San Mateo County Housing Stays Hot, But Inventory Surge Signals Shift

Here’s a clear breakdown of what’s happening in the San Mateo County (SMC) housing market from 2024 to 2025 based on data from the MLS for Q1.

Key Highlights:

  • New Listings: Up 16.7% — more sellers are entering the market.
  • Homes Sold: Barely up (+2.6%) — demand is steady but not surging with the new supply. This increases the Inventor levels as buyers are uncertain about the economic future.
  • Inventory: Up a big 57.8% — supply has increased significantly. Bidding wars are waning. This will slow the rate of home appreciation.
  • Average Days on Market (DOM): Down 11.1% (from 27 to 24 days) — homes are selling slightly faster despite higher inventory, suggesting continued demand.

Prices & Valuation:

  • Average Sale Price: Up 6.7% ($2.44M ➡️ $2.61M) — strong upward pressure on prices.
  • Median Sale Price: Up 4.7% ($1.91M ➡️ $2M) — supporting the trend that the broader market, not just luxury homes, is appreciating.
  • Median $/SqFt: Up 3% — price growth per square foot is solid but more moderate, suggesting that larger homes might be contributing to the higher overall sale prices.
  • % List Price Received: Up from 104% ➡️ 107% — buyers are paying even more over asking, indicating competitive offers remain.

Volume & Sizes:

  • Total Sale Volume: Up 9.4%—Higher prices and slightly more sales have lifted the total dollar volume since sales only increased 2.6%.
  • Average Home Size: Up 2.5% (2055 to 2107 sqft) — larger homes selling might be nudging up average prices. If the average home price went up 6.7 % but 2.5% of that was due to larger homes selling, a YOY average sale price percentage would be reduced to 4.2%.

Market Dynamics:

  • Months of Inventory: Up 57.1% (from 1.4 to 2.2 months) — still a seller’s market (under 3 months), but it’s becoming more balanced due to buyer jitters.

Summary Insight:

The SMC housing market in 2025 looks like it’s in a hot but slightly more balanced phase:

  • Supply has risen sharply, but demand is keeping pace (homes are selling faster, prices are up, and bidding is competitive, just not as much so).
  • The increase in larger home sales might be boosting both the average sale price and the sales volume.
  • Inventory is building, which could give buyers slightly more leverage in the coming months if the trend continues.
  • Fed. interest rates remained unchanged.

Commentary: With all the uncertainty around tariffs, buyers are taking the classic “wait-and-see” approach — emphasis on the wait. One thing they’re sure of? Their stock portfolios took a hit… but hey, it’s only a loss if they cash out to buy that house, right? Yet another reason to stay on the sidelines a little longer and let the dust (and the Dow) settle.

The Risk Reward? Buy now while prices are climbing a little and bidding wars are catching their breath — or wait with the crowd for “more certain times” and join the stampede when the bidding starts up full throttle again.

Drew and Christine Morgan are experienced REALTORS and NOTARY PUBLIC located in Belmont, CA, where they own and operate MORGANHOMES, Inc. They have assisted buyers and sellers in their community for over 30 years. Drew and Christine have received the coveted Diamond award and ranked among the top 50 agents nationwide and the top 3 in Northern California by RE/MAX. To contact them, please call (650) 508.1441 or emailinfo@morganhomes.com.

For all you need to know about Belmont, subscribe to this blog right here. You can also follow us on Facebook and on Twitter.

This article provides educational information and is intended for informational purposes only. It should not be considered real estate, tax, insurance, or legal advice; it cannot replace advice tailored to your situation. It’s always best to seek guidance from a professional familiar with your scenario.

BROKER | MANAGER | NOTARY

San Mateo County Housing Market: Rising Demand, Shrinking Supply, and Hidden Value Gains

San Mateo County Housing Market Snapshot: A Mixed Bag of Growth and Decline

The Q3 2024 housing market in San Mateo County reveals notable shifts compared to the same quarter in 2023. While total sales volume and median sale prices increased, other key indicators suggest tightening market dynamics.

