Latest / Connor with Honor: AI, Real Estate and Real Life / 2025 Conclusive Santa Clarita real estate update in the ultimate fashion for buyers, sellers and investors by The First Responder Realtor at Santa Clarita Open Houses
Transcript
- 0:00SPEAKER_00: So much happening here in the Santa Clarita real estate market.
- 0:03SPEAKER_00: We're going to look at 2025, some things that sellers and buyers should be considering before jumping into any kind of real estate market.
- 0:11SPEAKER_00: And I'll give you some tips as far as how to evaluate those listings when you go out there as a real estate buyer.
- 0:17SPEAKER_00: How much are you actually going to offer on those properties depending on the competition rate and you sellers out there?
- 0:23SPEAKER_00: How can you best get that property price?
- 0:26SPEAKER_00: What kind of data points should you be looking for and how you can make better decisions?
- 0:30SPEAKER_00: Now, right now in the Santa Cruita neighborhoods, if we look all across here at the very first week of January, in fact, tomorrow's going to be January 8th, 2025.
- 0:41SPEAKER_00: We have 680 total listings all across all of the Santa Cruita Valley.
- 0:46SPEAKER_00: And this is going to include all of the cities, of course, and also Acton and Aqua Dulce.
- 0:51SPEAKER_00: A lot of times when people are looking at real estate data, those two cities happen to be excluded unless they're doing more specific reports.
- 0:59SPEAKER_00: And I have those reports as well, but I just wanted to give a give a clear overview because I'm very active in those areas and I think it's going to help both buyers and sellers make better decisions.
- 1:09SPEAKER_00: Now, if we look at the neighborhood and the market, the market analysis is going to be typically by three types of people.
- 1:16SPEAKER_00: You're going to have your property buyers looking at what's happening, the property sellers, those that are currently on the market that haven't had their property sold yet, especially if it starts to exceed the typical days on market time frames.
- 1:29SPEAKER_00: And then finally we have the investors that are out there looking to invest in real estate.
- 1:34SPEAKER_00: That particular strategy by real estate investors, what's interesting is they're typically looking not so much for flips at this point, because those are very hard to find, but they're looking for rental strategies where they can pick up a property that at least is going to be in the black somewhat per month, at least give them some kind of profit, and where they can hold on to the property and then maybe two or three years from now actually resell it, giving them that money in pocket to be able to use that to leverage something else, or to use the equity in that rental to go leverage some other real estate or some other financial move.
- 2:13SPEAKER_00: Looking at this particular market with those listings, we do see that there are upcoming listings more in Canyon Country than any other city.
- 2:22SPEAKER_00: These are known as coming soon.
- 2:24SPEAKER_00: If you want to see that intel, all you have to do is you have to have it sent to you via an agent.
- 2:28SPEAKER_00: You're not going to find those listings online.
- 2:30SPEAKER_00: It is a rule that has been established by the multiple listing service.
- 2:34SPEAKER_00: These have to be directly sent to you from an agent of your choosing.
- 2:39SPEAKER_00: If you have an agent, great.
- 2:40SPEAKER_00: Hit them up and say, listen, Connor on his show was talking about me getting access to coming soon listings.
- 2:46SPEAKER_00: Then if you don't have an agent, hit me up.
- 2:49SPEAKER_00: You can go to Santa Clarita Openhouses.com forward slash coming soon to be able to see those.
- 2:54SPEAKER_00: But right now with those 680 listings, these are going to be different types of properties, but they're all residential.
- 3:01SPEAKER_00: Single family residences, condominiums town homes.
- 3:04SPEAKER_00: In addition, there are going to be some manufactured homes in the mix, but not very many.
- 3:10SPEAKER_00: Those usually are going to be carrying a much lower price point.
- 3:14SPEAKER_00: One of the things that we've been watching are an inordinate amount of price changes.
- 3:20SPEAKER_00: Typically per week, we might have 20 to 30 depending on season and time of year.
- 3:26SPEAKER_00: Right now we're pushing 42 in this last seven days that have had their prices changed, and those have been reductions as a majority.
