How’s the Cupertino real estate market right now? Let’s start with the most basic window into conditions: supply and demand. (This graph and more info comes from my Cupertino Real Estate Report. Please click on the link for much more data and information – with statistics and trends dating back many years. Also you will find reports which are monthly, quarterly and annually generated. Finally, there’s a “property analysis” tab which enables you to check sales – and see images – around any Cupertino address. Please allow the analysis tab to do its slow load – it’s worth it – enjoy!)

Cupertino Real Estate Supply and Demand

Cupertino Real Estate Market Barometer of Supply and Demand

The realty market barometer is going through the roof!  This implies that it’s very easy for Cupertino home sellers to get their properties into contract and to the closing table, that it is a hot seller’s market in Cupertino.  Please note the darkest line reflects housing inventory – and it’s been plummeting for months.  (Look at each year for October through December and you will note that the pattern is seasonal – but the actual number of homes available does vary considerably.)  Now please note the pale gray line, which indicates the number of homes selling and closing escrow.  The bigger the gap between these lines, the more choices buyers have, and the narrower the gap, the fewer.  Right now, for the first time covered by the chart above, these lines have met, meaning that homes are selling at the same rate that they are coming on the market.  When supply matches or outpaces demand, prices nearly always rise.

But what about home prices in Cupertino?

Here’s a look at the numbers, in brief, as reported with closed sales in December 2011.  Surprisingly, although the market appears to be very hot, prices don’t seem to reflect that – perhaps “yet”.  The median sales price of houses in Cupertino are off significantly from both the month prior and the year prior, and the average sales price is down a little. The number of sales is off a little and the list price to sales price is off some too (both year over year and month over month). Meanwhile, the days on market are growing pretty steadily.

What’s happening? Why this contradiction between the market barometer and pricing?   First, the days on market reflect the inventory which recently sold, not the inventory which is available today.  This tells us that many homes that have been on the market awhile are now being purchased. (Probably others went off the market for the holidays, which is typical for the season.)

With interest rates for conforming loans dipping below 4% (I believe this is an all time historic low), many buyers are deciding it’s time to get off the fence and purchase a house at last.  But there really isn’t much inventory – it’s about 34% lower than the month before and almost 38% lower than the year before!

I think that we will see prices beginning to move upwards with January’s closings.  The market this month in the west valley areas is much, much more active than a year ago.  This is anecdotal but I have been speaking with a lot of Realtors about how busy they are and everyone seems to be on overload with new buyers trying to get a home before prices or interest rates go up.  I expect to see the prices of houses being sold in Los Gatos, Saratoga, Cupertino – at least in the more affordable price points of these areas – to tick upwards this month.  We’ll know in early February if I’m correct!

Now let’s turn to another tool to see how the Cupertino market is faring for listed properties.  For this I will use graphs from Altos Research, to which I also have a subscription. These are LIVE CHARTS and will automatically update themselves weekly – so even if the article is older, this info is now!

Cupertino Median List Prices Compared to Neighboring Saratoga, Sunnyvale and Los Altos

We know that the median sales price in Cupertino has slipped. But what of the list price, and how does it compare to other areas nearby?

Los Altos is faring the best of these 4 areas. Saratoga was dippping but now rising again. Sunnyvale has been somewhat flat recently. But Cupertino’s prices are continuing to fall. Perhaps these low prices are the drivers for the crazy hot market activity.

Cupertino median list price of houses by price quartile

Focusing just on Cupertino, let’s see how the information looks if we break it down into the pricing tier. Often the entry level houses are a very different “market” than the luxury homes segment.

The last few months have had noticeable declines for the lowest three segments, but there’s been an uptick (until recently) for the most expensive properties in this city.

What if we look back more than a year? Combining the quartiles, the trends look pretty stark:

Here’s the same data just for the top quartile, the most expensive properties in Cupertino:

For the 2nd top tier (upper middle):

3rd level or lower middle:

And most affordable Cupertino houses or lowest quartile:

Cupertino Days on Market by Price Quartile: What’s Selling Fastest

Not surprisingly, the luxury market has had a harder time selling than entry level houses in Cupertino. This is true for most of the West Valley areas of Santa Clara County. Here’s a look at the days on market (DOM) for Cupertino by price point over the last year.

