House of Questions - Page 2

Boyenga:  Each year you’re getting more prospective buyers wanting Eichlers. It’s a growing pool of buyers. We haven’t had that with any other architecture.

What factors should potential Eichler sellers keep in mind going into 2016?

Swartz: Inventory is at an all-time low, but I think the demand is going to continue to diminish, so properties are going to take longer to sell. And that’s something that we have been doing with our properties. We’re seeing that we’re no longer guaranteed to get five, six, seven offers on a property if you priced it low, below where market value is. If you do that, the demand isn’t quite there where you’re going to capture the top value in the first week on the market. So it’s a risk that sellers, if they’re pricing low, or their agents are pricing the property low in hopes of generating multiple offers and getting a high price, there’s risk that they might leave money on the table. We’re suggesting clients to set the asking price a little bit closer to where we feel comparable sales, recent sales would support, and be patient. The people that are thinking of possibly selling their home next year, it’s smart to start planning ahead of time and get the property ready so that if something does change in the market, you can get the home on the market quickly before it’s kind of too late.

Boyenga: The one thing that I think will continue to drive the Eichler market is the limited supply, and the limited supply of modern housing [in general] here in the valley, even non-Eichler.