- 3:33SPEAKER_00: Almost 95% of those are reductions in listing price.
- 3:37SPEAKER_00: These are people that have been on the market in excess of 10-15 days, some even longer, that have re-evaluated their pricing strategy and then thereby have changed it.
- 3:47SPEAKER_00: A lot of times the real estate data starts to vary, especially as we get into the holiday season.
- 3:54SPEAKER_00: And usually because those markets tend to be a little bit slower than where we are currently headed to in that spring and summer, usually prices tend to dwindle.
- 4:03SPEAKER_00: They reduce just a little bit, so sellers are now adjusting those prices accordingly.
- 4:08SPEAKER_00: Maybe if they would have done a little bit earlier, they could have had better news.
- 4:12SPEAKER_00: We did see as the Santa Cruz market this August of 2024, August, September, October-ish, those were very hot times, more so uh prior to October, but those properties that were listed after that started to carry a much longer time on market, or not much, but a longer time on market time frame.
- 4:31SPEAKER_00: So looking at these experience uh properties that have had their prices reduced, one of the things that I can say is look in those areas for competition.
- 4:41SPEAKER_00: If there are other properties, if you're a current seller and there are other properties that you're competing with, that might be time to revisit your pricing strategy.
- 4:50SPEAKER_00: If there is nothing for sale, depending on where you are, the market actually might catch up to where you are in short order, especially now because we're going to start having the market get inundated with more listings, and that's also going to increase the buyer drive as it typically does every year.
- 5:07SPEAKER_00: Looking at the market specifics, uh, we were talking about those manufactured homes.
- 5:12SPEAKER_00: This$153,000 house that happens to be manufactured home on leased land.
- 5:18SPEAKER_00: That's something to look at if you are a real estate buyer.
- 5:20SPEAKER_00: Don't get fooled by the price, those land leases are upwards of fifteen hundred dollars or better in most cases, so that's where that money comes in.
- 5:30SPEAKER_00: Also, we do have maximum uh property on the market over five million dollars, and right now, about that average list price is about nine hundred thousand currently.
- 5:40SPEAKER_00: And I do that and I post this data up every day.
- 5:43SPEAKER_00: You can get an idea, and also most of the properties are built in the 80s, 90s.
- 5:47SPEAKER_00: We do have something as old as 1915, which is interesting, but you can kind of get an idea where the market happens to be gauged because of uh whenever I post these up at Santa Clarita Openhouses.com, it's gonna carry when the property is built and the other variables as far as homeowners associations, land leases, and those sorts of things, so you'll know exactly what you're getting into.
- 6:10SPEAKER_00: Now looking at the properties, seeing what's happening, we do have Aqua Dulce, these properties do seem to carry a higher price per square foot than Canyon Country, if we're gonna compare those two markets.
- 6:22SPEAKER_00: But Canyon Country carries a lower uh market time on market duration, but also a lower average list price.
- 6:30SPEAKER_00: These are things that are explored throughout Santa Cruz Valley depending on city involved.
- 6:35SPEAKER_00: Now, one of the things for both buyers and sellers is the importance of current real estate data.
- 6:41SPEAKER_00: Some of the agents out there are using old data trying to influence a buying and selling decision on either the buyer or the seller side.
- 6:48SPEAKER_00: Some of the real estate syndication websites, they play that same game.
- 6:52SPEAKER_00: My suggestion to you is get that real data.
- 6:54SPEAKER_00: Look at the spreadsheet or the data in a PDF that you can actually understand.
- 6:59SPEAKER_00: If you have a good agent that knows what they're doing, they'll be able to get you that.
- 7:03SPEAKER_00: Anytime I list a house, we provide all that data to those sellers out there so they make good decisions.
- 7:09SPEAKER_00: I also compare that with the real estate syndication websites, and you can clearly see that their data is skewed in the most part, basically trying to influence them to choose an agent through their system so they can monetize the seller, and then on the buyer end of it, trying to choose an agent through those systems so they can also get their money.
- 7:29SPEAKER_00: Now, those real estate syndication websites, there's a lot of value there, there's some data, and I understand that.
