Real Estate Year in Review: 2021

Every year I write a "Year in Review" article on this site and then tell myself I need to post more here. But then I don't do it, lol. So maybe 2022 will be different. With that out of the way, let's take a look back at 2021.

As things turned out, 2021 was my best ever in Real Estate. I knew starting the year that it would be strong but little did I suspect that I would do over $38 million in total sales, close 25 sides plus 3 lease listings. Wow.

Why did I know I would have a good year? Well if you haven’t heard, the Real Estate market has been on fire. And as I always say I know that if I do certain things in a certain way I will get business. And that’s all I have control over - what I do. Pandemics. mortgage rates, inventory are all out of my control. Like way out.

And as has been the case throughout my career, the business was evenly divided between sellers and buyers with 12 of each. Throw in 3 lease listings and I was pretty busy.

Most of my business is in the South Bay Beach Cities of Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach CA.

I did 15 transactions in the Beach Cities including 10 in Redondo Beach where I have been on of the top rated agents for - well as long as I can remember.

I also did a few deals in Palos Verdes but beyond that, many of my clients took my “have car - will travel” Instagram posts pretty literally.

I sold homes in Orange, Venture, and Riverside County with a distance of over 100 miles between a property I sold in Newbury Park and one in Mission Viejo in South Orange County. Throw in another sale in Thousand Oaks and Huntington Beach and La Quinta for good measure. And I’m not even counting the house that my wife and I bought in Palm Springs because that one isn’t even built yet!

All that driving sure seemed like a good idea a year ago when there was less traffic on the road. These days the 405 is back to being a parking lot so I might be staying closer to home in 2022. Well I say that now but that will probably last until someone calls and then I’ll be visiting “points beyond” again.

The lowest priced home I sold was $450,000 and the highest was $3,351,750 with the median price being $1,588,250 which was just about what the average was as well.

Because it was my best year ever, I put together the longest video I've ever done, I think it's close to 20 minutes which I don't expect anyone to watch all of (but would appreciate it if you do). I think I only watched it once.

You can read the month by month review that accompanies this video on the blog at ellisposner.com. Here's some general observations about 2021 I want to share.

THERE CLEARLY WASN'T ENOUGH INVENTORY TO MEET DEMAND

That led to a crushing Seller's Market and price increases ranging from 12%-19% in the markets I work in. Because mortgage interest rates were at historic lows for most of the year, Buyers just chased the market up and gladly did so because often by the time they closed escrow, their homes were worth more than the purchase price.

It also led to Seller's dictating terms that would never fly in a "normal" market (will we ever see that again?). I'm referring to the "no loan or appraisal contingency" counter offers. Although I did have a few Buyer clients waive those, it is not something I think is healthy.

In some situations, my clients didn't even get counter offers because we had those contingencies in the original offer and I even had one listing agent, who I have done business with before, read me the riot act because I submitted an offer with contingencies. Wow.

SELLERS WERE OFTEN DISAPPOINTED EVEN IF THEIR HOMES SOLD FOR RECORD HIGH PRICES

I remember during the financial crises (2008-2009) how hard it was to convince Buyers to pull the trigger when prices were still on the way down. These days when the trend line is going in the opposite direction, there's a lot of "Seller's Remorse" going on.

IT IS POSSIBLE TO GET CONTINGENT OFFERS EXCEPTED

I had two transactions where my clients had to sell before they could buy and I was able to get their contingent offers accepted in both cases. One was even at less than the MLS list price.

These weren't the first weekend on the market feeding frenzy homes. One was new construction that had not been completed yet. The other was a property that had been on the market for about 50 days.

"OFF MARKET" DEALS STILL EXIST

I did two "off market" deals that weren't entered into the MLS. One was a sale to a builder and the other was a landlord client of mine who sold to their long term tenant. A lot of agents enter these after the fact but they are not in my MLS numbers.

PROPTECH ISN'T ALL IT IS CRACKED UP TO BE

After years of debating how accurate Zillow's Zestimates are (or aren't), it was a stunning failure on their part when they closed down their iBuying business because they were losing money on their own algorithms.

For all the talk about deploying tech from a lot of Brokerages, truthfully the major changes are happening - or have happened, behind the scenes. For example, is their anyone who doesn't use DocuSign or some other electronic signing program in 2022? I really doubt it. Likewise programs like SkySlope have helped simplify transaction management. And 3D walkthroughs from companies like Matterport have become much more popular.

But a lot of firms are still trying to implement tech that no one wants or is weak at best.

MY WEBSITES GET TRAFFIC BUT CLIENTS ARE ALSO ON APPS AND PLATFORMS

Have you ever discovered a new product or service because you were targeted on FB or IG? I have.

That being said, a lot of Buyers and Sellers still find me through Google searches.

NOW MORE THAN EVER, AUTHENTICITY COUNTS

Being the slick agent flashing new cars and a living large lifestyle is not what most Buyers and Sellers are looking for - well except for those who hire the agents on the TV shows.

What people seem to prefer are agents who are authentic and add value.

THIS WAS MY MOST POPULAR VIDEO OF 2021

I do a lot of videos - mostly for my listings. Here's one for a Hermosa Beach listing that was really well received.

If you want to find out more about what I'm doing in my Real Estate business, best to visit ellisposner.com where I post a lot more frequently than on this platform. But hopefully that changes in 2022.

Namaste LA.