About Merced County, CA

Here are sales statistics for Merced County, CA. Data is from Realist:

Into October we go one of my favorite months in part due to the change to cooler weather and also due to Halloween. With the change of seasons also comes a flood of memories. Perhaps you’ve experienced the same thing. Places and faces come flooding back during certain times of the year. Not sure why for me it’s October but it’s a great month.

One thing that hasn’t changed is the passion we have in working with people. With each conversation whether it be with our clients, their mortgage lenders, title companies, inspectors, repair companies even those sometimes troubling short sale negotiators it’s about establishing great relationships and getting along for the benefit, the good of our clients.

It doesn’t matter if we are representing the seller in listing their home or the buyer in purchasing a home it’s important on each side to reach out and understand where the other party is coming from in the transaction. Motivation helps determine path to take to a dispute resolution or to reach a win-win for both parties. Sometimes we reach a mutual agreement. Other times even if things seem bleak we create a beneficial situation for our clients. There’s nothing sweeter than overcoming odds to help our clients reach their goals.

Recently one short sale after taking just a few weeks to receive a yes answer from the bank accepting the loss with certain conditions in place was about to turn ugly. An appraisal on the home missed the purchase price agreement by 17 thousand dollars. We quickly wrote up an addendum to request the new purchase price. We were racing against the clock as the home my buyer was currently residing in had sold and she had only weeks to move out. The loss mitigation specialist delayed in getting us a response. What I hoped would take 3-5 days was running toward 2 weeks. Daily I checked in with the listing agent. As time was running too close for comfort I ran out to preview homes, reached out to other listing agents and thanks in due part to the relationships I formed with those agents found 2 possible replacement homes. We wrote a new offer that was countered just with minor points that would have worked. All along I kept communicating with the short sale agent letting them know of the plan so that they could attempt to put more pressure on the lender. The lender though often doesn’t make the final decision for it’s the investor behind the lender that has the stake and decision in the loss.

In the end the investor said yes and my client was happy. From the time we issued the addendum we could have walked away from the short sale home as no answer was provided on this new price. We remained patient yet worked with all parties and had the backup just about ready to go. All parties knew the expectations and were kept informed. This communication is what we do best. Working with people can be challenging but it’s what we love to do!

Contact us any time for help, guidance and solutions. Remember we provide You’re The Focus real estate services for clients throughout the East Bay area (Contra Costa, Alameda counties) and throughout the Central Valley area (Merced, Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties).

Hope you have a great October,

Scott Messing

It's not every day that I can say that sold home was the best deal in Merced in the past year, let alone 2 years. Today is that day! My clients were looking to purchase a home with their son who goes to UC Merced. After looking with another agent and making a series of offers that went nowhere he came to me and asked for brutal honesty. He asked me what I was seeing in the market and what it would take to purchase a home less than $80,000. Fortunately the answers he was looking for is exactly what we practice as part of our "You're The Focus" real estate services.

When it comes to real estate and working with our clients it's all about setting expectations. We don't want our clients to fail and with this in mind we set buyer and seller expectations from the start of our relationship. Sure sometimes the news won't be what a particular buyer or seller wants to hear but in the end if we save them time, money and frustration it makes it more than worth it. We value our clients and continue to service their real estate needs beyond the purchase or sale of their home. How we prefer to work is based on referral and so we provide the best service possible for our clients and they appreciate what we do for them and of course we appreciate them. We have a client appreciation program where we send out information monthly and provide them with valuable resources from vendors to fix their home to real estate, safety, and other topical information that they can use or pass on to friends and family to use in the future.

Back to the home I just sold. It was a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home with 2,232 square feet, a fixer upper to the tune of $30,000 if not slightly more but the sold price in the end was $57,100 which is $25.58 per square foot. This home was the lowest to sell since June of 2009 according to CRMLS sales report (Multiple Listing Service). It was not easy to make this happen. At any point the bank could have rejected our offers and our request for repairs that showed bids from vendors, pest inspection reports and the home inspection report indicating $30,000 plus in repairs. We went through 6 counters, a multiple counter highest/best situation, several inspections, and bids from vendors and the request for repairs where we highlighted everything needed to make the home habitable. In the final request we asked for a lower price to end at the $57,100 price.

All along it was constant communication, setting up all the vendor reports and making sure my buyers and the listing agent where up to date with the information. In the end my clients were ecstatic. Some may say Scott there's not much money in the $57,100 sale. I would say well luckily my focus is on helping my clients and however that looks like as long as I've done a great job for them and exceeded their expectations then I'm happy!

Rates continue to be historically low so it’s a great time to buy. The tricky part is that short sales remain high and although the short sale success rate has been going up we are seeing some long waits of 60 days plus just for a decision to a buyer’s offer. In addition some sellers are making it difficult for the listing agent to provide exposure of the home. Once listed the goal of any agent and seller is to receive offers at the highest price possible. However many sellers are limiting access to the house to restricted days or times. This past week I made several calls setting up appointments but often was told that Seller X didn’t return their call or that Seller X was only available to show it on Sunday between 5 and 7pm. An agents job is to get the home sold. It still amazes me that agents will take listings and not do everything in their power to get the home sold for their seller. Yes there are difficult sellers out there but it’s up to agents to work with difficult people and make sure the home gains the exposure needed.

In terms of the real estate market right now we see it as a mixture of good and not so good news. We say mixture for we see limited inventory in certain price ranges. With limited inventory it’s more difficult for buyers to negotiate over the price and other terms of the contract. In higher price ranges such as greater than $250,000 buyers have more leeway yet some sellers are reluctant to lower the prices as they realize how much equity was lost during those inflated years. Writing a solid offer based on comparables and with some seller incentives will go a long way in giving you the best chance at owning a coveted home.

We also provide selling and buying services to many cities surrounding these areas. Call or email us today for information.

The You’re The Focus team will help you navigate the market representing your best interests throughout the process. Contact us today and watch us work with and for you. Real estate services where you’re the focus!

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