- 7:35SPEAKER_00: It's much better though to focus on that local resource like Santa Clarita Openhouses.com because it's all about Santa Clarita Valley and some cities that are in close proximity to us out here.
- 7:46SPEAKER_00: Now, looking at that data, you want to make sure that whenever you're gonna price your property, you want to take in where an appraiser is going to look.
- 7:55SPEAKER_00: So 180 days is typically a maximum time frame.
- 7:58SPEAKER_00: If there are properties that by the time your property gets into escrow and by the time your property gets appraised by your buyer's lender, you might want to be wary because if those properties are about to exceed that 180-day time frame, you need to know it going in, especially if you have two or three of those bad boys that you're gonna be dependent or gonna be dependent on you establishing your value.
- 8:23SPEAKER_00: Buyer writes the offer on your property for a particular amount, but those three or four properties have exceeded the 180 days.
- 8:29SPEAKER_00: A lot of times the appraisers can't get that data, especially if there are newer closings, so it might actually cost you some money.
- 8:37SPEAKER_00: So you want to prepare for that when you're getting ready to put your property on the market.
- 8:41SPEAKER_00: And of course, buyers definitely want not to offer overbid on real estate listings.
- 8:48SPEAKER_00: I will tell you that that appraisal, if you are getting a loan for the property, that's a pretty good fail-safe.
- 8:55SPEAKER_00: But in an increasing market, like we're probably gonna see in 2025, anywhere from three to eight or ten percent this year, as far as property values increasing, more than likely those appraisers, depending on how high that seller sets their price, they'll be able to justify a lot of stuff.
- 9:11SPEAKER_00: So just watch out for that as real estate buyers.
- 9:14SPEAKER_00: If you're in high competition with other buyers as well, there is that feeding frenzy, kind of that auction scenario where you might tend to overbid on properties.
- 9:23SPEAKER_00: And if you have a loan program that you're using that affords you to put a lot more money down than maybe FHA or VA, which are very low money down or but fat in the game systems where you're coming in with either nothing down or 3.5% down with FHA, VA is nothing, and you're switching over, you have a 20 or 50% down, those appraisers don't have to work as hard to find the value in the property, so know that going in.
- 9:48SPEAKER_00: And understand that this could be something that might cost you in the long run.
- 9:52SPEAKER_00: But if you're are competing with other buyers, that means that property happens to be in a great area, and apparently that competition is there, and that's probably going to help you in resale and also value increasing over the next several months or years.
- 10:07SPEAKER_00: Now, when you're looking at real estate agents, understand this.
- 10:11SPEAKER_00: Not all of us are created the same.
- 10:13SPEAKER_00: Some of us have real jobs and have had had real employment at some point, some of them inherited the business from mom or dad.
- 10:20SPEAKER_00: Some of us are kind of just doing this on weekends, wife of or husband of somebody that is the real breadwinner.
- 10:27SPEAKER_00: And I see this happen in law enforcement where we had a lot of people advertising the wife of, son of, brother of, and that's fine.
- 10:34SPEAKER_00: It's okay to do those sorts of things.
- 10:36SPEAKER_00: You just need to find the value in your agent.
- 10:39SPEAKER_00: Is it somebody that's absorbing and constantly looking at the real estate market, building their content and building their business off of real estate, off of the data, off of learning and continually educating themselves, or are they just in it because, you know, it's uh they're looking for a quick buck.
- 10:56SPEAKER_00: You have to make that decision.
- 10:57SPEAKER_00: And you'll know it when you meet these folks that are in the trenches or say that they do real estate in such a way.
- 11:03SPEAKER_00: Too flashy hasn't always been a thing for me.
- 11:06SPEAKER_00: Some people love flashy, so it depends on uh what you're into.
- 11:09SPEAKER_00: All right, so we're looking at the real realtor value propositions, as I talked about.
- 11:15SPEAKER_00: One of the things, you know, I I carry a law enforcement background.
- 11:18SPEAKER_00: It's not easy getting people to go to jail.
- 11:21SPEAKER_00: Some people, I know that's kind of strange, but some people they go pretty easy, but a lot of cases, nobody wants to go to jail.
