From Selling to Buying, Data Tells It All
By Gina Dostler
Understanding real estate market trends brings a winning factor to buying and selling a home today. Bob Chapman, now of Teles Properties, relies on his personal knowledge of shifting market dynamics and economic conditions to give his clients support with comparative data. Chapman is a former member of the Laguna Beach Planning Commission and is a trustee of the Laguna Art Museum.
Q: You have a different approach to selling homes.
A: There are many ways to sell a home. What I like to do is bring data into the picture. The data gives a clear picture of the real estate market and the ebbs and flows that exist within. When clients are informed, it gives them a cutting-edge advantage to finding or selling the home for a fair market price.
Q: How can data help with buying or selling?
A: Over time, market trends are defined by the supply of inventory and the demand of buyer confidence. Prices and valuations fluctuate as those trends shift. Looking at a graph that shows homes for sale, those in escrow and ones that have sold give a good view at how the market is trending during those periods.
Q: For instance?
A: A graph of market trends for Laguna Niguel 2010 – 2014 shows 2012 as a time where more homes were in escrow than available; the affordability of the homes versus other pricier coastal properties brought a large demand to the area, causing many homes to go into escrow, thus presenting fewer homes available. More demand than supply dictated less negotiating power for buyers and higher pricing for sellers.
Q: What types of data do you focus on?
A: I look at many factors. Market trends show how many homes are in escrow, available for sale and homes that have sold. There is data for median prices in Orange County, or closed sales units. The latter actually provides an excellent depiction of how the sales of homes peak and decline over the years. You can clearly see when the stock market crashed in 2008, the home sales hit a big-time low, then started an increase when distressed properties were bought by investors.
Q: So graphs give insight for the best times to buy or sell.
A: It’s a tool that allows a better understanding of what to expect when selling or buying a home and helps to make better decisions on listing prices. More demand than the market can supply supports the higher prices. Many homes actively for sale supports a buyers market and promotes more competitive pricing.
Q: Tell me a little about Teles Properties?
A: I am an independent agent at Teles, which promotes a very collaborative environment amongst its agents. It is a very service-oriented, luxury boutique in the marketplace, stepping ahead of the too-traditional, too old-school way of selling homes. We bring in highly productive agents utilizing the best technology available, which makes us a very effective innovative group.
Q: What are your two rules of real estate?
A: The seller’s number one goal is to find a buyer. The buyer’s number one goal is to find a home. Brokers are consultants pulling together these two factors, resulting in a sale. Understanding contract agreements, plus the dynamics involved with the fluctuating real estate market is key to every broker’s sale.
