Overbidding has become a common catch word in real estate, with resolute, prospective buyers showing over time that they’re willing to pay over asking price. The trend has accelerated in the last few years since the pandemic took hold.

In May 2020, 25% of the offers were over the listing price. Three years later, 55% of the bids were over. Listings are low all over California and across the nation, insiders have indicated. Therefore, home sales are fewer in numbers by about 20%. One North Bay County, Sonoma, knows the pain of the housing shortage, lacking about 38,000 units to provide adequate shelter for its residents. Still, home sales are still happening as the demand refuses to subside.

You just need to look at the median home price in the following cities to realize that the “supply and demand” principle is alive and well in the North Bay.

2023 Sonoma County median sales price

-Kenwood: $2.9M

-Sea Ranch: $1.3M

-Healdsburg & Bodega Bay: $1.2M

-Penngrove & Glen Ellen: $1.1M

-Sebastopol: $1M

-Sonoma: $987,000

-Santa Rosa: $943,000

-Petaluma East & West: $925,000 & $850,000, respectively

Source: Compass

As with the rest of the Bay Area, the North Bay real estate listings closed 2022 with an over 20-year low, according to Compass data. The heavy demand and lack of resale property has forced the average days on the market to plunge in a 3 ½-year period, from a high of 88 days in January 2020 to 40 in May 2023, according to the Compass analysis.

If you are looking to invest in North Bay real estate but cannot obtain a conventional loan, consider a private mortgage from Sun Pacific Mortgage.  We have been lending in California for over 35 years and have thousands of happy homeowners who could never have achieved homeownership without our assistance. We’d be happy to help you too! Find us at www.sunpacificmortgage.com or call us at 707-523-2099.

We are all aware that the housing market has slowed considerably this year, especially if we compare it to the past pandemic fueled frenzy of 2020-2022. The obvious reasons for this slump are the high interest rates and low inventory in a very competitive market, but there are still some areas, even in California, where there is still heightened activity.

This month in the SFGate they reported on a survey that was done by Realtor.com recording the most recent hottest ZIP codes in the country’s various metro areas. The rankings were based on a combination of market demand measured by views on Realtor.com and how fast homes sold. The list includers only one hot ZIP code per metro area. In California Livermore was the hottest spot in the Bay Area and Bakersfield was the most desirable in the Central Valley.

Livermore’s 94550 ended up at No.44 on the list with a median list price of $1.4 million. Granted, the area isn’t exactly affordable, and yet homes attracted more than double the attention per property and spent less time on the market compared with the greater San Francisco metro area.

Another surprising city which made the list was Bakersfield’s 93309 which landed at No. 24. It had a median list price of $340,000 in June 2023, a much more affordable price in a much more affordable metro area in the state.

In 2022, the only California market to crack the top 50 was Eureka, which took the 28th spot. The medium home price at the time was $480,000, but this year homes in the area are staying on the market longer causing it to drop off the list.

Prices have risen dramatically in the past few years in California, and no ZIP code has made it to the top 10 hottest ZIP codes since 2019.

If you are a hopeful buyer in this stressful economy, and if you have tried to qualify for a convention mortgage and failed, don’t despair! Sun Pacific Mortgage has rescued thousands of buyers just like you over the past 35 years. We have a family of investors who are willing to offer you a privately financed loan allowing you to realize your dream of homeownership today. Give us a call at 707-523-2099 or find us online at www.sunpacificmortgage.com.