Latest / Connor with Honor: AI, Real Estate and Real Life / Santa Clarita open houses sellers update about pricing and comparing your home with your competition

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Santa Clarita open houses sellers update about pricing and comparing your home with your competition · Connor with Honor: AI, Real Estate and Real Life

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: I do a lot of writing about the real estate market, and lately I've been writing more and more about the properties that have been selling here in the Santa Clarita Valley to try to give sellers an idea on how best to prepare their properties.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Now, there's a few things that you should know when you start to put your property or consider uh pricing your property.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: How does your property look?
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Is it in any direct competition with other properties that happen to be in your same tract?
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: And in Santa Clarita Valley, if you've been out here any period of time, you know, and if when you first purchase real estate, you probably realize that there are various housing tracks, and these tracks correspond to a particular builder.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: And each of those builders at one time built these houses new, and these new residences were released in phases.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: So some of the properties, and there could be 12, 15, 20 phases, depending on that particular neighborhood, and each phase had a particular release date.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe they were a month apart or two months apart or three months apart.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: So realistically, it could have taken, you know, one, two, three, or four years to have all the phase releases completed.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: In addition, once they get all done, then typically that HOA is settled at a particular price.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: And then in addition, that HOA can increase over time, depending on the rules and regulations that have been set forth by the CCRs, the covenants, conditions, and restrictions.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's a document that each purchaser gets when they have a homeowners association that's overseeing the property.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Now, that being the case, when you're looking at comparables or properties that are in competition with yours as a seller, and I went in very deep detail at Santa ClaritaOpenhouses.com, you want to check and see when those houses were constructed.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if they're in direct competition with you, typically they're going to be very, very similar.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: There might be several different elevations of your house, which corresponds to how the style looks from the outside.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: There might be some additional bonuses you can purchase when you are buying the residence.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: For example, if you're if you're buying a new house and you have an option of being able to have a full bathroom downstairs and a bedroom versus not having one or maybe just half a bath, I would always say that extra bedroom downstairs on the first floor, it brings a lot of value to the house.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: Even if it's a bonus room, even if it's not a bedroom, but it is adjacent to a full bathroom downstairs, that's a big deal.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: That's a big deal for people that are trying to find residences because a lot of the people that are purchasing they have an older parental figure that's going to be living with them.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe not when they buy, but this is always something we might expect, depending on how close you are with those folks.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: But that is part of that process.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: So if you can buy something that has at least a room, it doesn't have to be a bedroom.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Bedroom's great because that way the assessor, the appraiser, or whatever can come in and say, oh, yeah, it's a real bedroom because it has an actual functioning closet installed, and that's the way title is reporting it.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: But even just an office space down there where a bed and addresser could be put, and maybe some makeshift closet that counts as well for that kind of residence or residential value.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: So anyway, look at that.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: But whenever you're looking at the comps, what I do say is that when you're in competition, you want to look in that same tract.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, you also want to look at when these properties closed.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: So if they closed within the last 180 days or sooner, that's probably a really good way to look at how your property should be priced.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: In addition, what's their condition?
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're going back, you know, 30 years when your tract happened to be built, then you're going to see a lot of differentiation between condition in the properties that have sold and you might be in competition with.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe you dialed your ins your property into the nines.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's completely outfitted, it's been renovated, and you're one of those type of property owners that takes care of a property.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: Not everybody's that way.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: It could be the other properties you're in competition with don't have all the things that you've done to yours, and maybe they bought it 30 years ago, didn't change a thing.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, they still have the green carpet and the pink tiling and all this other stuff, the things that really have uh moved on in the world.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: So if that's the case, then you're probably going to hold a premium when you get your house listed on the market.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: Each of those little factors should be taken into account.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: But guessing as to what your property knows, that's not necessary.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: What your property's worth, that's definitely not necessary.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: You'll be able to gather the true value.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: And when you're interviewing agents such as myself or other people, you'll be able to put that together.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: And then what you want to do, at least right now in this market, as we're July 7th, 2026, is you're going to want to price your property in accordance with a comparable value.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Not higher, not lower, just right about there, right about the comparable value of the other properties that have sold in the past 180 days, and keep it there.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's a really good price to be.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: We do have quite a high buyer drive.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: We have about 200, 2.9, uh, 2.9 months of inventory out here, uh, about 830 listings.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's Actin and Aqua Dulce included in that mix as well.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Santa Clarita proper, Castayc Canyon, Country, New Hall, Saga, Stevenson Ranch, Valencia, minus Acton and Aqua Dulce, about 730 as of today.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: These are active residential listings.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: So when you do get ready and you want to try to get your property priced, just make sure you look at the data.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: It should be supplied to you.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: You should see it if you're going around to syndication sites, which Santa Clarita Open Houses is not.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's an actual MLS-driven website from the local multiple listing, uh, multiple service listing service for realtors.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: You're going to see every single property listed for sale in there.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: You'll see what the brokerage listed it with, what brokerage those properties are listed with.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: But that's the system that I put together with my broker Sync Brokerage to be able to show out there all the properties that are for sale.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: I do have an AI system on that particular website.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: You can ask it questions.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: I also have a fantastic chatbot named Clara.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I identified her and programmed her to be able to answer questions as well.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: And they get into things like Melaruz because a lot of people always have that question too.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Well, how much are the Melaruz?
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: What do those costs look like?
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of websites are dark on this fact.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not sure why, because that's a big part.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: In some areas in Santa Clarita, Melaruz are a massive part at a massive expense.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: So as a property purchaser, you want to know as a property seller, you need to know how your property stacks up Melaruz with maybe an adjacent community that you might be in competition with.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: Because your four-bedroom property in Valencia might have other four-bedroom properties in Valencia that are still within the same school district in a different location that you're going to be in competition with.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: It might not be direct competition.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe, maybe you live in Bridgeport, for example, and other people are looking in North Bridge or North Park.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: I know there's some distance there, but again, the most people that are looking for residences, they're not looking in one area.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Plus, maybe they think in these other areas they might get a larger yard, better paseo access.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe their commutes better because you know they're not as far inland or maybe towards the the uh east side of Valencia because the Bridgeport area butts up against uh Saugus.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: It stops there at uh Boca Canyon Road, is kind of the end of that.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: But again, you know, some people want to be closer to McBean or even on the other side, closer to Rye Canyon, those areas or North Valencia in that area as well.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: So it just depends.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: But make sure that you're looking at the data.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: The data is easy to see, it's not, it shouldn't be complicated.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: And again, right now that pricing strategy is right at comp value, not higher, not lower.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: There are markets when that changes.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: There are markets, a faster market where it's much more of a heavy seller's market.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Right now it's a more lighter seller's market because the buyer drive isn't where I would like it to be to be able to make a stronger buyer's market.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: But if they do get the interest rates to start to come down by there, be more confident in the 10-year bond or whatever other tricks there happen to be to make that happen.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: If that happens, then we'll see a much higher buyer drive, and this market will secure itself in a stronger seller's position.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: If we don't see any change in that, I don't see the property, the uh real estate weakening at all in those listing prices.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's gonna stay pretty steady throughout the rest of the year, barring anything else nuts happening and so on.
• 8:19
  unknown: All right.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Connor.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Check out Santa CritaOpenhouses.com.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: I have it listed.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: It does have a full MLS feed in there now.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: I've been working on that for the past two months, and it's finally good to go.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: So check that out.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: You'll see everything.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: There is no gate there, so you can go and search for every single listing for sale in that particular site.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's a work in progress.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm still tuning it and dialing it, but you'll be able to see everything.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: And uh reach out if you have any questions.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: It is always my honor.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see you in the next one.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for watching.