time high price of $575,000 set in May of 2022. 2022 was also notably before interest rates continued to drastically increase. However, if rates continue to drop, there’s a chance the median price can continue to rise later into the season. Additionally, there are some new down payment assistance options available. For example the most publicized program, “Dream for All,” which is actually the dream for very very few program in practice, has the potential to increase prices in the short term once it’s released, it’s release date is a mystery, however, what we do know is that it’s participants will be picked by lottery only from applicants, its only available to first generation homeowners, it cover 20% down payment, and once the lottery is picked each buyer only has 90 days to find a property or they lose their eligibility. The last program which was far more inclusive caused a noticeable price surge, it's likely we’ll see a short spike from this program launch as well. The reason they cause a surge is because with limited funds, participants are incentivised to get an offer accepted right away before funds are depleted, the last program last 11 days before it ran out of funding, I was happy to have a client who benefitted from the program who otherwise would not have been able to afford a home.    California Market: Redfin data shows Year over year Growth of: California - 11.7% Sacramento County Only (not including City of West Sac) - 6.3% Placer County - 4.6% El Dorado County -  2.2% Note: County Data is vast with numerous rural areas. If you want specific data on your Zip Code please let me know and we can discuss your specific needs.      Nationwide: We are seeing growth across all regions year over year nationwide, albeit, slower than CA and slightly up at 5.7% from last month's 4.8%. This is still steady growth nationally and is evidence of a healthy market. I would expect to see growth peak in mid to late summer and begin a decrease through winter nationwide, which is cyclical and normal.    Sources: https://www.nar.realtor/blogs/economists-outlook/latest-existing-home-sales-data-graphs https://www.redfin.com/state/California/housing-market https://sacrealtor.org/housing-statistics/ https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MORTGAGE30US https://www.car.org/marketdata/data/ftbhai/ https://www.freddiemac.com/pmms https://trendgraphix.com/   Check out More Home Buyer informationCheck out more Home Seller information

Everything you need to know about the 2024 California - Buyer Representation and Broker Compensation Agreement

TLDR Version (too long didn’t read)       A Comprehensive Breakdown    

Early Fall 2024 Real Estate Market Update - Greater Sacramento - California - National Trends

