The spring is here and the real estate market is picking up adequately. Inventory is growing and so is the activity. More homes are getting sold. Desirable areas are still hot. Los Altos homes under $2M (if they are priced competitively) are sold fast with bids above the asking price. The same is happening in Palo Alto, Mountain View, Cupertino, Saratoga and Sunnyvale. If the property for sale is situated on a nice street near a good school, and is priced well, it will sell with multiple offers over asking price.

Sunnyvale, in the Cupertino school district, it hot. There are hardly any homes for sale in the Homestead High School area or the Ortega Park area, which belongs to Fremont High school; homes are being sold for more that 10% above asking price. There were a few ranch- style regular homes that were priced a little over a million within the last 2 months that were sold for around $1.2M. I wonder how these buyers can afford to pay a huge mortgage, raise their kids, send them to after school activities and even send some to private schools and survive. Many of the engineers were fortunate to work at start-ups, or sell high-tech stocks to finance a large down payment. But how do others who work many hours on a fixed salary survive?

Education is the most important factor in the decision to buy a house. Buyers will do everything to live near a good school. This motivation drives the prices up.
There are other neighborhoods that look nice and clean. They sell if they are beautifully remodeled or very aggressively priced.

Can you imagine? In the midst of a market downturn, 15 prospective eligible buyers compete for one home (Carniel). Another home (Richelieu Ct.) was sold for almost $200k more than asking price (with 14 offers) last week. It happened last week in Saratoga. About 6 homes that were priced under $2m were sold for more than 10% over the asking price. Some of them got sold just before the end of the year and some are still in contracts. The rain did not scare buyers away. The same thing is happening in Cupertino, where 12 families competed on one home, and in South Sunnyvale, the Homestead High area, low-end homes in Los Altos (under $2M) and in Palo Alto.Inventory is growing slowly but so is activity.These examples are not valid for every market and definitely not for the entire Silicon Valley. Even in the most attractive market there are homes that are not selling. If they are priced too high, over the market value, they will take a long time to sell and the sellers will end up getting a much lower price when they finally sell. A few examples are a house near Montclaire Elementary School in Los Altos (a highly desirable area) which has been on the market for more than 52 days, and a small house with a huge lot near Nimitz Elementary School in Sunnyvale.Smart buyers are not afraid of looking again at the same homes and offering lower prices. Now is a good chance to get A good deal

So you have decided to sell your home and chose your favorite agent. You are working on preparing your home for sale and beautifying it but in the back of your mind there is always the nagging question, how much shall I ask for it in order to get a good strong offer?

Pricing the house is the marketing strategic. In different times you would use different marketing styles.

In a seller’s market you can comfortably price it low knowing that you’ll generate many offers and get wonderful offers, well beyond  your asking price, but in a transition market like now, you can dream about the good old times and hope for many offers.  Price your house as close to what you think you can get for it realistically. You do not have the luxury of pricing low and get $100k over the asking price with 2 month free rent back and ‘as is’ sale.

For example, Sunnyvale real estate conditions can vary from one neighborhood to another. In Homestead high school area you can still play with the low pricing. Everything sells there. In North Sunnyvale it can’t be done. Together with your agent you can weigh and analyze the local market and set the list price. Cupertino also varies from one neighborhood to another. Monta Vista High school area is still hot while other areas with less desired schools take longer to sell. Price your house as close to the market price but not too high. If the house is priced too high agents and buyers lose interest, the property becomes “stale” and you’ll end up getting less money for your property.