- 11:28SPEAKER_00: And I don't want to fight everybody that I'm trying to take to jail because they broke some law that necessitates me to take them to jail.
- 11:35SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm not putting people in jail in real estate, but I am negotiating.
- 11:39SPEAKER_00: And I think that carries a long way when it comes to real estate transactions, representing sellers and buyers when I have people on the other side wanting certain things.
- 11:48SPEAKER_00: For example, if I'm representing a seller and the buyer comes in with this request for repairs via their agent that seems to be a little outside the bounds by what they're asking for.
- 11:59SPEAKER_00: They're asking for$1,000 to have some kind of an outlet replaced that normally would probably cost$90 all in.
- 12:06SPEAKER_00: I need to negotiate that.
- 12:07SPEAKER_00: If we're buyers and we're trying to purchase a property and there's some issues with it that we found via the home inspection, I need to negotiate that.
- 12:15SPEAKER_00: I need to get the best for my buyer and inform that seller my buyer is not going to move forward if their seller doesn't help.
- 12:22SPEAKER_00: So you break those two scenarios down, representing the seller and the buyer.
- 12:27SPEAKER_00: That's why I like to be only on one side of the transaction, because in that case I can give full 100% representation instead of trying to balance both parties, one on this shoulder, one on this shoulder, both whispering into my ear, Connor, do this or do that.
- 12:41SPEAKER_00: It's important to know that going in.
- 12:43SPEAKER_00: Dual agency, which is what that is, when you have the same agent representing both the buyer and seller on the same residence, that is legal in California, but it is very difficult to do and perform and get both parties everything they want.
- 12:57SPEAKER_00: But when you have your own negotiator skilled on your side 100%, and the buyer or seller has their own, your negotiator, if they carry the muscle and the wherewithal, the knowledge and experience, they're gonna win that 100% of the time.
- 13:12SPEAKER_00: All right, let's see what else we have here as far as our 2024 breakdown as we get into the beginning of this.
- 13:19SPEAKER_00: Now, of course, if you're looking online for a real estate agent, what are they doing?
- 13:24SPEAKER_00: Are they producing content or are they just talking about their last vacation or the new car they bought?
- 13:29SPEAKER_00: Are they talking about the real estate market data?
- 13:32SPEAKER_00: Are they immersing themselves into what's happening?
- 13:34SPEAKER_00: Are they trying to understand the global economy, how artificial intelligence, for example, is going to impact real estate, the commission structures, what people are paying, what they're not paying, and the best way to get their buyers and sellers the best representation possible, or are they just too busy trying to yuck it up on TikTok?
- 13:53SPEAKER_00: That's gonna be up to you to decide, but see what they're writing.
- 13:57SPEAKER_00: Moving into it, as far as the market goes, you're gonna have to adapt different strategies.
- 14:02SPEAKER_00: If we happen to have a much higher buyer drive and you're competing with other buyers on properties, you might change the time frames that which you do inspections.
- 14:12SPEAKER_00: You might offer instead of a typical garden variety pre-approval letter, maybe something a lot more substantial, like an underwriter approval, something that you can really show.
- 14:22SPEAKER_00: And then also another strategy when you're in high competition with other buyers, have your lender, tell your agent to have your lender contact that other agent upon offer submittal.
- 14:34SPEAKER_00: Talk to them.
- 14:34SPEAKER_00: Say, listen, I'm lender, I'm Jack the lender, I'm representing this particular buyer that came to you through Connor McIver.
- 14:41SPEAKER_00: They wrote an offer on your house.
- 14:42SPEAKER_00: I want to tell you something about this buyer if I can have just a couple minutes.
- 14:46SPEAKER_00: Both of them do this for a living.
- 14:48SPEAKER_00: They do this, they have these kids, they grew up wherever.
- 14:52SPEAKER_00: They want to live in this community, they have this kind of employment, they have this kind of savings, they have this kind of FICO score.
- 15:00SPEAKER_00: Those sorts of things are incredibly valuable and often missed by most agents because they don't want to do the hard work necessary to try to coordinate all these cats, trying to get them to work together and do what's right.
