WHO: JOHN BARRENTINE, MANAGING PARTNER
COMPANY: RED- REAL ESTATE GROUP, KELLER WILLIAMS LARCHMONT
WHERE: L.A. CALIFORNIA
JOHN: People are not believing what they're reading and not believing the media.
What they're hearing reading on the news and what were experiencing on the ground are two very different things. They're still hearing economy is not good, construction isn't happening...housing starts are not good, and the reality on the ground in LA?
There are multiple offers everywhere on anything that comes on the market that's reasonably priced.
COMPANY: RED- REAL ESTATE GROUP, KELLER WILLIAMS LARCHMONT
WHERE: L.A. CALIFORNIA
JOHN: People are not believing what they're reading and not believing the media.
What they're hearing reading on the news and what were experiencing on the ground are two very different things. They're still hearing economy is not good, construction isn't happening...housing starts are not good, and the reality on the ground in LA?
There are multiple offers everywhere on anything that comes on the market that's reasonably priced.
It's hard for buyers to wrap heads around. Agents telling them you gotta compete. They are saying: “Wait I they thought it was a buyers market...I thought things were bad....” People have a difficult time with what they see in the paper everyday or on CNN versus what's actually happening in our market on the west side of downtown... What's happening on the west side of downtown certainly is very specific to Los Angeles.
I don't know what they're doing in other places around the parts of the country.There is a trust factor there. Choosing an agent that you trust and that you want to work with and believe in is the way to succeed in this market.
There are still some deals to be had. In order to seal the deal is to compete because everyone's looking for that deal. It Is the way to succeed in this market. Everyone's decided that the bottom is over and now is a good time to buy while we're close to the bottom.
CINDY:How do you counsel a buyer now?
JOHN: Rates are amazing. Find an Agent in micro market area and trust your agent to guide you through the market because opportunities come and they go and they come and they go.
Good deals come and go so quickly. you're not the only person out there looking for it.Especially of the investors side. One on ours made 4 offers on properties - they had as many as 12 other offers already on it! It’s tough to compete with all cash. And they're are a lot of all cash offers out there now. Someone's probably paying all cash and offering a little less.
Align yourself with an Agent who knows what theyre talking about. Believe them and take their advice.
Deals are out there. Inventory is so low, there's always some homes sitting on the market...and not always necessarily great homes. Always a certain amount of mediocre houses at not great prices and they’re always going to be there.Those mediocre houses at not good prices are making up a huge portion of the flats of LA Miracle Mile, Beverly Center and Hancock Park area.
There is 3 months of inventory so probably it is made up of half of that inventory of homes at not great pricing...so that leaves 1-1.5 mos of inventory of properties that people are interested in..Well 1 month of inventory is a really strong sellers market! 6 months is break even between sellers and buyers - you only have a month or a month and a half of inventory that's well priced.....that is slim pickings for buyers... that's why we have the amount of multiple offers that we have everywhere.
It's difficult for people to step into the market who have researched online and watched Redfin and listen to the news and tracking prices and done all this homework they've been doing Research which is great but once you step out of the world of theory and into the world of practical application it’s a very different world. That's the difficult part for people.
Sometime back in 2003, 2004, 2005 we would say that they have to lose several houses before they get it. Its true again for 2012 for different reasons.It's the same theory - sometimes they have to lose several great properties before they understand houses to see what you have to do. To win is to compete in multiple offers often.
CINDY: Do they see that in order to win they may have to up their offer price?
JOHN: They may have to up their offer to a price that they are uncomfortable with - the same thing they were doing when the market was hot. Prices are better and interest rates are amazing and yet the discomfort factor is there and probably a little heightened. In 04-05 people were doing anything to get into a house. Now that it's a buyers market. according to what is being said everyday in the media along with a lot of things that feeds the fear driven gloom and doom story. You can't believe everything you read. Turn off the media and turn on to your real estate agent.
In a sellers market buyers were more comfortable putting big numbers on the table. .
CINDY: I researched properties on Zillow..
JOHN: Zillow is very good to gather information for sales that have closed. Zillow's “Zestimate” of value has very little to do with reality - in most cases I would say. Zillow is in the market to make money. Zillow makes money getting people interested in seeing values. They are not invested in accuracy of those values, Zillow sells traffic. It’s strictly an aggregator of information. and a lead generation tool that agents pay for. Zillow advertises our listing and are not in the business on giving you accurate information and a lead generation tool agents pay money for. Zillow wants to turn it around and sell it back to me.
CINDY: There's a guy in town looking for houses and is only willing to pay x.y.z for a house because he saw it on Zillow. That could be totally inaccurate?
