Sold Listings.
If you google the term, what comes up is all the celebrity agents and lists of their own personal sold listings. They all seem to use the same social media consultant. The results are pretty much identical.
Bragging about all the listings they got people to sell under their name is nice for them, but not so helpful for you. You know they are selling listings but if you want one of them for your agent, good luck. They don't usually represent buyers.
My team and I share a different kind of sold listings and it's way more helpful to you as a buyer.
First, we love buyers! If you like our information, use us as your buyer's representative.
More importantly, sold listings are your guide to picking the right price to offer on that home you want.
In a rational market, you and your agent would look at the most recent sales for properties most like the one you want to buy - same number of beds, same number of baths, similar lot size, similar house size and same neighborhood. You might offer that price plus whatever the trendline shows as appreciation since the last sale.
We all know our market has been anything but rational lately and sometimes you get caught in a bidding war, but you need a place to start.
Generally the last sold comparable property plus appreciation is a good starting point and will get you a seat at the table. Your buyer agent should be talking to the listing agent and will advise, but this is mostly your starting point.
And good news! The market is returing to rationality, so the old tried and true methods are coming back around.
So how do you know what the recent sales are? Agents have the MLS. What do consumers have?
Consumers have agents who share data.
Yep. The data is available for sharing, but most agents either don't understand how to share or they think you won't need them if they freely share.
At Silicon Beach Properties, we understand that lots of people are very DIY in the internet age. Some might even make offers without agents or think there is some benefit to using the listing agent. We think that is a mistake, and blogged about that topic here and here.
In support of our DIY'ers we transparently share sold listings data. For example, find Manhattan Beach sold data for the last six months here. From that page, you can sort by beds, baths, property type, lot size, levels and a host of other data points to find the most recent sales that match a property you might want to make an offer on.
Currently, there are 58 sold listings in the last six months in Manhattan Beach with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. At that point, you would zoom in on the map and only look at the listings in the section where your target property is - sand section, tree section, village, etc.
Is it easier to let your agent pick the offer price? For sure. But we also know that our peeps like to understand why a certain price is being suggested. Do we think you should pick your price without agent guidance? Not at all, but you will have a more informed conversation knowing what the data is.
So if you're DIY, we're here for you and ready to advise at the point you want advice. If you're less DIY, we are happy to do all the analysis and explain as much as you want to understand.
Use this link to request sold listings data for your target community.
Rooting for you! Tracy & Team Silicon Beach