The year was 1984, and a new Wendy’s television commercial caught fire.  An elderly lady with this raspy voice would yell into her telephone asking “where’s the beef?” to some competitor burger joint of Wendy’s complaining about the small hamburger size of their product.  I remember as a kid, everyone in school would use that line for almost any situation. “Where’s the beef?” catchphrase kept going for years after launch.

Current year 2015….over 30 years later…I was just looking at one of my MLS saved searches (on 4/17/15) – single family residence (house) listings Active on MLS in cities from Millbrae down to Palo Alto under $2 million list price that has been Active on MLS for 20 days or more. There are 12 cities in the search.  Guess how many houses there were?  75-150 might be a reasonable guess given the low inventory, high demand real estate market in the mid-Peninsula market.  There were only 25 houses that have been on the market for more than 2 weeks and not pending sale.  That equates to approximately only 2 houses per city.

Although I am not precisely tracking data by recording in a spreadsheet, I have had this internal MLS sort for approximately 4 years now. I do not remember another year, regardless of month of year, where SFR 20+ days in this mid-Peninsula area of 12 cities was able to fit on the 1st page of my web search. Properties sell within 1-2 weeks on the market given low supply and high demand. So, what does that mean for sellers and buyers?

For sellers, you may think this might be all great news.  Both yes, and no.  If you are seller moving out of the SF Bay Area, this should be great news.  Sell your house and be able to buy a bigger house for less money in nearly anywhere else in the US (NYC excluded). Even though other parts of the US also is showing strong appreciation with low inventory situation, it is unlikely to be at the same level as the SF Bay Area.

However, if you were a seller looking to purchase a bigger house in the same area, then there might be challenges. They are not insurmountable, but definitely trickier: 1) buy bigger house 1st if you qualify for 2nd mortgage or can purchase all-cash, then sell current home after purchase, 2) sell current house 1st, negotatiate rent back, and aggressively seek to find AND secure new house before having to move out with back-up plan having to move to temporary residence, and 3) buy bigger house 1st using alternative/hard money lenders, then sell current home after purchase and finally refinancing into traditional mortgage paying off alternative loan. Some other options exist, but those are most common possibilities.

As a seller, it may seem that you may need to do less work to prepare your house for sale. Yes, and No. That may be true to simply “just” sell the house. However, the best agents will still advise you on possibilities to be put your property in the best light to maximize your sale price. Because of my construction project experience, I almost always will talk to my seller clients about possible projects to do to the property prior to selling with some estimated rough range on cost and what the estimated ROI percentages will be on potential upside.  This provides a framework for my clients to decide if the wish to invest time and money into the house to potentially increase sale price. My seller clients really appreciate my outlining in detail their choices so they can make decisions even if they ultimately do the minimum required. Some agents will default to not doing any work or even convince homeowners not to do work, since they can get it on the market sooner and they still know it will sell and it requires less effort to them. Although timing is always a factor in the decision matrix, I believe it is still important for the homeowners to know their options and understand the risk/reward and possible financial outcome of each option.

As always, feel free to contact me if you wish to brainstorm anything related to your home.