Throughout my career selling real estate since 2004 the pattern has been pretty consistent. Come July, agents and buyers take time off for vacations. Families concentrate on getting back to school. On the advice of their agents, sellers decide to wait to list their homes until after Labor Day. Basically, a portion of the industry takes their eyes off the ball. There is something to be said for waiting and it can be the right strategy depending on circumstances, the market and the buyers you are targeting.
I’ve always found the months of July and August to be particularly productive, in part because the people who really want to sell and buy are still active in the market. This past week at the end of June I looked at 12 offers on my property on Wisteria Way in Terra Linda. Why so much demand? This was a fixer property, and contractors are always on the lookout for their next project. They aren’t waiting until September to buy.
This week with Rose Capurro we listed a property out on Baypoint in San Rafael. Last year we sold a listing on Baypoint Dr together. When did it close escrow? The end of August. Who was the buyer? An investor who wanted to use the property as a rental. If memory serves me, he was in a 1031 exchange. Those kinds of buyers are always in the market, and if we took the property off the market during the summer we would have missed that buyer who only had a limited window to buy. In a 1031 there is only 45 days to identify 3 properties, and 180 days to close on one.
Because there is generally less competition among buyers during the summer months, now is the time for serious buyers to focus on the market. If you are a seller, waiting until Labor Day might be counter productive because while we see more buyers in the market in September, we also see more sellers. The window to sell is pretty short in September because by October things start to settle down, so if a seller wants to test a higher price, they really don’t have a lot of time. By November and the holidays unless you’re selling a fixer there’s not going to be a lot of demand for your home.
In my current pipeline: 67 Roundtree contingent, 579 Wisteria Way pending, 1056 Los Gamos #G available and a property in Baypoint by August. Plus, I’m working on another Terra Linda listing with the hopes of having it ready by September. Summer slowdown? I think not.