Sales Surge Amid Reduced Inventory: The number of homes sold increased by 7.7%, rising from 902 to 977, likely due to strong demand despite the dropping number of new listings. This is reflected in the lower inventory levels—the inventory of homes that haven’t sold by the end of a month.

Pricing Trends Show Hidden Results: 

Median sale prices grew by 4.5%, reaching $1,908,700. At the same time, the cost per square foot climbed 5.2% to $1,149.

Smaller Lots, Bigger Gains

In Q3 2024, lot sizes shrank 24.7% (15,606 to 12,514 sq. ft.), and home sizes dropped 4.7% (to 2,012 sq. ft.). These shifts skew the reported appreciation, as smaller homes on smaller lots sold for 5.2% more. Adjusting for size differences and price per square foot ($60.00), the true median price appreciation is closer to 15.1% year-over-year.

Price Per Square Foot Climbs Nearly 9% The average price per square foot rose sharply, jumping 8.8% from $865 to $949. This uptick underscores rising property values and increased buyer competition. Higher demand, coupled with limited supply, is driving prices higher on a per-square-foot basis, a clear sign of a strengthening market. If inventory constraints remain, expect this trend to persist.

Faster Sales, Fewer Days on Market: Homes sold quicker in 2024, with the average days on market (DOM) dropping from 24 to 23 days, a minuscule 4.3% improvement. This indicates continued competition for available homes.

Strong Pricing Power: Sellers continued to receive more than asking prices, with the percentage of list price received improving to 105%, up 1%.

Total Sales Volume Climbs: The market saw a 5.9% increase in sales volume, reaching $2.35 billion, signaling robust overall growth.

Tighter Months of Inventory: The months of inventory dropped to 1.6, reflecting a 12.5% tightening, signaling a shift toward a stronger seller’s market.

In summary, Q3 2024 shows an increasingly competitive market with rising demand and constrained supply. While buyers face higher prices and smaller lots, sellers benefit from faster sales and strong pricing power. If inventory remains low, expect continued price pressures.

Drew and Christine Morgan are experienced REALTORS and NOTARY PUBLIC located in Belmont, CA, where they own and operate MORGANHOMES, Inc. They have assisted buyers and sellers in their community for over 30 years. Drew and Christine have received the coveted Diamond award and ranked among the top 50 agents nationwide and the top 3 in Northern California by RE/MAX. To contact them, please call (650) 508.1441 or email info@morganhomes.com.

For all you need to know about Belmont, subscribe to this blog right here. You can also follow us on Facebook and on Twitter.

This article provides educational information and is intended for informational purposes only. It should not be considered real estate, tax, insurance, or legal advice, and it cannot replace advice tailored to your specific situation. It’s always best to seek guidance from a professional who is familiar with your scenario.

BROKER | OWNER | NOTARY

Real Estate Boom: San Mateo and Belmont See Surge in Home Prices and Sales in 2024

“We’re seeing the strongest market conditions since the beginning of 2022…”

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Unveiling the Thrilling Odyssey of Bay Area Housing Values: A Tale of Peaks, Plummets, and Uncertain Horizons

Our market peaked in May of 2022, began a slow slide until it hit bottom of that year in November, before regaining its traction and the slow pace of recovery.

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Recognizing the Flaws in Comparing Year-Over-Year Data

Back in November 2022, we wrote an article titled “The Big Risk in Gambling on Bay Area Home Values” where we predicted that this day would come. We expected that Q1 in 2023 would see a significant decrease when compared to 2022 but are we comparing apples to apples? We suspect that by Fall, the year-over-year changes will be more accurate since the first three months of 2022 were an anomaly due to a surge in home prices (not values).

Last year in April, the Bay Area housing market reached its highest point, driven by the fear of impending interest rate hikes. However, since May 2022, there has been a decline in the market. The decline can be attributed to the interest rate increases, which ironically is what led to an increase in housing values in the first quarter of 2021.

This unsustainable and rather sudden ramp-up in bidding wars, and consequently home values, ended rather abruptly in mid-April.

The May sales data reflected the change in home-buying activity, and the shift in the market was in full swing by June. We discussed this in our blog post titled “Bay Area Housing Market on Precipice of Unpredictable Change.”

