“What is holding sellers back from listing their homes right now?” by: Patti Gregory

The obvious answer is COVID and having people inside your home.

I can tell you that we have successfully sold homes throughout this time and kept our clients and agents healthy and safe.

With occupied homes, I have one of my team agents at the door making sure that previewers abide by the rules including booties, gloves & masks.  We ensure that only the agent touches anything inside your home (gloves with hand sanitizer).  When showings are done, the property is completely wiped down and sprayed with Lysol. 

One extra thing we did at our last occupied home was to take previewers temperature prior to allowing them inside.  We will do whatever makes the sellers feel comfortable.  The showings are also done in blocks of time that work for you. 

We have similar precautions in vacant homes with showings still by appointment only, cleaning, masks, etc.  Same protocol.

The California Association of Realtors has a special COVID document that buyers and agents must sign prior to entry to protect everyone.

What about 2021?  Where is the market going? 

I’ve been calling this a ‘COVID bubble’ because it has caused fewer sellers to list and squeezed our housing inventory.  That coupled with the lowest interest rates in history we have a huge buyer pool. 

People are motivated now by so many different factors.  Some can buy for the same monthly amount they are paying in rent.  Others have kids with ‘at home’ schooling and they are working from home and they simply need more space.  Maybe it’s time to move out of condo for some yard space.  Others are moving out of homes that used to be close to work and heading to the suburbs. Then there are places like Laguna, that are tougher to in and out of and now that doesn’t really matter. Some are moving out to the Inland Empire and won’t have to worry about the 91 crawl.  So, so many factors at play. 

Here’s what some of the experts are saying about 2021

Chapman College 5% increase

Jeff Tucker, Senior Economists with Zillow predicts 7%

California Assoc of Realtor predicts a whopping 10% 

EVERYONE agrees that we will see an increase in value and most expect a selling year that will surpass 2006.

It’s all so interesting to me, I could talk Real Estate all day!  I see an increase in 5-7%, 2020 saw a 7% gain.

I’m always here to chat Real Estate, reach out anytime by signing up or logging in on moreandmorenetwork.com.