The Financial news website CNBC reported this week that resales of homes in the U.S. rose to the highest level in nearly 8-1/2 years. On an annual basis, existing home sales increased 3.2% to the highest level since 2007.
These numbers seem to indicate that the U.S. economy is looking pretty good despite a drop in retail sales, and a slowdown in job growth during June.
Remember, Palm Springs Real Estate Is Local
This national real estate data is interesting and important, but as I always say, real estate is local, right down to the Palm Springs area golf & country club neighborhoods. For desert area homebuyers here’s what’s important right now:
- The Price Segment
- The Location
- Finance
- Community Or Property Back Stories
Golf Course Luxury Home At Andalusia, La Quinta
Price Segment
Every price segment in the Palm Springs area real estate market can be different. The sales comps for $400,000 condos in the desert have little significance on the buyer or seller of a $1 million country club property. And frankly, similar homes in different developments can often be worlds apart in sales trends.
Locations
A home or luxury condo in golf community “A” could be trending up in sales and value. By comparison, a similar property in another golf community just down the road can be trending in the opposite direction. We see this almost daily, and this makes real estate here in the desert local.
Finance
Cash is always king for buyers. The second best thing is having your finance ducks in a row before you discover you place in the sun here in the desert. Get pre-approved (not pre-qualified) by a local mortgage provider. Lot’s of mortgage providers including big national banks can make promises they can’t keep. Local specialists know the market and generally won’t deliver unwelcome surprises just days before closing.
Back Stories
Most every property, including our own Featured Properties, and certainly every development in the Palm Springs real estate market will have what I call a backstory. Backstories can include the owners reason for selling (lots of moving up this year), and information about adjacent listings and recent sales.
Top agents network with other top agents to research backstories. Knowing today’s sales comps is great, but it’s important to discover the real estate backstory for every home and community as well.
Backstories are much more unique to a large portion of the Palm Springs real estate market than most metro areas because this market has a so many niche developments. The Palm Springs area has a high concentration of master-planed, gated communities. Two of these communities in the same price range, and within the same city can have two entirely different backstories (and different sales and pricing trends) even though they are just blocks apart.
Busy & Experienced Is Also Important
At the end of the day, the most experienced, busiest, and thus, most successful Realtors likely know the comps and backstories that can best help their buyer clients find their home in the desert sun. Our Sheri Dettman & Associates team of specialists completes 10 times more transactions than the average Palm Springs area real estate.