This is a comprehensive breakdown both in video form at the top and charts/ graphs below. In both I work to give a breakdown of the data and my opinion. This is your Sacramento Real Estate market for June and July 2024 with a look at Placer, El Dorado, and California stats as well as a national perspective on prices and interest rates.    Market Update Bullet Points: Interest rates are dropping - 6% conventional, 5.75%FHA, 5.25% as of the writing of this article and trending downward All home buyers are required to sign a Buyer Agreement with a Realtor before viewing any homes after August 16th 2024 Buyers will be required to now pay the buyer's agent commission - Buyers agent should be ensuring the sellers pay for this new buyer fee Prices will increase as rates drop, but the rate drops are so new it has not yet reflected in prices…YET Now possibly the best time to buy - See below “My Take on the Sacramento Market” Buyers Bullet Points:  Gold Opportunity to Buy Right Now Interest rates dropping National Change is Buyer Real Estate Agency Effective August 16th, 2024   Interest rates have continued to drop slightly now around 6% conventiona down from 6.8 on my Mid-Summer Update as of late July! THAT'S HUGE and QUICK. Prices have not yet reflected this drop, but they will! First time home buyers using any kind of assistance should make a move right now. When there are multiple offers on most homes, anyone using down payment programs are usually the first squeezed out of the market.  Buyer Real Estate Agency - The National Association of Realtors Legal Requirements between Buyers and Buyers Agent have changed - As of August 16th, 2024 there was a change nationally in the way buyers agents and their Realtors interact, before any home can be shown a buyer must sign an engagement agreement with a Realtor, this agreement can be day specific, home specific, or it can run for as long and buyer and Realtor Agree.  This agreement formally called the Buyer Representation and Broker Compensation Agreement does two things: It establishes a timeframe for the Realtor / Buyer relationship It establishes a maximum compensation the buyer's Realtor can receive.  We will discuss these terms before viewing any homes. I I am making videos to go line-by-line discussing this brand new form. Your Realtor John - I come from the old school, I want to EARN your business, and if our relationship isn't working out and you elect to work with someone else, I will cancel this agreement in writing, shake your hand, and wish you well regardless of what we agreed to because I am so confident you will be satisfied with my level of service, so much so, I put “this agreement can be canceled at any time” in writing on all my agreements.    .   Sellers:  It’s still a sellers market, and it may become a strong sellers market depending on interest rates Selling prices have started their yearly trend downward.This is the statistical point where prices begin a slow decline into winter. Inventory has peaked going into late summer and will gradually decrease through winter. Interest rates dropping are expected to make this winter more competitive than a usual slow winter. Anecdotally, I’ve had more buyer inquiries since September 1st onward than nearly the whole of 2024.                Greater Area*: # of Homes on Market relative to demand                       Green Avg Sale Price Vs Avg Sold Interest Rates Historical interest rates provided here are only provided as a national average, and can vary from person to person, and lender to lender. By my calculation 7.42% - Historical Yearly Median Interest Rate from 1971 - 2023   In RED below, you will see rates trend toward 6% on average, in our last report we were only slightly below 6.8% and trending downward. This is great for buyers and sellers alike, BUT will increase competition for buyers and favors sellers as the trend continues.   Detailed Sacramento Market as of the last published report: Sacramento County (including Cities of West Sacramento): Median Sold Price Month / Month- August vs July down 0% Median Sold Price Year / Year - Is up 3.06% Housing Inventory - Inventory increased starting in May - 1.8 Months of Inventory Monthly Median Price Sold - August was $559,000 Current Median Price Approx. - As of 9/8/24  $560,000    My Take on the Sacramento Market: After a bust market for the better part of 2022 into 2023, it's been a slow recovery to find stability, and we have now reached stability over the course of summer in 2024. With interest rates dropping, and if they stay low most importantly, we may see a boom year in 2025 for prices. For the record, I don’t want booms or busts, my life and stress load is so much more bearable in moderate growth and decline markets. All price and payment sensitive buyers should capitalize on the market right now. As of the time of writing this, the market is at a lull, a nice little plateau that is giving buyers the best opportunity they’ve had in years: plenty to pick from, reasonable competition, reasonable interest rates, and a real possibility of interest rate refinancing in the near future for a lower payment.   California Market: Redfin data shows Year over year Growth of: California - 3.3% Sacramento County Only (not including City of West Sac) - 3.8% Placer County - (-0.43)% El Dorado County -  2.8% Note: County Data is vast with numerous rural areas. If you want specific data on your Zip Code please let me know and we can discuss your specific needs.  Nationwide: We are seeing year over year growth across all regions year over year at 3.1%.  All regions across the US decreased marginally between 2% and 3.9% from July to August, notably the midwest held stead with 0% change. This is cyclical and expected going into fall.  Sources: https://www.nar.realtor/newsroom/existing-home-sales-dipped-2-5-in-august https://www.redfin.com/state/California/housing-market https://sacrealtor.org/housing-statistics/ https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MORTGAGE30US https://www.car.org/marketdata/data/ftbhai/ https://www.freddiemac.com/pmms https://trendgraphix.com/

CA Proposition 19 - Pros and Cons

Proposition 19 Pros and Cons   Proposition 19 has for better or worse changed the way Real Estate in CA is taxed for a select group of individuals while alive, and for anyone that holds real estate in the state when they pass. Watch the video for full details but here is the spark notes version. If you were forced to move due to a natural disaster or if you're 55+ then you are able to transfer your tax basis from your current home to your new home. Meaning your new home will be taxed based on your previous homes tax basis saving you thousands a year on your annual taxes.   There is an additional provision that requires when anyone passes away in California that all of their properties be reassessed. There is an exemption for a primary home, IF the descendants move into the home within a year after the passing and this exemption is limited to the first $1 Million of assessed value only. There is no such exemption for rental properties; although, Corporations, who are legal living entities, appear to avoid this particular tax. Keep in mind that putting your property into a Trust and creating entities is critical to protecting your family from state probate fees, lawyers fees, and of course property taxes. Please reach out if you have any questions, I'd love to help.   Check out More Home Buyer information Check out more Home Seller information