By Sean Dinsmore

market . If you ’ ve been following the housing market , you are either in total amazement ( if you own a home ) or total dismay ( if you ’ re looking to buy ). I wasn ’ t an agent during the market leading up to the mortgage collapse , but my peers tell me that they haven ’ t seen such a strong sellers ’ mar- ket like this since then . However , don ’ t worry that the future holds a housing crash like it did after that hot market ; the signs point up , not down .

Over the last 18 months , the average sales price in Gilroy has gone up 21 percent and just a “ meager ” 17 percent in Morgan Hill . These may not seem like huge numbers , but when you consider the average home price in Gilroy is now firmly over $ 1,000,000 ( which has been the case three out of the last four months ), and the average home price in Morgan Hill is nearly $ 1.4m , 17 and 21 percent equates to hundreds of thousands of dollars . If you were looking at homes in Gilroy 18 months ago , and your budget was $ 800,000 , those same homes you were looking at now cost $ 1m , and you can now only afford what cost $ 650k back then .

The numbers don ’ t tell the whole story though . The demand has been so strong that I can ’ t even tell you how many times my mind has been blown over the last six months due to particular homes sales such as :

• Tiny homes selling for record prices .

• Homes in less-than-desirable locations getting top dollar .

• Homes in need of TLC selling “ as-is .”

• Homes with combinations of these and other less-desirable attributes — receiving five to 10 offers , way over list price , all contingencies removed . This is unheard of .

Top Producing Team Gilroy Intero , 2015-2018

Sean Dinsmore , Realtor Intero Real Estate Services www . TheDinsmoreTeam . com 408.710.2855 DRE # 01966405

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The homes at the bottom of the market represent the last “ affordable ” homes to buy for many people in the Bay Area . And these homes , many at less than 1500 square feet , 40 years old , in moderate condition , in an average-at-best location , are in the mid-800 ’ s . If you would have told me that 10 years ago , I would have laughed .

So what is the market going to do next ? If you ask some doomsdayer , of course they ’ ll tell you it is going to crash . You could have read a new negative article any day of any given week for the past six or more years . What do they all have in common ? They ’ ve been wrong .

Just ask the people who ignored the adept advice of their real estate agent and tried to ever-so-cleverly time the market by selling over the last few years so they could buy cheaper after the crash . Now those would-be buyers are stuck in rent purgatory , as they don ’ t want to buy back into the market — just to get a home that is incredibly inferior to what they once had .

In the immediate future , myself and my colleagues don ’ t see an end to the current market ; there is no light at the end of the tunnel . Yes , interest rates are low and will go up at some point , but interest rates aren ’ t the primary driver here . We ’ ve been getting relatively free money for the last five years . Barring big tech making a mass exodus out of Silicon Valley , things just aren ’ t going to suddenly change directions around here . Barring some new cata- strophic event we are probably going to remain on our current trajectory . And guess what , it ’ s the same trajectory the housing market has been on for 60 years ; UP ! Act accordingly .

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