Remember, all real estate is local. For information on your exact area or price point, please contact me. I work with my clients to pinpoint the pricing.

What drives the Cupertino real estate market?

The residential real estate market in Cupertino, California, is driven in large part by the extremely high quality of its local public schools.  Many in Silicon Valley would state that for San Jose area home buyers, Cupertino offers the best “bang for the buck” when one lines up the cost of purchasing a home to the schools’ API scores. (Conversely, some residents are concerned that the very top schools – including but not limited to Cupertino – are so focused on academics that there may be too much pressure on kids and may lack balance for them.)

Other drivers are, of course, the local economy (such as the initial public offerings happening with some of the Silicon Valley tech giants), the availability of more affordable financing, and how the realty market in general is performing for any particular price point or particular school area. (Even within Cupertino, some schools are much more in demand than others.)  Comments in this article refer generally to this city of about 50,000 residents – real estate is local, though, so for precise information in any given area or tier of the market, please contact me!

Houses for sale in Cupertino California

Please browse houses for sale in Cupertino, listed from the lowest prices up to the highest.

Showing properties 1 - 5 of 17. See more city of Cupertino real estate.
(all data current as of 2/10/2012)

1. $649,900 : 10160 Calvert Dr, Cupertino
   
   3 beds, 2 full baths

   Home size: 1,562 sq ft

   Lot size: 5,643 sq ft
   
2. $748,800 : 18920 Tilson Av, Cupertino
   
   3 beds, 1 full bath

   Home size: 1,039 sq ft

   Lot size: 5,400 sq ft
   
3. $749,000 : 10335 Moretti Dr, Cupertino
   
   4 beds, 3 full baths

   Home size: 1,267 sq ft

   Lot size: 4,947 sq ft
   
4. $839,000 : 10240 Yoshino Pl, Cupertino
   
   3 beds, 2 full baths

   Home size: 1,688 sq ft

   Lot size: 3,168 sq ft
   
5. $879,000 : 10285 Moretti Dr, Cupertino
   
   4 beds, 3 full baths

   Home size: 1,787 sq ft

   Lot size: 6,000 sq ft
   

Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.

Today we’re looking at the real estate market for houses in some of the “west valley” communities along the base of the Santa Cruz Mountains – areas where schools are good, crime is low, residents enjoy scenic views of the hills (or of the valley from the hills, depending on the location) and overall, a highly educated population not too far from Highway 85.

Of the four municipalities, three are really very similar to each other in several regards.  Cupertino has the largest population – about 58,000 people – but Los Altos, Los Gatos and Saratoga are all similarly sized, somewhere between 27,000 and 30,000 residents.  The latter three also enjoy a traditional “downtown” area which is popular with pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists alike. (Monte Sereno has 4,000 residents, which is so small that the statistics are very easily thrown from month to month, so it is omitted in this quick study.)  Of the four, Cupertino, then, is the least similar due to size and lack of a central downtown area.

We’ll take a quick look at these areas now in terms of the real estate market trends and statistics for each area, considering just “class 1″ (houses and duet homes).  The charts used below are from Altos Research, to which I have a subscription, and they will be automatically updated each week.

(1) Median List Price (per Altos Research):

Los Altos and Saratoga are neck and neck for most expensive areas in which to purchase a house. Over the last year, though, Los Altos has seen a rise in the median list price. There has been a corresponding rise in demand with the success of several local companies in the region (Apple, Google, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Facebook), some of which have gone public and others of which are on the verge of doing so. Los Altos is more convenient to most of these.

Los Gatos, which is a little more affordable than Saratoga and Los Altos, has seen a very noticeable increase in pricing also, while Cupertino’s prices have declined a little.

(1A) Median list price of the bottom quartile of all four:

(1B) And, very interestingly, same data but for the top quartile – the luxury market:

Here we see Los Altos clearly overtaking Saratoga! And also that Cupertino’s pricing is significantly lower than Los Gatos in this tier, and also that it has lost a lot of ground in the second half of 2011. 

(2) Inventory:

The inventory patterns are pretty consistent over the last year across all four cities and the town of LG.

(3) Average days on market:

It is really interesting to see the days on market by city or area. Los Gatos (the furthest from the high tech giants mentioned above) has had the hardest time with home sales, and Cupertino the easiest. Cupertino is not the closest to all of these firms (though its home to Apple, of course), but it is the a very good value for people who are buying homes based on school performance tests. As others have said, if you’re buying for high API scores, Cupertino offers the most “bang for the buck”.

