Most of the headlines in print media for the past two years have announced the decline and demise of the housing market. Broadcast media has jumped on the same bandwagon and leads most broadcasts with endless predictions of dire straits for the home sellers. As usual, the conventional wisdom of the media is not wisdom at all, depending on where you live.

Let’s say, as a prospective home buyer, you venture out today, to shop for and purchase a home.  You are expecting to make a great deal, right? With all the articles you’ve read and all the news you’ve heard you will have abundant choices and negotiate terms which will bring the seller to tears!

Not so fast. It depends on where you are looking, and what you are looking for. Let’s say, for example, you are in the 680 corridor and Pleasanton seems to be a good fit for the criteria you desire…commute to work, schools, shopping, all the amenities a community offers which you deem important, are there. So, let’s see what your choices are, in a city of over 75,000 people, Pleasanton has over 26,000 homes. Sounds like you’ll have quite a selection of homes to consider.

Maybe…

Suppose your budget is between 700k-800k and you want 4 bedrooms + 2.5 baths.

As of this writing, there are 183 detached homes for sale in Pleasanton, of those 63 are priced over 1.5 million and 20 are over 1.0 million. That leaves 100 in all other price ranges to consider.

Of the 100, 20 are less than 1400 sq.ft. which you reject as “too small”!

So in your price range of 700k-800k and wanting 4 bedrooms + 2.5 baths and, oh yes, your wife prefers newer than 17 years old, you have exactly 1 home to view. (that one, as it turns out is very close to a major freeway).

In truth then you are now in a very strong seller’s market and when one home does come available, you will probably have to compete with other buyers hoping to find a similar property.

This is not exactly the “buyers market” which the media told you to expect.

Don’t give up, there’s always the chance your wife will settle for a 30 or 40 year old home and you will have a few more to choose from…

Filed under: Buyers, Market Updates, Sellers