Check out the article we would like to share from Realtor.com about the 5 Reasons Why This Is Actually The Best Time In Years To Sell Your House:

Talk about a strange summer. Between the continued threat of the novel coronavirus, a wobbly economy, and layoffs happening left and right, it’s no surprise that many who may have hoped to sell their home this season are wondering whether to put those plans on hold—or they’ve already thrown in the towel.

Such hesitancy is understandable. Yet the irony is that, after closely examining the current housing market conditions, many real estate experts believe this summer could be one of the best times to sell a home in years.

“Given the pandemic and uncertainty it’s caused, the general sentiment [among some owners] is that now is not a good time to sell your home,” says Danielle Hale, chief economist at realtor.com®. “Yet so far, the data suggest the opposite—that buyers outnumber sellers in the housing market, which means it’s better to be a seller than a buyer.”

So if you’re a home seller who assumed they should write off this summer’s home-selling season as a lost cause, it’s time for a reality check! Here are a few reasons why the market could actually be moving strongly in your favor.

1. Home buyer demand is back with a vengeance

Granted, in the spring, when COVID-19 was spurring many states to enforce quarantine and ban open houses, home selling understandably went dormant for a while. But now that lockdown restrictions are loosening up in some states, home buyers are out with a vengeance—and many of them are eager to make up for lost time.

Indeed, the real estate market is already seeing strong signs of a rebound, according to the National Association of Realtors®’ Pending Home Sales Index (a forward-looking indicator of home sales based on contract signings). In May, after two months of decline, pending home sales shot up 44.3%—the highest month-over-month jump since 2001, when the index began.

“There’s very significant demand,” says Matthew Gardner, chief economist at Windermere Real Estate. He adds that demand is strongest right now in the suburbs and in smaller, cheaper cities—as buyers look to escape the biggest metros and more companies follow tech titans like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft in allowing employees to work remotely for the foreseeable future.

“If we continue to see an increase in working from home, people can move farther away, where they can get more bang for their buck,” Gardner says.

2. Home inventory remains low

Yet amid this glut of home buyers, the number of homes for sale to actually meet this pent-up demand is at an all-time low.

“There was insufficient supply last year,” says Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the NAR. “This year during the pandemic, the shortage has intensified.”

According to realtor.com’s market outlook, housing inventory in June was 27% lower than a year earlier.

And some reasons for the shortage of available homes have little to do with the recent coronavirus crisis. The number of homes for sale is at a “generational low,” says Gardner, because people are living in their homes longer than they used to. In fact, NAR data shows that Americans are spending an average of 13 years in their homes before moving.

The lower inventory is also the result of fewer distressed properties on the market, “due to the massive government stimulus support, including mortgage forbearance and generous unemployment benefits,” Yun explains.

Click Here to read the rest of the article from Realtor.com!

The Lawhead Team recently came across an interesting article from KPBS about last month’s jump in home sales in San Diego County. Has the “bottom” of the market already come and gone?

Home Sales Jump 31 Percent Last Month In San Diego

The number of homes sold in San Diego County jumped by 31.3 percent in October, compared to the same month a year ago, while prices rose by 11.1 percent, a real estate information service announced today.

“Rising demand has met a dwindling inventory of homes for sale,” said DataQuick’s Andrew LaPage. “But there’s also this statistical quirk where because more of what’s selling today is a more expensive move up home and less of it is a cheap inland foreclosure. That also pushes the median price and other price measures up.”

A total of 3,622 homes changed hands in San Diego County last month, compared to 2,759 in October 2011, according to DataQuick. The median price of a home in the county in October was $350,000, up from $315,000 in October 2011.

A total of 21,075 new and resale houses and condos sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties in October, according to DataQuick. That was up 18 percent from 17,859 in September, and up 25.2 percent from 16,829 in October 2011.

The median price for a Southern California home was $315,000 in October, the same as in September but up 16.7 percent from $270,000 in October 2011.

“Watching the market rebalance itself is fascinating,” DataQuick President John Walsh said. “In some categories and in some neighborhoods, demand outstrips supply, pushing up prices. In other areas, the market is still largely dormant. Low interest rates are a huge factor, where mortgages are available, which they aren’t for a lot of potential buyers.”

San Diego‘s jump in home sales article can be found here: http://www.kpbs.org/news/2012/nov/13/home-sales-jump-31-percent-last-month-san-diego/

Many people assume these are similar sales; however these home sales are actually completely different.  The Lawhead Team would like to explain the differences between these two types of property sales.

A short sale is when the homeowner owes more on the mortgage than the home is currently worth and lacks the funds to make up the difference but needs or wants to sell anyway.  In this home sale, the homeowner does not necessarily need to be facing foreclosure.  However, the lender (mortgagee) must agree to the loss between market value and the balance on the mortgage.  In doing this, the lender agrees to release their lien to the property so that the house can be sold and title can pass to the new owner free and clear.

In a short sale, the lender does not hold the power to decide who the house must be sold to.  The lender simply agrees to approve the short payoff or not.  While a short sale is actually somewhat similar to a regular sale, there is an additional step in the process to acquire short sale approval.

Another home sale comparison is a bank owned home.  A bank owned home, or REO, this means the property has gone all the way through the foreclosure process and is now owned by the lender.  In a bank owned home sale, the lender is the seller of the property, unlike a short sale.  Acting as the seller in this home sale, the lender makes all the decisions regarding terms of the sale.  The difference with an REO and a regular sale is that the owner of the home is a bank, not an individual.

If you are a homebuyer looking to purchase one of these types of properties, it is important to know the difference.  Make sure you ask a lot of questions to your agent when you are looking at these types of home sales.

Happy Home Shopping!