East Bay Real Estate: Fall 2009 Is The Best Time To Buy Or Sell A Home!

October 4, 2009 by Jim Walberg · Leave a Comment

98 - Jim Walberg For Sale Sign How many of you believe that the best time in 2009 to buy and sell real estate was the Summer? Well, you picked the wrong season. During my 35+ years in real estate in the East Bay, the best time to buy and sell real estate is the Fall and the Spring! Out of all my years in real estate over half of the 4^th quarters have been our largest sales months of the year? Surprised? The next busiest home sales months have been in the Spring. Here are the reasons why the Fall is the most active; lack of inventory; wanting to get into your next home before the Holidays; people moving into the area who need to purchase a home so they are able to enroll their kids into school for the second school semester; and, a Buyer’s need to close escrow on their home before the end of the year because of the tax benefits.

98 Keys to new home And, there are still hurdles for Buying and Selling a home in 2009 are still qualifying for mortgages and having the home appraise. The issue for Buyers is having the $8,000 first time homeowner tax credit end November 30, 2009. In order to get this credit a Buyer will need to have an accepted contract in escrow by no later than October 10^th, and that may even be too late because of the volume of Buyers waiting in line to qualify for mortgages by the end of November. For Sellers, the appraisals are still the BIGGEST hurdles they face. Even with an accepted offer the appraised value of the home may be less than the agreed sales price. The method used by Banks to keep home values down today is the appraisal. Don’t kid yourself. Banks still control the value of homes in the East Bay, not the agreed upon purchase price.

98 Buying a home - sold So, let’s look at the 2009’s Fall real estate market from the Seller’s point of view. The keys for the successful sale of a home in the Fall are the decline of homes on the market, and the pool of motivated Buyers is at it’s peak. Often times the mind set of a Seller is to take their home off the market because they think the Holiday Season is a bad time to sell a home. Most of the time, Sellers use this as their reason to not be bothered by Buyers while they are celebrating Thanksgiving and the Holiday Season. If they make that choice they will be missing out on the most motivated pool of Buyers during the entire year. With less homes on the market during the Fall, those that are still available for viewing will receive much more attention than homes for sale in the Summer when the largest number of homes are on the market.

What are the reasons Buyers are highly motivated to purchase a home in the Fall? The easy answers are because they have to, or because they want to. For example, November and December are big months for people relocating in and out of our area by their employers. Because of this they need to purchase a home in order to enroll their kids in the second semester school year. Without a home purchase contract they get a mid-year priority enrollment. Another “have to” reason is because a Buyer wants to take advantage of the tax benefits related to 98 - Couple buying a home purchasing a home in the 2009 tax year. The “want to” reason for Buyers is related to wanting their next home by Thanksgiving or at least by the Holiday Season. They want to celebrate these special family times in their new dream home.

If you would like more information about organizing a successful sale of your home, or a successful purchase of your next home, The Bay Area Team is standing ready to assist you. CLICK HERE! I will be glad to provide you the needed information in order for you to make the best decision possible about your real estate sale or purchase. Until next time…your East Bay lifestyle detective remains on duty!