Your Real Estate Expert for Berkeley and Beyond
“Marilyn is exceptional. Her knowledge base, enthusiasm for her job, professional ethics, organization, sensitivity to our aesthetic requirements, loyalty and gentle perseverance set her apart.”
-- Bill and Carol Seidel
Marilyn Garcia, PhD Broker Associate, Realtor® CA DRE LICENSE #01355514
The Grubb Company 1656 Shattuck Avenue Berkeley, CA 94709
Direct: (510) 390-5406
Variations in Sold Price per Square Foot
If you are a regular reader of this newsletter, you have many times encountered the notion that, everything else being equal, the amount a property sells for per square foot of living space tends to be lower for large homes, and higher for small homes. To illustrate this point, I grouped the detached homes sold in North Berkeley and the Berkeley hills* over the course of 2021 by size category, and found the average sold price per square foot for each category. The results are above. As you can see, the pattern holds as a general rule: the larger the [...]
REAL ESTATE ANSWERS: Why are most sellers in our area no longer accepting “love letters” from buyers?
Why are most sellers in our area no longer accepting “love letters” from buyers? In our market, where buying a home is a super-competitive process, it used to be the case that buyers would include a “love letter” with their offer in hopes that it would influence the seller in their favor. The letter would tell the seller about the buyers, their qualifications, and why this property would be the perfect home for them. It also often included a photo of the buyers. The idea was that, because many (even most) sellers have some emotional attachment to the property they’re [...]
Variations in Sold Price per Square Foot
If you are a regular reader of this newsletter, you have many times encountered the notion that, everything else being equal, the amount a property sells for per square foot of living space tends to be lower for large homes, and higher for small homes. To illustrate this point, I grouped the detached homes sold in North Berkeley and the Berkeley hills* over the course of 2021 by size category, and found the average sold price per square foot for each category. The results are above.
As you can see, the pattern holds as a general rule: the larger the home, the lower the sold price per square foot, everything else being equal. For specific properties though, everything else isn’t equal, and characteristics such as a large lot, architectural pedigree, views, etc., still push up the value in general, and in price per square foot.
REAL ESTATE ANSWERS: Why are most sellers in our area no longer accepting “love letters” from buyers?
Why are most sellers in our area no longer accepting “love letters” from buyers?
In our market, where buying a home is a super-competitive process, it used to be the case that buyers would include a “love letter” with their offer in hopes that it would influence the seller in their favor. The letter would tell the seller about the buyers, their qualifications, and why this property would be the perfect home for them. It also often included a photo of the buyers.
The idea was that, because many (even most) sellers have some emotional attachment to the property they’re selling, providing more information about the buyers and how much they appreciate the property could highlight commonalities and make it easy for the sellers to picture a particular set of buyers as the new owners. Maybe the seller would think “Oh, these buyers are a cute young couple who want to raise their family here like we did!” Or, “Look, we both work for X Company!” Or “These people love to garden, so will maintain the yard I put so much effort into!” Buyers hoped that these commonalities might lead the seller to choose their offer over others (maybe even if their price wasn’t quite as high).
The problem with these letters is that they can reveal information about the buyers that the seller cannot legally consider in choosing between offers.
Sellers are prohibited by law from choosing a buyer based on any of these criteria: race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, familial status, source of income, disability, medical condition, citizenship, primary language, immigration status, military/veteran status, age, criminal history, and any arbitrary determination.
Notice that my “cute family” example above is on the list of prohibited criteria (familial status), and “We both work for the same company” is related to source of income.
Even the best-intentioned seller, who would never knowingly violate Fair Housing laws, could be subconsciously influenced, and even if this is not the case, it is still safer as a seller to not have information related to the prohibited criteria at all. In our super-competitive market, there are routinely multiple unsuccessful buyers, and there is always the risk that an unhappy buyer whose offer was not accepted could claim that a decision was influenced by something that is in a protected category.
The safest choice is to “just say no” to buyer letters. If you as the seller do not have information the about buyers’ characteristics, it’s hard for someone to say that you made a decision for the wrong reasons. I think skipping the buyer letters is not just the safest choice, but it’s also the right choice, because it levels the playing field for everyone.
Your Real Estate Expert for Berkeley and Beyond
“Marilyn is exceptional. Her knowledge base, enthusiasm for her job, professional ethics, organization, sensitivity to our aesthetic requirements, loyalty and gentle perseverance set her apart.”
-- Bill and Carol Seidel
Marilyn Garcia, PhD Broker Associate, Realtor® CA DRE LICENSE #01355514
The Grubb Company 1656 Shattuck Avenue Berkeley, CA 94709
Direct: (510) 390-5406