(4) Median MAI – Market Action Index:

What’s hot?  Everything is under 30, which is the cutoff between buyers’ and sellers’ market – all of these are buyers’ markets when the areas are taken as a whole:

But tease it out by price quartile, and we can see that Cupertino was a seller’s market for the most affortable houses for awhile last summer, but it has crashed back into the buyers’ market range again:

And among the most expenses homes or luxury estates, Cupertino has the “best market” but not by a huge margin:

Right now, Los Gatos has the most inventory and is the deepest buyers’ market – making it an excellent time to purchase a home there!  Of course it always depends on the micro market – the exact neighborhood, condition of the home etc. but overall it’s a very favorable time to purchase a house in all four of these areas, but Los Gatos in particular.  Cupertino is a little more affordable and remains a great bargain in the west valley areas of Santa Clara County.  High end housing or luxury homes are the softest market of all – a tough time to sell but a great time to buy.

Interested in buying or selling a home in Silicon Valley’s west side or nearby? Please call or email me and we can discuss your plans & goals – no obligation.  mary (at) popehandy (dot) com or 408 204-7673

Today I was chatting with my lender friend, Shashank Shekhar, who’s also a very active blogger and social media maven. We discussed a variety of topics, including how to price a home for sale and establishing the real estate market value of Silicon Valley homes.

Sometimes it can be tricky to estimate what a home might sell for or its market value.  I usually talk with my seller clients about trying to find the probable buyer’s value.  The seller may have a range of prices that he or she anticipates and would accept.  So too with the buyer, whose range will likely be lower than the seller’s.  The key is finding where the buyer and seller price ranges overlap. If it’s unlikely that their ranges overlap at all, we’ll have a listing that is difficult or impossible to sell.

Let’s take a hypothetical case of a home worth about a million dollars (see image above). The seller would love for the property to sell close to $1,040,000.  The buyer would like to purchase it for $960,000.  The agent’s competitive market analysis indicates that similar homes have sold or are selling at around a million dollars, give or take a percent or two.  If the buyer and seller can come to a meeting of the minds, and there’s no undue pressure on either one of them, we have (hopefully) a sale and we have market value.

But as we know, sometimes homes sell for much more than they would seem to be worth, and other times much less.

What causes property values to go above or below what would seem to be the probable value?  Undue pressure can certainly cause values to rise (desperate buyer who just has to get into a house, even if overpaying or desperate seller who has got to unload a property, even if selling too low).

We saw the high values happen in years where the market was terribly overheated, like in 2000,  and buyers were exhausted (desperate) from losing time & time again in multiple offer situations.  Sometimes the buyers got agitated and spiked the price. Here’s what I mean by that.  We would see multiple offers on some homes, let’s say 10 offers, with 8 of them in a band of prices that were close to each other (true market value) and one a bit higher and another crazy high.  The “crazy high bidder” got the home, the seller was ecstatic, but it was not typical of all homes and those drastically overbid homes were just creating a worse “bubble”. Those homes sold artificially high, but each time one closed, it raised the bar on what everyone thought was “market value”.

Additional causes of price fluctuations:  If there is no extreme pressure, though, the rest of the odd pricing fluctuations usually come down to a couple of things:

• timing (if the home sells fast or not)
• the number of offers
• and the terms of the offer

Timing, number of offers and sales price

Homes that sell very quickly (in a week or so) may get so much attention that they also get multiple offers and they may sell with a great price and great terms for the seller.  This can also happen after a dramatic price adjustment but the best chance of it happening is usually when it’s a brand new home on the market.

Right now, homes that are priced appropriately, in good shape, reasonably easy to see and have no issues are mostly selling within 3-4 weeks. If they do so, and sell with one offer, maybe a couple of offers,  and a normal 20% to 25% downpayment, the property will likely sell close to list price.

Homes that stay on the market too long become “shopworn” and get passed over by most buyers (and their real estate agents).  When they do sell, they will usually sell for much less than if they had snagged a buyer within the first month.

The terms of the offer

The terms can make an enormous difference in whether a home sells for top dollar or for bottom dollar.   In a nutshell, if the buyer’s terms are bad, the price will have to be good to compensate.  Conversely, if the terms are great, the price may be much lower.