Currently, in San Mateo County, home values have reverted to levels seen in August of 2022.

Comparing the months of April YOY for San Mateo County, the dramatic shift is seen across the board in almost every category. 

Fewer sellers are willing to sell in today’s market because as most have locked into fixed-rate loans in the 3% (or even less) range. 

With fewer sellers willing to move, the number of new listings is down 38%. In any other market, this alone would create a shortage of inventory of homes for sale which in turn would drive up prices. However, the higher interest rates that are keeping sellers in their homes longer, are also eroding the purchasing power of buyers. This is helping to keep our market near equilibrium—a state which historically is rarely seen, and if so, never for very long.

We notice a similar trend in the city of Belmont, but it’s more pronounced because the sample size is small, which makes fluctuations more noticeable.

Opposite the Law of Large Numbers, a foundational concept in statistics that if a sample is large enough, the sample average should be close to the mean, the law of small numbers provides us with a “Belief in the Law of Small Numbers.” In their paper, Kahneman and Tversky—who famously explored human heuristics, define the Law of Small Numbers as the mistaken belief that a small sample accurately reflects the probabilities of a population. In small data sets, you can find patterns where none exist!

Such is often true when isolating the numbers for home sales in Belmont.

Here we note the magnified effect of the market as compared to San Mateo County as a whole.

That said, there’s no doubt about the YOY change. In 2023 the size homes that sold were 22.5% larger, yet sold for 7.7% less, indicating the true YOY value shift to be close to a 30% drop.

The average time it takes to sell a house has increased by 200%, which shows that buyers are becoming pickier. However, it’s also happening because many sellers are still setting their prices based on past market conditions and pricing their homes too high.

It’s unfortunate that some agents prioritize making a sale over being honest with the sellers. They may tell the sellers what they want to hear, instead of what they need to know. Additionally, sellers often choose agents based solely on the price estimate the agent gives them for their home, which perpetuates this behavior.

At present, the inventory of homes available for sale is only enough to last for about a month. This is a notable decrease from the 9.5 months of inventory during the 2008 economic crisis.

As we move past April, the monthly figures will gradually approach and eventually exceed the year-over-year numbers of 2023. However, we do not anticipate this to occur until the year 2024.

It is imperative that you price your home correctly if you are considering selling it. This holds especially true in the current market. Do not hesitate to contact us for an honest evaluation.

Drew and Christine Morgan are experienced REALTORS and NOTARY PUBLIC located in Belmont, CA. They have been assisting buyers and sellers in their community for over 30 years. Drew and Christine have received the coveted Diamond award and ranked among the top 50 agents nationwide and top 3 in Northern California by RE/MAX. To contact them, please call (650) 508.1441 or email info@morganhomes.com.

or all you need to know about Belmont, subscribe to this blog right here. You can also follow us on Facebook and on Twitter.

This article provides educational information and is intended for informational purposes only. It should not be considered as real estate, tax, insurance, or legal advice, and it cannot replace advice tailored to your specific situation. It’s always best to seek guidance from a professional who is familiar with your scenario.

The Illusion of Year of Year Numbers

Housing Sector Finally in Balance?

It seems like forever since the housing market has been in balance. The downturn in 2007-2009 was followed in 2012 by an 11-year run up in Bay Area home values. Are we finally reaching equilibrium?

The first quarter of 2023 is in the books, and the housing numbers are in. If you’ve been listening to local news, one might believe the housing market is on a slippery slope and headed towards a trough.

The numbers sure make it look that way too, but is there more to report? The short answer is, there always is.

Looking at San Mateo County as a whole, here are the YOY (Year over Year) numbers comparing 2022 to 2023:

In every category the numbers appear to indicate that we’re in a declining or buyer’s market, but we’re not. Why?

Half of the homes are still selling for over asking, while the other half are selling for less, which is strongly indicative of a market in balance. Take a look at these graphs we prepare–they show the market is beginning to level out.

NEW LISTINGS

This number is down because sellers with 3% interest rates are reticent to sell their current home only to find their new mortgage on a replacement property closer to 6%. This decline was amplified by the historically inclement weather.

