Always Busy Somewhere

As a reminder of the shifting residential market, I recently ordered a new round of signs and lockboxes to keep pace with our growing inventory of active listings as activity has temporarily stalled on many of our home listings as some buyers appear to be awaiting direction on interest rates. 

In response, our focus for residential has been to closely research and recommend correct pricing for our clients when listing their properties. And for Sellers wanting to help hold the line with pricing, we are coaching our clients to be open to more creative offer terms than they may have needed to consider before, such as contingent offers and use of rate buydowns to help keep monthly payments affordable and attractive to buyers.

As one extreme example, on the new townhomes we are selling at The Dwellings of Soquel, the developer is underwriting a Builder Forward loan program giving buyers the option of a 4.99% 30-year fixed rate loan that brings the loan payments down by over $1,000 per month which is starting to get positive response.

On the other hand, activity has been surprisingly busy in other segments of the market. For example, with 3 business opportunity sales under contract, this is the first time I can recall ever having more businesses in escrow than homes, and we have been streamlining our marketing and transaction management skills for our business clients in response to meet the increased need.

As well, within the past week we have received multiple offers on two of our new Commercial listings. In both instances, owner-users are outpacing competing offers by investors motivated by their drive to develop their business vision at a property they own instead of leasing from somebody else. We are also in the process of listing a Commercial-Ag property with an interested party in the wings which will likely turn into an offer over the course of the coming weeks as another indication that entrepreneurial-minded buyers are actively seeking out new ways to invest in their own future instead of waiting for the economy to bring it to them.

We have found ourselves scaling back our active involvement in large-scale development properties over the first half of the year, amidst signs that activity for these types of projects may be slowing, as evidenced by the recent decision by a developer to pull out of a large project on Ocean Street, citing both the red tape of the entitlement process, as well as skyrocketing costs of lumber and other building materials which are being driven up in part due to the international tariff wars against Canada and others.

Against the backdrop of all this, we are also meeting an increasing demand for our property management services as increasing numbers of owners have decided to hold off on selling until market conditions shift.  

As usual, the question isn’t if we are busy, but rather how we are busy, because it’s always busy somewhere. Ultimately, the key in remaining relevant and successful as a real estate professional is finding out how your clients need support and helping them in the way they want to be helped.