Sellers

Sellers in the Coachella Valley

Sellers in the Coachella Valley:  Any seller hoping to sell their property, not just list it, but sell it here in the Coachella Valley, MUST listen to the buyers.  Any potential buyer that shows interest in your property must be heard.  Doesn’t mean you have to sell it, but buyers are golden right now.  Pay attention.  Local resident and agent, Kim Kelly can help you with your list price to get your property SOLD.  760-285-3578.

If a seller isn’t serious about selling, now is not the time to test the market.  Run your numbers, know your RECENT sold comparables within your community and within any community that is a close comp.  Buyers are educated and are also in the drivers seat because there just aren’t as many as there were a couple years ago.  They are still here, they are still buying, but only if the property is exactly what they want, OR it’s such a good deal that a buyer will take it anyway.

The biggest obstacle to selling in the Coachella Valley right now is price.  Buyers will not over pay.  This is what’s hard for sellers to get.  Over paying doesn’t mean the sellers property isn’t worth more than they offer.  It does mean that in THIS market, the buyers are not over paying, even if they absolutely love the property.  Sellers need to be smart, and entertain all offers, even if they are low, even insulting.  Just counter!  Check out the tour below.  Custom home at Indian Palms CC was SOLD in 32 days.  Why?  They priced it right for THIS market!

Just another beautiful day in the Coachella Valley!

Coachella Valley market shift.  My sellers are SO frustrated!  Why isn’t my property selling?  My neighbor sold his property for more money!  That may be true, but since last year, the Coachella Valley real estate market is shifting from a sellers market to a buyers market.  Inventory is on the rise, properties are sitting on the market longer, and buyers simply are not motivated.  Buyers are golden right now, so if a written offer comes in, accept or counter it.  Don’t get insulted as a seller and just not respond.  Local resident and long time agent, Kim Kelly, will give you a realistic expectation when you list.  760-285-3578.

June 2025, there were 3608 homes listed for sale.  That’s up from the 2598 homes that were listed at this same time last year.  Those numbers represent a 38%+ increase in inventory.  When the inventory goes up, sellers have to compete with more homes comparable to their own.  This often reflects a loosening up of the real estate market, and buyers have more power.

A balanced market here in the Coachella Valley, is signaled by an absorption rate of 6 months.  We are now past that at 7.2 months, so properties are sitting longer.  When buyers see this, they are obviously going to interpret this as, “I need to be careful as the market is changing.”, and “I’m NOT going to rush into buying.  I’ll just hang out and wait, or maybe I’ll throw a lowball offer at the seller and see what they say.”  There is about an 18% difference between what sellers are asking and what buyers are paying.

My advice to sellers is to be patient, price your property where it will attract eyeballs and foot traffic, then be patient.  It’s just taking longer for buyers to put pen to paper!  Then when you do get an offer, be realistic in your counter offer.  Remember..buyers are golden right now, and more than likely will have a top number in their minds, and they WILL walk if it doesn’t come to fruition.

Take a tour of this gorgeous, custom home in the La Quinta Cove.  Only listed for 30 days, asking $874,500, and generating some serious activity, 77440 Calle Ensenada, a santa fe style home on an over sized corner parcel, call me for your tour today.  760-285-3578.

Coachella Valley 7 amenities for luxury homes

7 top amenities for luxury homes:  When you are reading this, remember that just because the home or property you are selling is not considered a “luxury property”..which usually means 2 million or above, take these ideas and apply them in any way possible to your own home.  It may help garner the highest return in YOUR price point!  Call local resident and agent, Kim Kelly if you are thinking of buying or sell your Coachella Valley property.

7 top amenities for luxury homes

1.  Wellness spaces:  COVID really made buyer re-evaluate the value of home wellness rooms, areas or outdoor spaces.  Add a cold plunge, a small gym, pilates space!  Get creative.
2. Home Gyms:  Buyers today really treasure their own personal spaces dedicated to fitness.  Weights, ballet bar, pilates.
3. Spa like Bathrooms:  Soft lights, back lighting, stand alone soaking tubs, massage tables.  Buyers love this!
4. Meditation spaces:  Easy to create often with ambiance and sound, these quiet spaces are very desirable.
5. Water:  Pools, fountains, waterfall features and walls, cold plunges.  Get back to the water in small spaces!
6. Eco friendly features:  Green also!  Green roofs, EV chargers, filtered water and air, and sustainable building materials.
7. Smart Home Features:  Alarms, whole house hubs, auto lighting, mobile controls.  (courtesy of Inman)

Take a short tour of the indoor/outdoor feature of this farm for sale in Thermal, California.  Indoor/outdoor is ALWAYS popular!

Interior and exterior needs to be clean and clear!

Sellers:  Prepping your house for sale. Just because you love your house just as it is, doesn’t mean it is in it’s best condition to bring in the most buyers!  There is definitely a pre sale thought process that you need to do, especially when the market softens as it is now.  Make your home stand out.  If you are looking to buy or sell in the Coachella Valley, give local agent, Kim Kelly a call at 760-285-3578.

