SF Peninsula Real Estate Guru

Last week I was at a meeting of my Buffini and Company small group.

One of the agents there does very well in the real estate business. He is in his early 30s married with 2 pre-school age children. They have owned a home on the Burlingame/San Mateo border for many years but now they wish to buy a home in Palo Alto for the excellent schools located in Palo Alto.

The agent was trying to determine if this was the time to try to make the move or would it be worth waiting till spring when the “market would be better”.

This agent now wearing his owner’s hat was trying to come to grips with the fact that his house was not worth what he hoped it was worth. The move would bring him from a lower cost area to a higher cost area.

Our group had a free-form discussion of the agent’s delimna.

Our group as a whole agreed that the market had slowed.

So would it be better to wait till the market got better so this agent could get a better price on his existing case or make the move now?

We considered various scenarios.

If the agent waited and in fact the market did get better (so he could get a better higher price for his current residence) - would he have been better often waiting?

Our group decided NO.

If the market did heat up, the price of the Palo Alto home would probably go up more than his San Mateo home so the difference his sale price and his purchase price would increase. With the current slower market, the agent has a better chance of finding his Palo Alto house at a better price.

If the market continues to cool, would the agent be better off waiting?

Again, our group decided No.

We felt if the market continued to cool, the lower price area would probably drop more in value than the higher priced more desirable area. So again if the market dropped, the difference in his sales price and his purchase price would again probably increase.

Our group decided that whether the market goes up or down over the next 6 to 12 months, this agent would probably be better off making the move now.

Regardless of this analysis, the bottom line was it was time for his family to move into a house and area where “they would raise their family and where their kids would go to school”. When all is said and done, that is the prime consideration.

Even agents can’t time the market.

So why waste any time trying?

One needs to deal with the market as it exists.

I am confident that regardless of what direction the market takes over the next few years, this agent and his family will be happy they made the move. It will be a good thing for his family.

When your housing needs change and/or your financial situation changes and you can make a move for the better, DO IT!