Orange County, CA is yet again in a seller’s market which is typical in a region of high demand. Home sellers tell their agent to ask the prospective buyers for their highest and best offer which results usually in a bidding war and of course the seller getting more than asking price.
Buyers sometimes become desperate from all the offers they put in on houses and just want to end the process once and for all.
To make matters worse, the inventory of homes for sale has dropped to much less than average numbers based on the past 15 years. There are 14,400 listed properties for sale in the Realtor operated MLS by Orange County homeowners in 2015. Fifteen years ago, there would be 3,500 additional homes for sale for the same period.
With home buyer demand at record levels, and home inventory very low, it means that buyers have a smaller selection of homes to choose.
Property values aren’t the problem either as they have recovered from the housing crisis levels. In a normal market, people would be listing,” said Chris Arco, Broker for 1st Nationwide Real Estate.
With so few properties on the market by sellers, many home buyers searching in Orange County are limited to the number of offers to make and their moving plans are delayed for quite some time.
Prospective buyers wake up in the morning to check for listings that meet their criteria and they are disappointed. It is certainly frustrating but buyers need to start looking around six months before to understand how competitive the market is and not expect to find a home and get an accepted offer within 60 days of house searching.
Reasons Why Sellers Haven’t Sold
Below are some factors that have kept homeowners where they are. They include:
• No place to move to: Due to the uncertainty of finding a suitable home, less homeowners want to list their properties on the MLS.
• Locked in Best Rates Ever: Approximately 2 1/2 years ago homeowners took advantage of the lowest rates in 50 years and refinanced into 3 percent fixed interest rates.
• Proposition 13 tax rates: The low property tax rates assured by the 1978 property tax-control measure are wiped away if they sell their home. Prop. 13 limits any increase in property taxes to 2 percent every year up until the home is sold. Thereafter, rates adjust to market values.
• People are staying put longer: From 1980-2000, residents in California and nationally moved once every seven years on average. Nowadays, it’s estimated people move once every 20 years. They simply go to Home Depot or Lowes and do home improvement projects.
Gone in 55 days
The lower inventory is good for those who can sell their homes but bad for buyers.
The hottest market averages 34 days on the market and that price range is $250,000-to-$500,000.
The $500,000-to-$750,000 home price range takes just 5 days more at 39 days to fetch a buyer, while OC properties listed on the MLS for $4 million and above take over eight months to find a suitable buyer.
Making Aggressive Offers
For many buyers who search for multiple months, put in bids and the offer is not accepted, and hardly any new suitable listings come to market, they become more aggressive with their offers.
Home buyers in a seller’s market who finally get a home are the ones who are offering more than the asking price.