Why I have Dogs on the Brain and Why Buyers are Pulling Out Right Now

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Why I have Dogs on the Brain and Why Buyers are Pulling Out Right Now

Hello My Favorite People!

In this Buzz

Chart Art
SF’s Complicated History of Condos and Dogs
A Chance for a Free Lunch

I’ve been a little slow on the uptake with getting new charts out. I’m fussy about how they look and my new affiliationis with Vantage Realty has hindered me a bit in making them as pretty as they used to be. I’ve figured out where to find really good ones though and should be up and running again with fresh statistical eye candy in my next Buzz.

For now I’ll leave you with a couple of charts I found from other places. These are from our local MLS. I’ll also be leaning on our National, State and Local Realtor Association, who offer fabulous resources when you want to pull back and get the 20,000 foot view on the national market.

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A Medium Term View

The market seems to run in fits and starts right now. One month will be busy. Next month not so much

Beginning in May we started to see lower open house traffic. Our mortgage friends are also telling us fewer buyers are calling about getting preapproved. This is not unusual. Summer is a time for weddings and camping trips so we lose a lot of our buyer pool.

I am looking forward to seeing whinseat happens after Labor Day. It looks like rates are stabilizing and while they are not as low as they were before, buyers will no longer get whipsawed on what their price range is each time someone on the Federal Reserve Board sneezes.

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Through June the general headlines were fewer sales, but no significant drops in value.

This next chart definitely bears out the story of fewer sales. Activity this year is down over 30% what it was this time last year.

It gets even more interesting when you look at how the market for more expensive homes has slowed. This chart shows how many homes over $1.75M closed citywide by this time each year since 2021.

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Doggy Tales

I love a thorny problem. And recently a client wanted to know whether he could register his German Shepherd as an Emotioinal Support Animal (ESA) and then buy a condo in a building with CC&Rs that disallowed dogs. Any good Realtor knows the answer is “Yes”, and while it’s rare for one of my buyers to exert this legal right, they do it anyway because they are 1) deeply attached to their pet and are 2) wildly in love with the building where they want to live.

To qualify you pet as an Emotional Support Animal, you need to get an ESA letter from a qualified medical professional. Pet owners and suspect “health providers” used to play loosey-goosey with this requirement, so California passed AB468 a couple of years ago which requires the Provider to 1) hold a valid, active, license to provide their professional services, 2) have established relationship with the pet owner for at least 30 days prior to providing the documentation, 3) provide a clinical evaluation of the individual regarding the need for an emotional support and 4) give formal notice to the owner that fraudulently representing your animal as a Service Dog (instead of an ESA) is a misdemeanor.

Landlords as well as HOAs are also prohibited from wiggling around a resident’s right to an Emotional Support Dog. It’s easy to understand why. Pets are like family and prohibiting one is like telling someone their child is not allowed to live with their parents. On the other hand, in my own buildings I have had units left with doggie scratches, doggie odors and even fleas. But a few bad apples doesn’t mean all dog-owning tenants aren’t respectful, tidy and diligent about cleaning up Fido’s poop.

20 years or so ago, many HOA’s allowed dogs but prohibited “aggressive breeds” like Pit Bulls. If you want to guess why I’ll take you to lunch if you’re right. But even if you’re not, I promise to reveal the back story on the restriction in my next Buzz.

Thank you again for all your support over the many (and sometimes many, many!) years. And please don’t be a stranger! I have a memory like an elephant and can lay 99% odds that I will know exactly who you are if you call.

Best to you!

Cece

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