What kind of terms are good or bad?  Most of the terms which impact sales price have to do with the financing, so the amount of cash down or other loan terms.

Great terms, extremely strong: all cash, large cash down payment, no issues with appraisal (either because of all cash, large cash down or no appraisal contingency)

Bad terms, weaking the offer: small down payment, FHA financing, asking the seller to carry the loan

Other terms not related to financing can sweeten the deal for the buyer or make it worse in the seller’s eyes.  The seller wants a “done deal”, so will likely take a lower price if the transaction looks more solid and sure (and less likely to fall apart).

Good terms: seller gets fast close of escrow (if desired) and a rentback which if needed (even stronger: seller gets free rent back).

Weak terms: buyer’s offer is subject to the sale of another home (worse yet: it’s not even on the market – better, it’s actually under contract and just needs to close escrow)

Strong terms can make the home purchase a “better deal”.  Weak terms will need to be compensated with a higher price.

Let’s look at that hypothetical million dollar house in Silicon Valley once more and this time have a look at what can happen to the sales price with the terms, timing & number of offers in mind.

This is not comprehensive, of course, it’s just to give you an idea of how pricing can be influenced (and hopefully to dispell the idea that a house, condo or townhouse is worth exactly one precise amount).  If the home’s impossible to see (requires too much notice, or has to be by appointment only but the agent’s cell phone rolls to voice mail and then the VM is full) has terrible odors or creepy occupants who don’t leave the house when the buyer is viewing it or it’s on the market for 2 years before selling  – it will sell for less. To say nothing of what happens to the purchase price if it’s a short sale, bank owned or stigmatized property.   Most of all, I want to give the sense that the price where the home will sell has a lot to do with how fast it sells, how many bidders there are and what the terms are like.

Last fall I did a series of posts aimed at buyers who were facing multiple offer situations.  If you would like more information on the contract or purchase agreement terms and how they impact positioning and pricing of offers, please have a read.

Tips for Writing a Competitive Offer: Part One

Writing an Offer in a Multiples Situation? Financing Tips (Part 2)

Writing Strong Offers: More Financing Tips (Part 3)

Tips for Home Buyers Competing Against Multiple Offers – More Financing Tips (Part 4)

Competing Against Multiple Offers: Contingencies and Timeframes (Part 5)

Real Estate Purchase Offer Terms to Consider When Competing in Multiple Offers (Part 6)

Finally, if you would like to get some data on the probable buyer’s value for your Santa Clara County home (San Jose, Los Gatos, Saratoga, Campbell & nearby communities) please fill out a request here: http://www.SiliconValleyHomeValue.com.  The more information you provide, the more accurate my estimate will be for you.  (Offer good for home owners only.)

The Campbell real estate market appears to be “past the bottom”, as is the case with much of the Silicon Valley housing market. In some parts of San Jose, “the bottom” was in February or March of this year.  Campbell may have hit that point sooner – but in any event it is now heading back toward a balanced market (30 is the balance point for this formula). (Images and charts from Altos Research, to which I have a subscription and permission to use these, as well as the RE Report, another subscription service of mine. Altos uses list prices, the RE Report uses sold data as well as list prices.)

Let’s look at the data for October in Campbell – actives, pendings, and closeds (care of the RE Report).

While in many parts of the greater San Jose area the Days on Market (DOM) are lengthening, they are shortening in Campbell! Sales are up, but prices are still declining a bit (in several areas of Santa Clara County, prices are again inching up – this tends to happen in less expensive areas).  Pending sales are up and inventory is down.  So there are some mixed indicators but Campbell appears to be at or near “the bottom”.

The real estate market in Campbell, like in all of Santa Clara County, varies from one price point (and specific location) to the next. Have a look at the recent numbers, broken down into quartile:

Please note in the above image what a big difference there is between the top quartile and the other three price points.  Interestingly, the “hottest” market of the three is the second from the top – a good sized (but not too small) home of about 1800 square feet is the part of the housing market most likely to sell in Campbell right now.  Here are those “days on market” numbers in a graph, blended into rolling averages (7 and 90 days).

Curious that the four quartiles were behaving fairly similarly in terms of the days on market (DOM) until 2009.