- 15:13SPEAKER_00: That is an important thing to look at the strategies that your agent's going to use.
- 15:19SPEAKER_00: In addition, what I talked about a little bit earlier with the appraisal, those guidelines that appraisers look for, you're going to want to use that current data and you want to make sure that data is valuable and does pertain to the types of real estate listings you look at.
- 15:33SPEAKER_00: You don't want to compare a whole bunch of condominiums and townhomes to single family residences and vice versa.
- 15:39SPEAKER_00: You also don't want to compare properties that are an entirely different zip code with the one that you happen to be looking at, whether you're a seller or a buyer, depending on your movement through the process.
- 15:52SPEAKER_00: And again, as we talked about those realtors out there, you want to choose somebody that knows what they're doing and has been doing it at least for a while.
- 16:00SPEAKER_00: Of course, there's room for a brand new agent coming in if they have a good team.
- 16:05SPEAKER_00: They're working with other people.
- 16:06SPEAKER_00: I understand that.
- 16:07SPEAKER_00: Everybody's got to cut their teeth somewhere, but you're spending hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars on residential real estate.
- 16:15SPEAKER_00: It might not be bad to get somebody that's been in the trenches a little while, at least somebody it feels like you can trust.
- 16:21SPEAKER_00: After you talk to them for a little bit, you'll make a determination whether they are who they say they are or they're just blowing smoke.
- 16:28SPEAKER_00: So watch out for that.
- 16:29SPEAKER_00: All right, buyers and sellers, of course, you're going to be looking at the time of market you're purchasing or the time of market time frame that you're selling.
- 16:39SPEAKER_00: Is it winter?
- 16:39SPEAKER_00: Is it spring or summer?
- 16:41SPEAKER_00: Everybody knows most cases in Santa Clarita Valley, at least, spring and summer seem to be our strongest.
- 16:47SPEAKER_00: And our springtime starts not in the calendar type spring, but right after January of the new year.
- 16:55SPEAKER_00: Right now we have a new president that's going to be put in place.
- 16:58SPEAKER_00: We have that happening.
- 16:59SPEAKER_00: It looks like, at least for all intents and purposes, that the economy is going to get stronger throughout this year.
- 17:05SPEAKER_00: That's going to drive home sales.
- 17:07SPEAKER_00: Now, while there are a lot of sellers out there, the reason why they're not putting their property on the market is because they have ultra-low interest rates.
- 17:15SPEAKER_00: That being the case, more than likely they're going to be renting these properties out.
- 17:20SPEAKER_00: But if something changes in the economy, or something changes, for example, in the state of California, if our leadership changes, they might actually want to stay or want to leave.
- 17:29SPEAKER_00: It's going to be very dependent on who's in our governorship and the local managerial areas as far as governors and mayors and those sorts of things.
- 17:38SPEAKER_00: These are things to watch out for as far as the market goes to get determinations on how the market's going to be.
- 17:44SPEAKER_00: So if you're going to be timing it during spring and summer, understand you're going to have higher competition on both ends of it, and also be prepared to confront that so you make those right decisions.
- 17:56SPEAKER_00: Now, as far as what's happening here for the sellers, one of the things that's very important is you definitely don't want to get emotionally attached.
- 18:04SPEAKER_00: You buyers out there as well, you want to look at pricing your property accurately.
- 18:10SPEAKER_00: Be a little flexible in negotiations.
- 18:13SPEAKER_00: If somebody's coming into you for your sellers with a request for repairs that's just totally very obviously trying to gouge you for money, that's one thing.
- 18:25SPEAKER_00: But if they're asking to have stuff fixed and repaired that they didn't see coming in, that a home inspector, a licensed bonded and certified home inspector came and offered something that you're going to have to do anyway, whether that buyer buys it or you decide not to sell it or you guys can't get to an agreement, some of those items that need to be fixed, the health and safety stuff, you should kind of be flexible in that.
- 18:49SPEAKER_00: Now, nobody wants anybody to gouge anybody.
- 18:52SPEAKER_00: Same thing on the other end.
