Sonoma County Country Property Home Prices on the Rise
Sonoma County Country Property Sales Report provided by Pam Buda July 2011 through June 2014 by Pam Buda
In the spring of 2011 the median price of a country home with 2 acres or more in Sonoma County was $740,000. Those days and those low prices are now in the rear view mirror as country property sales are hot along with the summer weather.
Today the median Sonoma County country home price with two acres or more is $1,095,000. While you will find country homes listed in the 6oo-800,000 range there is a good bet that there will be multiple buyers lined up for each one and sales prices are exceeding list prices in many cases, some times dramatically.
What does this mean if you want to buy a country home in Sonoma County?
A. Come prepared with a cash offer or make sure your loan approval is rock solid and a TRUE pre-approval. You will want to have at least a 20% down payment to be competitive. Inspection and loan contingencies are still the norm here (unlike closer in to San Francisco and the Bay Area) but the more you can do to strengthen your offer the better off you will be!
B. Be prepared to go over asking price and have your agent find out how many offers you will be competing against so you can make an intelligent offer. HINT: for a less competitive environment, ask your agent about one of the over-priced/poorly presented properties in an area you like. You may find you can minimize the competition by pursuing one of those ugly ducklings.
What does this mean if you are selling a country property?
A. You can take advantage of the competition amongst buyers by putting your best foot forward and hope a bidding war moves your sales price up in to new territory. Homes that following the three P’s: Preparation, Pricing and Promotion will fetch top possible dollar for today’s market by reaching and appealing to the widest possible set of possible buyers. Don’t under prepare because the market is so good anyway the property will sell “no matter what”. When homes are going for 30, 50 or even 300,000 over asking (!!!) you might be leaving a lot of money on the table.
Click on the link above to go to my Scribd page for a more in-depth view of the real estate market in Sonoma County. And feel free to call or email me if you you’d like to discuss Sonoma County country property!
