Chuck Barberini Real Estate

    When the holidays roll around, travel plans, family gatherings, and all the chaos of the season may make you think it’s better to pull your listing off the market or to wait until 2026 to  sell your house . But here’s the thing. Waiting could mean missing out on a great window of opportunity. Because while other sellers are stepping away, you can lean in – and that might actually give you the edge. Here are 4 reasons selling now may be the better bet.   1. Buyers This Time of Year Are Serious Don’t let the season fool you. While casual browsers tend to step back around the holidays, serious buyers stay in the game. The people looking for homes right now usually aren’t just browsing. They’re ready to make a move and they usually want to close before the new year. As  Zillow  says: “While more buyers have tended to shop in the spring and summer months, those shopping in the winter are likely to be motivated — often moving because of a job relocation, chan...

  “Just Thinking" As you know I am a big fan of westerns, I grew up watching westerns, my dad was a huge fan my grandfather was a big fan of westerns. As a young guy we spent many Sunday nights at my grandparents’ house watching Bonanza in color, getting shushing when the commercials were over. Wagon Train, The Big Valley, Paladin, The Wild West and The Rifleman were all favorites, although dad would get impatient with all the gadgets Robert Conrad would use in The Wild West. John Wayne was an iconic figure at our home with so many of his great movies being watched over and again; McLintock, Big Jake, Stagecoach, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, True Grit, The Searchers, Rio Bravo, El Dorado, The Cowboys and The Shootist. When The Duke passed away in 1979 it was a sad day in the Barberini house. Clint Eastwood stepped into the breach in the mid 1960’s with his Spaghetti Westerns, A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and the classic, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.  I ...

  Check Out This Weeks Newsletter Water-saving faucets are suddenly the hottest thing in real estate. According to Realtor.com®, mentions of WaterSense fixtures in active listings jumped 289% year over year, the single biggest spike among any home feature in 2025. That number alone says a lot about where buyer demand is heading. Realtor.com analyzed thousands of for-sale listings from January through September 2024 and 2025 to uncover which home features are gaining or losing traction. The results point to one major theme: homes that save energy, conserve resources, and connect people to nature are winning across all price points. Efficiency Is the New Luxury The fastest-growing home features this year share one thing in common: they make homes more sustainable and cost-efficient. Four of the top five trends tie directly to conservation and eco-friendly living: WaterSense fixtures , up 289.6% year over year, with a median list price of $627,740 Biophilic / indoor-outdoor design , u...

    Homebuyers are watching the economy closely, and for good reason. Buying a home is one of the biggest purchases most people ever make. And some recession talk in the media has made a lot of would-be buyers second guess their plans. In the latest  LendingTree  survey,  almost 2 in 3 Americans said they think a recession is coming . And 74% of respondents say that's having an impact on their financial decisions. But here’s the good news:  the experts aren’t nearly as concerned. Most Americans Expect a Recession, But Most Experts Don’t According to an October report from the  Wall Street Journal  (WSJ),  only 1 in 3 experts surveyed say we may be headed for a recession sometime in the next 12 months  ( see graph below ): If the expert economists aren’t super worried, should you be?  We’re not in a recession right now. And there’s no guarantee we’re heading into one. What we  do  have is uncertainty – and the best way to h...

    Here’s something you should know before you sell your house. The homeowners who win in today’s market aren’t the ones waiting it out or stepping back. They’re the ones who adapt from the start. A number of homeowners this year didn’t get the outcome they wanted.  But it’s not because something’s wrong with the market. It’s because something wasn’t right with their expectations.  Realtor.com  reports   57%  more homes have been taken off the market   compared to last year.  That means they listed... but didn’t sell. But here’s the honest truth. It was mostly because of two things:  price  and  timing . And if the seller had come in with the right mindset on each, their sale would’ve gone differently. Here are the top 2 things you can learn from those other sellers. 1. Price It Right from Day 1 Let's start with the most common sticking point: the asking price. Today ,  8 in 10  sellers expect to get their asking pri...

    After several years of high mortgage rates and hesitation from buyers, momentum is quietly building beneath the surface of the housing market. Sellers are reappearing. Buyers are re-engaging. And for the first time in what feels like forever, there’s movement happening again. No, it’s not a surge. But it  is  a shift – and it’s one that could set the stage for a stronger year in 2026. So, what’s driving the comeback? Here are three big trends that are slowly breathing life back into the housing market right now. 1. Mortgage Rates Have Been Coming Down Mortgage rates  are always going to have their ups and downs – that's just how rates work. Especially with the general economic uncertainty right now, some volatility is to be expected. But, if you zoom out, it’s the larger trend that really matters most. And overall,  rates  have been trending down for most of this year  ( see graph below ): And in just the last few months, we’ve seen the best r...

  “Just Thinking" I read a short “this day in history” piece yesterday that got me thinking about an impactful time in my life that I didn’t fully understand at the time, and how it looks so different with a few decades of perspective. It struck me even more because on Tuesday the 11th we observed Veterans Day, a reminder of all of the brave men and women that have served our country so bravely. On November 13, 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C. Thousands of veterans marched to the site that day, gathering before the now-iconic V-shaped black granite wall. Etched into the polished stone are the names of 57,939 Americans who lost their lives in the Vietnam War, the names are not listed by rank or status, but in the order in which they fell. It’s a simple design, yet one of the most powerful memorials our country has ever created. Growing up in San Francisco during the Vietnam era, I remember being surrounded by mixed messages about the war in Sout...

  The Typical Home Seller Is Now 64—And They’re Staying Put Longer Than Ever The average home seller in 2025 is not a young family trading up for more space.  According to NAR’s   2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers , the typical seller is now 64 years old and has owned their home for a median of 11 years, both the highest figures on record. In 2005, the average seller was just 47. Data from NAR’s report shows the same trend in home buyers: the typical first-time buyer age is up to a record 40 years, while the age of home buyers as a whole reached a record 59. The typical repeat buyer is now 62, also an all-time high.  This shift matters. When sellers are older and holding onto their homes longer, inventory stays tight, buyer competition rises, and agents have to adjust their approach.  Today’s sellers aren’t rushing to cash out. They’re making moves driven by family, lifestyle, and life stage rather than financial opportunity.  The Aging Seller: From 4...