Here are the latest news and notes from our fall 2020 real estate market.

I get asked every single day to explain what’s happening in the Sacramento area real estate market, and this crazy year, it hasn’t been unusual for me to get asked that several times in one day. We’ve seen a pandemic grip the country and widespread civil unrest put our cities on edge, and there’s still a contentious presidential election awaiting us. 

Real estate has been just as wild as you’d expect for 2020, but it’s been an amazing year thus far for the Mode Real Estate Group; thank you to all my friends, family, and past clients for your referrals! We deeply appreciate your helping our business navigate the uncertainty. Now that we’re in the last quarter, let’s take a look back at what’s been going on. 

When the pandemic hit, the market completely slowed down for three or four weeks. Most of us feared the worst, thinking that’s all she wrote for real estate—the 2020 market was nailed into its coffin before it even had a chance to live. Of course, we all know there was more to the story; buyers, sellers, and, most importantly, us real estate agents figured out how to get deals done in a pandemic market. 

Since then, we’ve been working with really low inventory, which has only caused prices to rise—great for sellers, not so great for buyers. However, buyer demand has been kept alive and kickin’ by record-low interest rates. Right now, rates are hovering around 3%. When my husband and I bought our first home, interest rates were 17.5%, and when the builder managed to bring ours down to 11%, we thought we got ourselves quite a deal! With today’s historic rates boosting affordability in the market, the buyers are out in force. 

Most of our listings in the Elk Grove area have been generating multiple offers and selling over asking price. 

New construction has not kept up with all this demand, though, which has exacerbated our inventory woes. Only recently have builders begun to ramp up their construction. Since many spring sellers decided to wait or take their listings off the market when COVID came along, our spring market actually hit later in the summer months. July, August, and September were all incredible months. October is shaping up to be just as stellar. 

Most of our listings in the Elk Grove area have been generating multiple offers (anywhere from five to 12) and selling for $15,000 to $20,000 over the asking price. Lately, we’ve been seeing competitive buyers increase their initial deposit, shorten the escrow period, and also shorten or remove contingency periods. For example, if a buyer’s loan is already approved and subject only to appraisal, they’ll get rid of the loan contingency. We’ve also seen more buyers agreeing to give the seller a rent-back period for free, or cover some of the seller’s closing costs. 

These types of aggressive concessions certainly help buyers get their offers accepted, but the big question is how long these conditions will last. What’s the housing market going to do? Should you wait until spring to list your home? Is spring the time to buy? 

After all these years in the business, the one thing I can assure you with regard to the future is this: I don’t know. Unfortunately, my crystal ball broke years ago. That said, I know what the market is doing right now, and all of the data confirms that it’s doing phenomenally. Now is a great time to sell.

Spring 2021 could also be a great time to sell, but there are too many unknown variables at play to say anything definitively; next spring could be affected by new COVID developments or worsening civil unrest in the wake of the election. Don’t miss out on the opportunities in our Sacramento area that exist today.

If you want more information on the market or want to chat about whether it’d be best for you to buy, sell, or wait given your specific circumstances, give me a call. I’d love to learn about your personal real estate needs and give you my honest, professional feedback. I look forward to hearing from you soon!