What’s Happening in the Silicon Valley Market This Quarter?

I’ll discuss some important statistics from Silicon Valley’s third quarter so that you know what to expect moving into the fourth quarter.

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Since we’ve just finished the third quarter, I’d like to go over some numbers from the Santa Clara County market so that you know what’s going on in Silicon Valley real estate moving into the fourth quarter.

There are a little over 1,700 homes on the market right now, including single-family homes, townhomes, and condos. Of these homes, the median list price is $980,000 while the median sales price is about $902,000.

For homes that are active on the market, the average days on market is about 59 days in the entire county. For the homes that did sell, the average days on market was about 30 days. The total sales for the last month of the quarter was a little over 1,200 sales, which is down by about 4% from the previous month.

What do all of these statistics mean to you as a home buyer or seller?

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If you find a home that meets your needs, jump on it now.

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If you’re a buyer, you have a little bit more inventory to choose from and interest rates are still historically low. We’re also not seeing quite as much competition on the market, so your odds of getting into a bidding war are much less likely than they would have been earlier this year. So if you find a home you like that fits your needs and is in a great location, jump on it and make an offer.

On the flip side, if you’re thinking about selling your home, don’t worry; homes are still selling. Homes are sitting on the market a bit longer in some areas, which may call for a more aggressive pricing and marketing strategy. Overall, we need to adjust our expectations a bit, especially as we approach the winter months. For this reason, you should be sure to plan your sale accordingly. In any case, if it’s time to sell your home, you can definitely do so and get a great price for it.

This is just a brief overview of what we’ve seen in the market this past quarter, so if you have any other questions about whether it’s the right time to buy or sell a home in Santa Clara County, give me a call or send me an email. I’d be happy to help you!

The Difference Between Listing Agents and Buyer’s Agents

What is the difference between a listing agent and a buyer’s agent? Here is what you need to know about the duties and responsibilities of each job.

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What’s the difference between a buyer’s agent and a listing agent? Obviously, the listing agent deals more with listings and home sellers and the buyer’s agent focuses more on home buyers, but the duties of each agent are actually very different.

The primary focus for a listing agent is to assist the home seller in marketing their home. Their job is to ensure that the home that they are selling shines in the best possible light, to put the home on the MLS, get buyers to see the home, and negotiate offers with those buyers.

A buyer’s agent's primary duty is to take buyers to see homes, find them homes from the MLS, and help them identify what they’re looking for in their next home while being knowledgeable in all aspects of the market.

Because the duties of these two types of agents differ drastically, certain personality types tend to work better for each job. Listing agents tend to be more aggressive and focused on marketing while buyer’s agents tend to be geared more toward customer service and be consulting-oriented.

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One agent can’t protect the best interests of both the buyer and seller.

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Each agent has a fiduciary duty to their respective clients as well. The listing agent has a responsibility to the home seller to get the most money possible and the best terms for their home, while the responsibility of the buyer’s agent is to get the home buyer the best home for the best price on the best terms.

Why is this important information for you to have? If you’re considering buying a home, you may be tempted to call the listing agent for a property you like and work with them to complete the purchase. This is a bad idea because since the listing agent has a duty to the seller to get them the highest price on their home, it is not likely that they will keep your interests in mind during the transaction.

I definitely recommend hiring an individual agent to represent your side of the transaction. If you’re selling your home, hire a listing agent that has experience with listings and project management. On the other side, if you’re buying a home, be sure to hire an agent that deals exclusively with buyers. Hiring an agent to represent both sides may set you up for a potential disaster and a lot of conflicts of interest down the line.

If you have any questions about the duties of buyer’s agents and listing agents or would like to know how to choose the agent that best fits your needs, give me a call or send me an email. I’d be happy to help you!

We’ve Made Home Searching Easy

Our new home search website has everything you need. It is instantly updated with the latest information on homes for sale.

Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report.

Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale.

I just wanted to talk to you for a minute about a new website that we just launched. This site is going to allow you to search for homes for sale as soon as they are listed on the market.

This site is updated instantly with our local MLS and provides a ton of different information about each home on the market. We’ll let you know the nearby schools and provide you with video tours of properties when they are available. This is in addition to all the other information you typically get on listings like bedroom/bathroom count, square footage, etc.

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Let us know what you think!

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You can check the site out at www.buysellprg.com. Go ahead and check out the site when you get a moment. Let us know what you think. If you have any questions for us, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you.