- 18:53SPEAKER_00: The sellers that aren't going to do anything for a real estate buyer, that's also something that might need to be kind of relaxed from.
- 19:00SPEAKER_00: Buyers don't get too emotional in the process.
- 19:02SPEAKER_00: You sellers as well.
- 19:03SPEAKER_00: I know you lived in a property for a period of time and you have that, all those emotions and life that have gone on in your residence.
- 19:11SPEAKER_00: Both of you, buyers and sellers, my advice, try to look at everything as a strictly business transaction.
- 19:18SPEAKER_00: Try to keep your focus there.
- 19:20SPEAKER_00: Try to keep it on the money and try to keep it on making the right decisions.
- 19:24SPEAKER_00: Of course, you want to love where you live, you want to check out the neighbors and do all those sorts of things as a real estate buyer.
- 19:30SPEAKER_00: But having done that, try to keep it very specific.
- 19:34SPEAKER_00: Now, one of your one one of the things too, if you encounter a hot property, you're gonna see that that competition rate's gonna be incredibly high.
- 19:44SPEAKER_00: You want to watch out.
- 19:45SPEAKER_00: You don't want to overbid, you don't want to pay too much, and you don't want to lose yourself in the process.
- 19:52SPEAKER_00: Is the house really worth it?
- 19:54SPEAKER_00: Ask yourself that question and try to trust not only your agent, but some of those people that you happen to have in your sphere that might have bought or sold real estate.
- 20:03SPEAKER_00: Now, when they give you the advice, also understand going in that a lot of people aren't really happy with other people's success.
- 20:10SPEAKER_00: I don't know what that is, but I see it a lot.
- 20:12SPEAKER_00: I torched off a whole bunch of weight, and you really kind of find your friends when you used to be the fat guy that people didn't really talk to.
- 20:18SPEAKER_00: Now all of a sudden you've changed, and now you have a lot of people around you.
- 20:22SPEAKER_00: It's a very distinct difference, and you know those people that supported you throughout the change and who didn't.
- 20:28SPEAKER_00: When you're talking about real estate, try to think about what the person's offering you and where they're coming from when they're giving you advice.
- 20:36SPEAKER_00: So pull back just a little bit and don't go all in with anything, including the advice you're getting from your agent and your lender.
- 20:44SPEAKER_00: Alright, so finally, finally, the final thing we'll talk about here is those shared strategies.
- 20:50SPEAKER_00: Both buyers and sellers want to get the best.
- 20:53SPEAKER_00: A seller wants to get the most for the property, the buyer wants to pick up a property at the best value.
- 20:58SPEAKER_00: That works.
- 20:59SPEAKER_00: Both of them need to evaluate their position.
- 21:01SPEAKER_00: If a buyer is going to be writing an offer for less than the listing price, they should be able to provide that particular seller information as to why that is their strategy.
- 21:12SPEAKER_00: It is nice to know going in that a buyer's just not trying to get something for nothing, that they actually are offering what they believe is fair market value.
- 21:20SPEAKER_00: And of course, if that's not your strategy, if you want to try to get something less than fair market value and the market dictates that, maybe provide the comps as well.
- 21:28SPEAKER_00: That might cause the seller to relax.
- 21:31SPEAKER_00: You sellers, if you want to do pre-inspections prior to sale, that does look good for real estate buyers out there because it shows you're not scared.
- 21:38SPEAKER_00: You've had an inspector already crawl through your attic space, all over your house, walk the roof, and all the other things, giving a report that the buyer can be privy to when they come in and make that offer on your house.
- 21:49SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of those little tips and techniques on both sides that I offer my clients.
- 21:55SPEAKER_00: I'm Connor with honor.
- 21:56SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for watching this real estate update.
- 21:59SPEAKER_00: It is my pleasure.
- 22:00SPEAKER_00: Don't forget to go to Santa Clarita Openhouses.com to find all the information that you need pertaining to real estate in 2025, and also check out the book I've written, Front and Front Page Center, The Guide to Buying, Santa Clarita Real Estate, updated for this year as well, 2025.
- 22:18SPEAKER_00: I'm Connor with Honor, over and out.