JOHN: Zillow's probably the biggest offender. It’s great if you want to see what your neighbors down the street sold for. Not great if you want to see what it’s actually worth.
Zillow said the value of my own house was worth 22% less than it sold for.
FOR THE COMPLETE STORY AND A "ZEN MOMENT" WITH JOHN BARRENTINE:
SUBSCRIBE TO "THE LIST"
“Now that the Green wave has washed over the real estate industry, Cindy Shigekuni inspires us to shop for a new home with a clear Eco-consciousness” - John Barrentine RED
REDREALESTATEGROUP.COM
CINDY SHIGEKUNI LEED AP BD+C
GREENHOMEVIRGIN.COM
I don't know what they're doing in other places around the parts of the country.There is a trust factor there. Choosing an agent that you trust and that you want to work with and believe in is the way to succeed in this market.
There are still some deals to be had. In order to seal the deal is to compete because everyone's looking for that deal. It Is the way to succeed in this market. Everyone's decided that the bottom is over and now is a good time to buy while we're close to the bottom.
CINDY:How do you counsel a buyer now?
JOHN: Rates are amazing. Find an Agent in micro market area and trust your agent to guide you through the market because opportunities come and they go and they come and they go.
Good deals come and go so quickly. you're not the only person out there looking for it.Especially of the investors side. One on ours made 4 offers on properties - they had as many as 12 other offers already on it! It’s tough to compete with all cash. And they're are a lot of all cash offers out there now. Someone's probably paying all cash and offering a little less.
Align yourself with an Agent who knows what theyre talking about. Believe them and take their advice.
Deals are out there. Inventory is so low, there's always some homes sitting on the market...and not always necessarily great homes. Always a certain amount of mediocre houses at not great prices and they’re always going to be there.Those mediocre houses at not good prices are making up a huge portion of the flats of LA Miracle Mile, Beverly Center and Hancock Park area.
There is 3 months of inventory so probably it is made up of half of that inventory of homes at not great pricing...so that leaves 1-1.5 mos of inventory of properties that people are interested in..Well 1 month of inventory is a really strong sellers market! 6 months is break even between sellers and buyers - you only have a month or a month and a half of inventory that's well priced.....that is slim pickings for buyers... that's why we have the amount of multiple offers that we have everywhere.
It's difficult for people to step into the market who have researched online and watched Redfin and listen to the news and tracking prices and done all this homework they've been doing Research which is great but once you step out of the world of theory and into the world of practical application it’s a very different world. That's the difficult part for people.
Sometime back in 2003, 2004, 2005 we would say that they have to lose several houses before they get it. Its true again for 2012 for different reasons.It's the same theory - sometimes they have to lose several great properties before they understand houses to see what you have to do. To win is to compete in multiple offers often.
CINDY: Do they see that in order to win they may have to up their offer price?
JOHN: They may have to up their offer to a price that they are uncomfortable with - the same thing they were doing when the market was hot. Prices are better and interest rates are amazing and yet the discomfort factor is there and probably a little heightened. In 04-05 people were doing anything to get into a house. Now that it's a buyers market. according to what is being said everyday in the media along with a lot of things that feeds the fear driven gloom and doom story. You can't believe everything you read. Turn off the media and turn on to your real estate agent.
In a sellers market buyers were more comfortable putting big numbers on the table. .
CINDY: I researched properties on Zillow..
JOHN: Zillow is very good to gather information for sales that have closed. Zillow's “Zestimate” of value has very little to do with reality - in most cases I would say. Zillow is in the market to make money. Zillow makes money getting people interested in seeing values. They are not invested in accuracy of those values, Zillow sells traffic. It’s strictly an aggregator of information. and a lead generation tool that agents pay for. Zillow advertises our listing and are not in the business on giving you accurate information and a lead generation tool agents pay money for. Zillow wants to turn it around and sell it back to me.
CINDY: There's a guy in town looking for houses and is only willing to pay x.y.z for a house because he saw it on Zillow. That could be totally inaccurate?
JOHN: Zillow's probably the biggest offender. It’s great if you want to see what your neighbors down the street sold for. Not great if you want to see what it’s actually worth.
Zillow said the value of my own house was worth 22% less than it sold for.
FOR THE COMPLETE STORY AND A "ZEN MOMENT" WITH JOHN BARRENTINE:
SUBSCRIBE TO "THE LIST"
“Now that the Green wave has washed over the real estate industry, Cindy Shigekuni inspires us to shop for a new home with a clear Eco-consciousness” - John Barrentine RED
REDREALESTATEGROUP.COM
CINDY SHIGEKUNI LEED AP BD+C
GREENHOMEVIRGIN.COM