INVENTORY

This is a measurement of how many homes remained for sale at the end of the measured period. This is showing us there were fewer homes left over at the end of the quarter, which didn’t sell.

SOLD HOMES

The number of sold homes is actually very close to the number of fewer homes that were listed for sale. It’s like a car lot—if they have fewer cars on their lot to sell, they’ll sell fewer cars. In 2023, note that there were ~36% fewer homes available for sale, but only 31% fewer sales, which is consistent with the inventory of remaining homes being lower in 2023.

AVERAGE DOM

Homes are taking longer to sell. While there are fewer homes to choose from, there are also fewer buyers that are willing to purchase a home—creating for the first time in a long time, a balance in supply and demand.

A side note on why homes are taking longer to sell is twofold—sellers who are in denial that they missed the peak price point from 2022, and agents who have never worked in a more regular market, and will take any listing at any price also in denial that the market has changed.

The days of an on average six-day period of marketing are gone for the foreseeable future. In fact, six days on the market was also an anomaly. Last year at this time six days was all that was needed to sell a home with the incredible amount of urgency to beat rate hikes. In 2021 for example, the days on market during this period was 25. This year it’s at 32—higher, but again not astoundingly.

MEDIAN SALE PRICE

The median sale price is for the entire county, so what may be happening in your city or even neighborhood is probably different. 

The YOY drop of 11.8% from 2022 and the Price per Square Foot drop of 11.4% are fairly close to each other indicting that this can be considered to be a reliable measurement of the drop in home values between these two periods. If these two categories were off by a substantial amount, it would indicate a shift to smaller or larger homes selling in the two periods. We frequently run into this type of shift when measuring small market samples in smaller cities and when looking at only one month of sales for example.

THE INSIDE SCOOP

Here’s where it gets interesting. While the media may be accurately reporting these numbers, they do not put them into perspective, which in some cases such as this, a whole new story emerges.

Misleading Interpretations of the Housing Market

This is a classic example of a financial group trying to interpret the data and missing the mark on several key points.

In fact, the median homes prices are lower, and they should be, because they are being compared to Q1 in 2022 which saw the fastest run up in home values in the history of the Bay Area (see next paragraph for a deeper dive). We did an article on why this happened last year and predicted that this year would pale in comparison and exacerbate the apparent decline in values—which is exactly what happened.

We also went on to forecast that once we get past the May numbers in 2022—when the April sales of 2022 peaked and were reported—we may see an actual YOY increase in 2023 over 2022 as the summer and fall approaches, as that’s when in 2022 home prices began to decline.

LIST PRICE TO SALE PRICE RATIO—Making Sense of it All

The decrease in multiple offers has clearly has an impact on homes selling for over their asking price, as seen in recent, previous years. 

While homes sold on average for 114% of asking in Q1 of 2022—that wasn’t normal—it was an anomaly. 

It was due to the sudden demand in housing in 2022 fueled by the fear of looming interest rate hikes. Looking at the same period in 2022—January through April—homes sold for on average 106% of asking in 2021. In 2023 the percentage over asking was 101%—so eliminating the frenzied run up in 2022, the percent over asking is still lower than average, but by only 5 points instead of 11.

MONTHS OF INVENTORY—What does that mean?

The Months of Inventory statistic shows us, at the current rate of homes sales, how long it would take to sell the current inventory of homes.

A normal Months of Inventory, if we average San Mateo County’s inventory levels dating back to 1998, is 2.6 months. Nationwide wide they hover around six months of inventory. 

During the financial crises of 2007-2009—from peak to trough the inventory levels of homes for sale in San Mateo County stood at 5.2 months.

In Q1 of 2022 they were only 1.3=2 months of inventory and that has bumped up to 1.7—still far below historical averages.

Locally, the story is much the same in our two of Belmont, but, since the sample size is so much smaller, the swings in statistical categories can appear skewed, and over or underrepresent the overall housing pattern in the Bay Area.