What about home values? It looks as though, from the following graph, list prices hit bottom and coasted there for a bit earlier this year prior to having a bit of a rally – and then fell again recently. This could be due to the time of year – or not. We’ll really only know when we get through the winter and look backwards to see where we’ve been. “Hindsight is 20/20″ applies here, too.

Now I’ll insert some “live” charts that will stay current even into the future.

If we look at the median  list price of Campbell, CA, single family homes for sale, with all prices combined (not separated by quartile), it really looks rather bleak:

Separate it out by price quartile, and it’s less alarming (if no less true):

Let’s view them individually, then. First, the most affordable, entry level houses for sales in Campbell, California:

These (above) took a big hit, but then “skated along the bottom” for awhile.

The lower middle quartile has had a less pleasant ride:

The upper middle’s list prices have fallen more constantly – no respite, no plateau, anytime recently:

And the most expensive Campbell homes for sale experienced a good rally in summer before falling again.

A longer view of history, extending back to 2005, shows us that the top tier of homes for sale in Cambpell tends to have the most erratic path – the least predictable, the most tumultuous.

If you are a Campbell homeowner, take heart – many of the indicators point to this being close to the bottom of the market.  If you are a home buyer, interested in purchasing a house in Campbell, now is a fantastic opportunity. Prices have “rolled back” about six years in many segments of this market.

For more information, please visit the Campbell pages on my RE Report for single family homes and also for condos and townhomes.  Or contact me for a confidential, no-obligation consulation on your real estate wants and needs here in Silicon Valley.

It is a strong seller’s market in the Alum Rock area of San Jose right now: inventory is shrinking and prices are rising after hitting bottom a few months ago. Prices are still way off year over year, but for the last 4 months or so, prices have been rising in this part of Silicon Valley, and it’s quite dramatic.

As of a few days ago in this area of San Jose, there were 203 single family homes for sale and there were 114 that sold/closed in the last month. To get the “months of inventory” or absorption rate we just divide the 203 by the 114 and we get about 1.8 months of inventory, which makes it a very strong sellers market. 

(Because it’s so affordable, first time homebuyers are flocking to Alum Rock in droves. Unfortunately, they are sometimes outbid by all-cash investors and left frustrated as homes get multiple offers and prices skyrocket out of reach.)

The absorption rate can be measured in days, weeks, months (or years) of inventory.  Below is a chart reflecting the days of inventory relative to the last 18 months or so.  As you can see, the absorption rate has been shrinking very, very dramatically (as prices have fallen through the floor).

The market is a sellers market because homes are selling fast (fast, not at a great price for the sellers). They are selling fast because of one main reason: prices are slashed to “bargain basement” prices, and this has happened because the vast majority of sales are foreclosure related: they are short sales and bank owned property sales

A subset of that market are the few “normal sales”. When I take them apart, there are 66 for sale and 18 that have closed in the last 30 days, which is a 3.6 month supply of inventory - still a seller’s market, but not as strong. (Under 6 months is a sellers market, over 6 months is a buyers market.)

What about pricing?

How much more will a home that’s a “normal sale” sell for as opposed to a foreclosed home (REO) or a short sale?

Let’s take the example of a home that’s about 2000 SF and see how it plays out.

Regular sales $319 per SF

Of the homes “for sale” in Alum Rock, of homes about 2000 SF there are:

27 in all
7 bank owned
13 short sales
7 normal sales

Of the homes “under contract” in Alum Rock, of similarly sized homes there were:

66 for sale
15 are bank owned
44 are short sales
7 are normal sales

66 sold in all
53 were bank owned
10 were short sales   (note that a high percentage of short sales SELL but do not CLOSE)
3 were normal sales

Buyers: if you buy a short sale or an REO, there will be “issues” but there will be discounts.  Sellers: if you want to sell a home in Alum Rock, you must be very competitive, whether your home is a normal sale (about 5-10% of the inventory only) or a short sale.  If your home is not a distressed sale, you can sell for more – but not oodles more – than the rock bottom pricing that the bank owned or short sale homes will fetch.

Additionally, there’s a difference from one price point to the next. Below, please see the list price by quartile for the most recent week in the 95127 zip code of San Jose. NB how much better the market is performing here in the high end price range. The higher the price, the more the upswing.  Why? Fewer defaults!

