The Real Estate Market Is Strong, According To RE/MAX Experience’s Pasquale Carannante

There is no cookie-cutter formula to buying or selling a home. Sure, there are necessary steps to each process, but there are also misconceptions that complicate decisions and keep buyers and sellers from meeting their specific goals.

Pasquale Carannante opened his RE/MAX Experience brokerage in 2016 for just that reason: To tailor each transaction to the individual client, ensuring that he or she walks away satisfied.

“We always develop relationships with our clients,” Carannante said. “Every transaction is different; no two transactions will ever be the same, whether it’s the location, different buyers or sellers, or financing.”

That’s why it’s important to consider the agent who is advocating on your behalf.

“People are quick to make a sale versus figuring out what the needs are,” Carannante declared. “If it’s a listing, do they need to rent back? Do they need time to move their stuff? If it’s a buyer, have they spoken to a lender? How much can they afford and how much can they qualify for? Those don’t always mean the same thing.”

Carannante and his team of 13 agents think this is an exciting time to be active in the real estate market. In mid September, the median price of Pasadena homes on the market was $335,592, and so far through 2017, the average time on the market is 48 days, a 28 percent decrease from 2016.

“The pendulum has swung a little bit in the seller’s favor,” Carannante said. “Inventory is at a historic low. In Pasadena, when I started, there were over 600 homes for sale in this market.”

As of September 13, there were 231 active homes for sale on the market. But does that mean it’s a bad time to buy? Carannante said that is not the case. “Interest rates are very low, so interest rates are keeping it at bay,” he said.

Carannante does have some advice for buyers.

“It’s great to have a realtor or a real estate team with professional experience to help somebody in the process,” he expressed. “A lot of people think, ‘I drove by a house and saw a sign or a listing online, and I’ll just go and check out the house.’ They need to understand that the person at that number represents the seller [whereas] we have a fiduciary responsibility for our clients.”

Having the expertise of a professional also yields other benefits.

“Sometimes we’ll get a client and we’ll call everyone in the neighborhood asking if they’re looking to buy or sell,” Carannante said, pointing to one instance where RE/MAX found a split-foyer home in the client’s community of choice. “It ended up not being a good fit, but we’re willing to do that.”

Carannante emphasized that just because a home is not listed for sale does not mean the owner is unwilling to sell.

“Perhaps it’s not the right offer or they don’t know how to go about selling their home,” he said. “People are afraid sometimes when it comes to making a move and going to another property.”

Not afraid to transition between properties was James Doukas, who has enlisted Carannte’s help with buying two homes.

“He has been a great advocate for me and helped me navigate what I needed to do,” Doukas said. “I had a certain limit as far as what my ultimate price was and what I would want for [number of] bedrooms and specs in the house. He was good at filtering through houses to find what I’d like, and being flexible and providing options.”

Carannante is quick to deflect the attention back to his agents. The RE/MAX Experience team is Carannante, Krystin Caputo, Marika Clark, Gwynne Cox, Michelle Gray, Bob Hefferon, Penny Hefferon, Diamond Johnson, Laura Lopez, Michael Marsh, Mark Milligan, Miranda Sipes and Jamie Spindle.

“Without them, I’m nobody,” Carannante said. “I’m just a broker.”

As he looks forward to the rest of 2017, and encourages people to “make a move” while the market is strong, he also expressed gratification for being able to help people make some of life’s biggest choices.

“Before I opened the office, there were a lot of agents and brokers who refused to open an office in Pasadena for whatever reason,” Carannante said. “I wanted to open a reputable real estate company with global recognition like RE/MAX.”