Belmont Home Prices

The Take-Away

  • In San Mateo County, the housing market has slowed from its Q1 2022 peak.
  • If the economy stays the way it is now, in Q2 the YOY numbers will be more similar.
  • We expect to see demand increase for housing as buyers become accustomed to higher interest rates.
  • We imagine that in Q3 the median home value may be similar to 2002.
  • The historical inclement weather has kept a lid on new listings—we expect this to increase as weather improves. More homes for sale will keep a ceiling on home appreciation as the market shift deeper into buyer territory.
  • The stats show the market shift in the buyer’s favor has created a more balanced housing market.
  • There is no metric that compares to the financial crisis housing depreciation in 2007-2009

Drew & Christine Morgan are REALTORS/NOTARY PUBLIC in Belmont, CA. with more than 30 years of experience in helping sellers and buyers in their community. As Diamond recipients, Drew and Christine ranked in the top 50 RE/MAX agents nationwide and the top 3 in Northern California.  They may be reached at (650) 508.1441 or emailed at info@morganhomes.com.

For all you need to know about Belmont, subscribe to this blog right here. You can also follow us on Facebook and on Twitter.

The information contained in this article is educational and intended for informational purposes only. It does not constitute real estate, tax, insurance or legal advice, nor does it substitute for advice specific to your situation. Always consult an appropriate professional familiar with your scenario.

Most People Enjoy Rollercoaster Rides, Except when it Involves their Financial Future

Last year was a wild one, but not entirely unpredictable, as we forecast in December of 2021.

Like our recent unprecedented storms, the factors that led to the abrupt housing market shift in the second quarter of 2022, created the perfect storm for a change in the market—not a correction—a change or shift.

In Perspective

After the pandemic stay-at-home order created a need for more space to work from home with many home-schooling children, the new skyrocketing demand for single family homes caused prices to follow suit.

In the first quarter in 2022, we saw an unprecedented run up in home values in our area. Never in our history had home values risen so fast in such a short period of time.

This was to some degree anticipated, as it was widely announced that interest rates would be rising in the upcoming year—this on the heels of desperate attempts to secure a home in 2021 made for bidding wars outpacing sustainability.

In April of 2022, with mortgage interest rates rising to levels not seen since the same time in 2009 during the Great Recession, a pullback began as affordability suffered.

April sales logged the highest prices ever in our area’s history. These sales closed in May, making April technically the pinnacle of home values.

Then it began to slip.

Prices dropped each month-over-month, but-remained higher than a year earlier. In other words, the Year-Over-Year numbers until October remained higher than the previous year.

This is the YOY comparison for December of 2021 to 2022. In every category the housing numbers are unveiling a softening in the housing sector—prices are down, days on market are up, etc.

Note that the size homes selling in these two periods exaggerates the actual drop in values, while antithetically, the price per square foot underrepresents that delta.

We can make a rough “back of the napkin” adjustment, accounting for smaller homes selling in the two periods and skewing the median home price. Note that the median home price dropped 32% but so did the size homes which sold. Adjusting for this, the actual median home price is likely flat YOY, insofar as the median price anyway.

VARIABLES TO A 2023 HOUSING MARKET REBOUND

JOBS AND UNEMPLOYMENT

As one can see by this graph, unemployment in San Mateo County is at or near an all-time low:

Yet Tech specific lay-offs, effect our local housing disproportionally than elsewhere, as many local tech jobs are located on the Peninsula. When workers in the tech industry see companies laying workers off they tend to go into hibernation, avoiding any large purchases that require a long-term commitment.

STOCK OPTIONS

Many of these same companies offer sizable salary offsetting stock inducements. When there’s a hit to their portfolio, tech buyers will tend to wait it out for more favorable withdrawal conditions. And those who bite the bullet and cash out, lose buying power when their portfolio is down.

INTEREST RATES

While interest rate hikes shocked the system of buyers to their core, the initial wave began in January of 2022, enticing a lot of buyers who could see the writing on the wall to jump into the market to secure a low mortgage rate, even if doing so meant overpaying for a home. 

Later, the rising rates had a real effect on housing, as we entered a return to normalcy—wiping out the entire first quarter of home value increases in a matter of months.

THE STALEMATE

Some buyers are holding onto the notion higher interest rates will continue to put downward pressure on home values, while sellers, still stuck in the first stage of grief—denial—are holding out for a return to the glory days of early 2022.

