In real estate circles it’s known as an urban myth… until
now.
In real estate circles it’s known as an urban myth… until now.
Hollister is smack dab in the middle of a true seller’s market for the first time since the late 1980s, said Ray Pierce, a real estate agent at Coldwell Banker and a city planning commissioner.
“It happens so seldom, like once every 20 years, which is why it’s so unusual,” Pierce said. “There’s an undersupply (in homes) and a lot more demand, which has created a really strong seller’s market.”
The housing boom has been facilitated by low interest rates and the fear they will increase soon. Exorbitant home prices in the Bay Area and surrounding cities have also pushed people toward Hollister.
“We’re the most affordable area along the entire corridor,” Pierce said. “Whether they’re refinancing, buying new or upgrading… people are thinking, ‘I better get into the market now.'”
Morgan Hill resident Gayla Jurevich got caught in the middle of Hollister’s real estate phenomenon when she and her husband decided to move to Hollister in the middle of February.
Jurevich is pregnant with the couple’s third child and made the decision to stay home with the children after she gives birth – which means downsizing their mortgage and moving somewhere more affordable, she said.
Nothing was available in the couple’s price range in Morgan Hill or Gilroy, so in the middle of February they put their house on the market and began looking at property.
“By the end of February things started really booming,” she said. “We looked at 30 houses in our price range from mid-February to now, and they’re all sold.”
The couple found that they would look at a house and within hours there would already be multiple offers on it – many over the selling price.
Often times, homes would have offers before they were even listed.
“Houses in certain price ranges are turning over within a day,” said Karey Grimsley, Jurevich’s real estate agent. “It’s a tough market… and (agents) really have to educate buyers and tell them not to get emotional.”
Between steadily increasing prices and a dwindling supply of homes, Jurevich was becoming more and more fearful they might not find anything at all.
“It completely goes against how we do things. We like to contemplate and think about things, but we came to the realization that we just have to jump,” she said. “It happened several times – while we were thinking someone else was buying.”
Jurevich worked closely with Grimsley, and finally found a home that was in their price range but wasn’t listed. The home they’re buying is being sold by one of the agents in Grimsley’s office, she said.
“The seller we’re buying the house from is also buying a house that wasn’t listed,” she said. “I know of three or four instances where homes are being sold by word of mouth.”
The couple was fortunate enough to get the jump on the house and not have to pay over the asking price. They paid full price for their new house and received full price for their old home in Morgan Hill.
“We’re extremely relieved and very glad it’s over,” she said. “We have two small boys and I’m pregnant – the potential of not having a place to live is unnerving,” she said.
If the couple had known the market would surge the way it did, while they wouldn’t have changed their decision to move here, they would have changed their house-hunting approach.
If they would have taken more risks early on, the process could have been expedited, she said.
“You can’t wait and think about it, because the house won’t be there if you do,” she said. “Actually, the house will be there but somebody else will own it.”
Increased interest rates and an augmented supply of homes could turn the market back into the buyer’s favor, Pierce said.
The sewer moratorium being lifted could generate more inventory, but certain restrictions being placed on residential building could have an effect on that as well, he said.
“We’ve learned a lot through this,” he said. “It’s going to be very pro-commercial, and we’re going to hold residential to the wire so it goes up very steadily and evenly.”
The influx of people heading south, away the Bay Area’s steep home prices, and the general migration of people into California can have any number of effects on Hollister’s real estate future, Grimsley said.
“It’s really hard to tell,” she said. “I wish I had a crystal ball, but I don’t. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