5 Important Things to do BEFORE you list

1. Clear it out!  That means remove all the knick knacks from the shelves of course, but it goes further than that.  Get rid of the big furniture pieces, anything that draws a buyers eye away from the property, is not a plus.  This goes for casitas, ADU’s, garages, out buildings.  Less is better.  Clear the palette!
2. Fresh paint Sellers homes:  Hire a pro to do it right.  A fresh coat of neutral interior paint, matching throughout helps your buyer flow from area to area.  They can picture their own art on the walls.  A constant, neutral color also makes a smaller unit feel larger and more open.
3. Invest in new lighting:  Especially important here in the Coachella Valley, where we like to bring the outdoors in.  Starting from the exterior lights, including landscape lights.  Create an atmosphere of brightness and calm.  Make sure all your light fixtures match, the lampshades match each other in a particular space.
4. Increase the size of your spaces:  Be sure that you do not block the buyers path through the home.  Anywhere.  Remove large pieces, rearrange things so they can move freely from space to space.  Keep sources of natural light wide open, do not place chairs, tables, obstacles of any kind in front of windows, doors, doors that lead outside especially.  Make the areas appear larger than they are.
5. Exterior:  Lots to look at here.  Be sure the front doorway and path to the doorway is well trimmed, painted fresh, and accessible.  Repair and paint fences and gates.  Be sure pools, putting greens, gazebos, appear as delightful escapes, not dark debris strewn, overgrown hazards.

Look at your home BEFORE you put it on the market with your buyers shoes on.  Not as a seller, but as a potential buyer.  Go to the curb, turn around and look at your home from the street, just as a potential buyer will.  Be critical!  Open the front door, and do it again.  When that door opens, it should say, “welcome, come on in.”, not “good grief, it stinks in here and look at all the work I need to do.”  Bring your buyers in, don’t run them off.  After 23 years of selling properties in the Coachella Valley, these basics will always do you right.  And get help from an experienced realtor; that’s part of our job!

Buying OR selling, use professionals in ALL aspects of the transaction.

Why do you need an agent if you’re a buyer in real estate???  I’ve been following this NAR lawsuit like every other realtor around, and I like every other realtor around have no idea what is going to happen!  Apparently, sellers cannot be expected to pay the buyers agent commission.  Well, ok.  Let’s see if I can figure this out.  The MLS states right there for everyone to know exactly what the commission payout is to the buyers agent.  It has always been a negotiable fee between the listing agent and the sellers.  I guess now things are a changing….stay tuned as it’s being battled out in the courts, but I’m sure you as am I are all sitting on the edge of our seats!!  Call local Realtor, Kim Kelly at 760-285-3578 if you are looking to buy or sell anywhere in the Coachella Valley.

When I go on a listing appointment, one of the most important questions by the sellers is always “what about the commission?”  I always explain to them that commission is negotiable.  It is traditional for the sellers to pay 6%, which is 3% to the List agent and 3% to the buyers agent.  I very rarely get 6% agreed to!  I am not a discount agent.  I have 22 years of experience selling real estate in the Coachella Valley.  I started in New Homes sitting on sites for a monthly pay check, and worked my way up to the resale market.  My first year in resales, I grossed $32,000, which barely covered my expenses.  Oh that..expenses!  I carefully explain to my sellers that from the moment we agree to go on the market, my expenses begin..

• Hourly work on the computer and comparing community to community and house to house, and general research.
• All office equipment, computers, phones supplies and repairs are on me.
• Gas and mileage on my car
• Advertising expenses are on me.  I employ a full time SEO person for my online presence, a computer specialist to help with computer issues at $120/hour), and then there are the ads.  Online ads, print ads which I run to compliment my listings.
• Signs.  Small ones aren’t too bad, but the large ones I use for Land and Equestrian and development properties can run up to $3,000 each.  I pay for those.
• Supras run approx. $100 each and you need one for each house.
• Dues:  $99/quarter and annually approx. #1200
• E & O Insurance.  Generally supplemented by our brokers.  $800-$1600/year.
• Health insurance as we are independent contractors, so have to pay for our own.  No 401k retirement plans for us!  The general rule is that when one year ends, a realtor needs to have approx. 1 year worth of expenses/salary still in the bank.

Realtors pay for most or ALL of their own marketing and business expenses BEFORE close!

And then after the property is sold, we aren’t done paying out.  Every realtor working for a brokerage, pays their broker a “split”.  New agents start at somewhere around 60% to them and 40% to their brokers.  Experienced agents who are producers will still be paying 10-20% of each sale to their brokerages.

The moral of my story is this..yes, I will be happy to put the buy side commission onto my buyers.  I will be able to either charge them hourly, or a % of the sale, if this new law goes through.  I guess the thinking is that buyers can just go straight to sellers and buy their home.  Great!  If a buyer thinks they are up to finding, comparing, negotiating and then closing a deal and they don’t need help, go for it.  But if I, as an agent, were to go to purchase a home in Newport Beach for example, I would happily pay a local professional to cut to the chase and find me a home to suit my taste.  So, if the real estate world is going to change the commission structure payout, so be it!  As long as the sellers and buyers understand how much and WHY there are fees involved, and there is full transparency let’s proceed!