February’s Housing Market: Fierce, Fearsome & Finicky
March’s Housing Market: March Madness is Back as Confidence Returns 

• Mortgage rates are still very low, but slowly rising (see what happens at the Fed’s meeting tomorrow)
• People who can afford to buy ended up saving more cash in 2020 — combine that with above and you can see that buying power is up (relatively)  
• Priorities of what people want in a home have shifted dramatically to the boon of single-family houses with yards or outdoor space to the detriment of many condominiums in mid- and high-rise buildings 
• Inventory remains low for no particularly good reason 
• The lack of open houses and broker tours have really impacted the market from agents getting to check out other properties and talking shop with each other, to buyers not being able to snag a Calendly appointment before someone else puts in a preemptive offer that gets accepted on a property

• Very well indeed as you will see below. We have loads of buyers ready to go, tons of sellers in various stages of preparation, pondering and planning and have adapted our approach with the likes of Zoom meetings, property tour videos and 3-D tours, so whenever you're ready.... 

• There’s a boomerang effect as the siren call of other climes turn into sirens, alarm bells and power outages. We are seeing more buyers who left the Bay Area last year only to come back only this time as buyers who are willing to double-down and put permanent stakes down here. Take a look at this example that was in the Chronicle lately: 
  • A journey to Texas (and back?) 
• Everyone is obsessed with real estate sites like Zillow, Redfin or Trulia (pick your poison), as best illustrated by SNL’s Zillow Ad here. But remember, us agents really only ever look at the MLS.
• Property showings are now largely being done via Calendly signup whereby you and your buyer agent will get access information to see a property privately after submitting our ‘permission’ slip saying that we’re all COVID-free. Thus, for popular listings, the 30-to-45-minute Calendly slots fill up quickly with entire weekends being booked with showings from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. at night. Compare this to how it was just a couple months ago when showings are more casual and longer. These days, people are chomping at the bit and snapping at your heels when your time slot is just about done. 
• To accommodate increased demand and limited showing opportunities, we’re starting to see the use of offer dates again whereby buyer offers are welcomed after a week or two weekends on the market. During that time there’s always the risk of a preemptive offer coming in of course.  
• Pre-emptive offers are back but these buyers are mostly being asked to come back on an offer date. This happened to both of our listings at Guerrero and Sanchez whereby we asked the preemptive buyer to come back on the offer date — of the pair, the preemptive buyer on Sanchez came back on offer day stronger but had to compete with other buyers to win it with the price difference between the preemptive offer and the ultimate winning offer being more than $200,000. 
• And last, we’re seeing the return of the 21-to-27-day escrow even for folks getting a mortgage as manty lenders are regaining their underwriting prowess and processing more applications. 

As always, thank you for reading In the Know. We have more than 680 subscribers and our readership keeps expanding. But we can’t do it without you, your referrals and your loyalty. Thank you. So be sure to think of us anytime real estate comes to mind as we’ll be here to help you and yours out. 

Very Truly Yours and Best, 

 

Kevin K. Ho, Esq. 
Vanguard Properties 
Broker Associate | Attorney | Top Producer | REALTOR
DRE 01875957 | SBN 233408
(415) 297.7462 | kevin@kevinandjonathan.com







Jonathan B. McNarry 
Vanguard Properties 
Broker Associate | Top Producer | REALTOR
DRE 01747295
(415) 215.4393 | jonathan@kevinandjonathan.com


Raffi McNarry-Ho 
Real estate super dog and Black Labrador Retriever extraordinaire 

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