If you want to buy or sell a home in the Alum Rock District of San Jose or anywhere in Silicon Valley, please know that to get the right price, it’s imperative to dig down to the local level and specific home type and not rely on general stats. There is wide variation from one subdivision to the next, let along areas with views, no views, small homes, big homes, etc.

Please contact me for assistance in analysing your market and how to make the most of it. And please visit my Alum Rock statistics and trends section of my RE Report.

Home sellers want to get as much as possible for their homes. Home buyers want to get their homes for the least amount possible.  “Market value” is when buyers and sellers agree – even if one of them is a little reluctant. This is true universally, whether you’re in the market in San Jose, Saratoga, Los Gatos or anywhere in Silicon Valley (and just as true elsewhere in California or elsewhere in the world).

Real estate agents don’t control the value of the home. However, good agents can maximize the potential of the market. Homes are never worth just one set price. There’s usually a range within which terms (or conditions) can move the value up or down. It’s “price and terms”.

For instance, let’s say you have an upscale home that’s worth about 1.5 million, more or less. If an offer were to come in contingent upon the sale of another home, in a normal or balanced market, the seller would probably want more than the 1.5 because of the uncertainty. Perhaps that home would sell, if contingent, for 1.6 million (only for illustration). On the other hand, if an all-cash buyer showed up, could close in 5 days (I have seen it happen) and allowed a free rentback for a month, the home might sell for closer to 1.4 million – if the seller really needed a fast close to prevent foreclosure or to secure the deal on another home. It’s always about price and terms.

Want a good deal on price? Sweeten the terms.

For sellers, you could offer terms such as carrying back part of the loan. Some new home sellers, builders, are throwing in incentives like boats with waterfront homes. Now that’s a sweet term! Another “seller term” could be lease-to-own (see a real estate attorney before doing the lease to own, though).

For buyers, the most common “sweet term” is as-is. Other terms could be a fast close and  free rentback. With elderly sellers, often the offer to leave any debris behind is met with enthusiasm. (It’s the cans of paint, the pile of lumber, the junk in the top of the garage that they just don’t have the energy to deal with.)

But back to the original question: how much will the seller come down? 

Usually not as much as the buyer wants!

Most of the time, homes sell within 3% of list price, and with highly desired homes, sometimes more than list price. Sometimes a home will sell 5% off list price. Rarely will a home sell 10% under list. A good agent working with the seller will not take 10% under, but would instead do a price reduction of 5% to see if the home wouldn’t sell closer to the 5% “off” instead of the 10% off. In my experience, it is only very poor agents whose listings sell at 10% off or more.

With my buyers, I encourage them not to look at homes priced over what they can actually afford. If they simply must look a little higher on the hope that the sellers will come down, my suggestion is to top it at 5% over except in extreme circumstances. Some buyers simply believe that they can deeply discount the seller, so look higher still. In my experience, it is unrealistic to look more than 10% higher than what you can really afford.  And it’s frustrating for both the buyer and the agent too. The buyer will keep wanting that out-of-range-house, and everyone will be wasting time.

Recent Los Gatos and Saratoga Sold Homes between 1.4 and 1.6 million:

As an example, late in 2007 I ran all the single family homes sold in Los Gatos and Saratoga with a list price of 1,400,000 to 1,600,000 since July 1st of that year (this would be a somewhat typical “move up home”). There were 39 such single family homes (in all school districts) that have closed over the 6 month period from mid-2007 to the end of the year which were listed in that price range.

The average list price was $1,522,660 and the average sales price was $1,544,810.  The home with the biggest drop in price was for $98,000 off. But there were several homes that sold by a margin higher than that amount! The biggest bid up was for $140,000 more than list! So 10% either way is about the top amount of “swing” in pricing you might see. Overall, the trend is to sell close to list price. This is usually true no matter what kind of market we are experiencing (some exceptions of course).

To summarize, then, the range in which a home might sell with its current list price seems bracketed by about 10% either way. Sellers, even if you are lucky enough to get multiple offers, do not expect your home to go higher than 10% over list price. Buyers, even with a long amount of time on the market, do not expect homes to sell more than 10% under list price – they might, on rare occassion, but this is a very small portion of the sales in which this happens.The market is always changing, so this may not be true to the penny in 6 months. But it is the current market situation. When buyers and sellers are both realistic about the market, it is far easier and less stressful to buy and sell homes.