Price cuts creep back up as summer selling season stalls

Typically, there is a little bit of a real estate slowdown in the Bay Area during the month of August. The spring market is super happening, and early summer market stays spicy. But as families and professionals, take summer vacations and get ready for the upcoming school year to start again, there is often a little bit of a cool down on major transactions until fall when all the action comes back. School schedules definitely factor big time in the housing market. Families are definitely trying to get up in their new spot and finalize their home purchase before the upcoming school year starts. It absolutely effects how things play out, or the lack of action in August.

September shows a big uptick in both new inventory and market action in general. Super high demand areas, that see fewer family, oriented, buyers, like a lot of parts of San Francisco are not necessarily subject to this rule. Areas that fall into the category of high end or urban luxury, as well as areas that have little weirdly driven tech economies popping off, tend to see a demand level that keeps transactions moving.

The Bay Area tends to have consistently active buyers. A lot of it’s probably tech work stuff, but there are a large variety of other reasons having to do with how epic the Bay Area is, that people are always trying to move here. For this type of buyer, who is trying to get in here, even though it is typically a slower buying season, August offers a window, where the intense level of buyer competition might temporarily calm down. Which is to say there are still people trying to buy in August, just less people.

So for those aforementioned August buyers, if you wanna make an offer on something that looks good to you, you might not have to deal with getting bid up all crazy, like you might face in the month of September.

Selling a house in August, might be a good idea too, because lower housing inventory means less competition from other sellers. And some of those August buyers, are going to really be motivated to get in there and close before all the other buyers come back in the fall. Fewer new listings in the month of August means your property will stand out and be more easily attractive to buyers who are looking.

Another cool feature for both buyers and sellers is that lender’s inspectors and title companies are much less swamped than they are in the busy season. Because all these folks are less overwhelmed, you might be looking at a much faster and speedy closing process.

Some of the listing in August cons might be for example, kind of slow foot traffic for open houses. If you are a realtor holding an open house in August, you might be bored out of your mind. Another con might be, that in a lot of parts of California, It is hot as Hades in August. People are not trying to be driving around outside. intense heat, can make house shopping exhausting for buyers.

It’s not impossible though. People that are super motivated to move here and are trying to buy in the month of August, want to make it happen. Price it accurately to avoid drawn out price negotiations. And put on the dang air-conditioning, guys. If you make those house showings, nice and cool, and maybe offer popsicles, people might find coming in pretty darn appealing.

Here in the Bay Area, the housing market in August encounters less looky lous over all, and a lot more pedal to the metal. The real estate action that the Bay Area does see, isn’t dating for fun, they’re dating for marriage. You know what I mean?