Who will blink first? It’s anyone’s guess. But the overall healthy economic conditions, despite the aforementioned variables, may lean in the favor of buyers returning to the market as soon as they feel confident and comfortable in the economic environment.

MOVING FORWARD

In an effort to thwart a complete housing melt down in 2007, the government bought bonds to drive down interest rates and the FED overnight rate was held at zero.

Buyers will no doubt soon begin to realize that they are not going to see artificially induced low mortgage rates again anytime in the foreseeable future—if ever, and will begin to accept the new reality.

Sellers will stop bemoaning missing the height of last year’s market, and eventually decide to move ahead with life’s plans.

Past performance doesn’t guarantee future results, but we can see patterns that emerge. We wouldn’t be surprised to see home values remain more-or-less flat for the year in 2023, and overall sales remain down.

Drew & Christine Morgan are REALTORS/NOTARY PUBLIC in Belmont, CA. with more than 30 years of experience in helping sellers and buyers in their community. As Diamond recipients, Drew and Christine ranked in the top 50 RE/MAX agents nationwide and the top 3 in Northern California.  They may be reached at (650) 508.1441 or emailed at info@morganhomes.com.

For all you need to know about Belmont, subscribe to this blog right here. You can also follow us on Facebook and on Twitter.

The information contained in this article is educational and intended for informational purposes only. It does not constitute real estate, tax, insurance or legal advice, nor does it substitute for advice specific to your situation. Always consult an appropriate professional familiar with your scenario.

The Big Risk in Gambling on Bay Area Home Values

The latest Case-Shiller housing report for the Bay Area is out, and as suspected, the downward trend is inching us closer each month to a YOY loss in home values in the nine Bay Area Counties.

Home values shows they have returned to essentially where they were a year ago. The Case-Shiller data lags the market by three months, so these numbers are as of September.

We suspect they have continued to go down in October and November meaning that by the end of the year, home values may be lower than they were a year ago—before the historic run up in Q1 of 2022 which has all but been eliminated.

Meanwhile, 30 year mortgage rates have for at least the time being, settled down from their recent peak.

It will be a blood bath when we look at Q1 in 2023 as compared to 2022, and then we suspect by Fall those number will better reflect the YOY changes since the first three months in 2022 were an anomaly of a run up in home prices, (note we did not say values). 

What will happen in 2023?

It’s too early to begin to even risk speculating, but the driving factors—the variables—will be the stock market performance, mortgage rates and of course, Bay Area job stability.

One thing is for certain, this impasse we’re experiencing—buyers waiting for prices to drop further, and sellers clinging onto the day when they return—is about to end. Someone is going to blink, and it carries a huge risk being on the losing side. 😉

To understand why timing the Bay Area housing market is a Fool’s Game, we need only look to this past year. Sellers waited for prices to peak before cashing out, only to find that after a ten-year run up, the bottom fell out of the market in April, and prices have been reverting back to 2021 values ever since.

Buyers on the other hand fall into a similar trap. They wait far too long to take advantage of a drop in home values—wanting to time the market and hit the absolute bottom. While that’s an admirable goal, it rarely works out in the real world. One only knows the market is at its bottom when they see it beginning to go up. This rear-view mirror approach inevitably means they’ve already have missed the bottom.

This cycle was the first one we experiences first-hand, the market downturn in 1990. The market declined for two years, remained more-or-less flat for another five, and went full throttle upward beginning in 1996. If one bought a home between 2009-2011, the would have enjoyed a 16% increase in 2012 alone. Put another way, buyers had to pay 16% more because they waited to see the market bottom in 2011.

During the Great Recession, between 2007-2009, home values dropped 57% across the Bay Area. Values only experienced minor seasonal fluctuations until January of 2012 when the market entered its sustained ten-year growth cycle. The best time to buy a home during that downturn, were the three years between 2009 and 2011. Those who waited until 2012, when everyone decided it was once again a good time to buy, found themselves in multiple offers and rising prices until 2022.

[Gray bars indicate U.S. recessions. Source, FRED.]

As we’ve admonished buyers in other articles, don’t follow the pack—lead. You’ll be in a far better position when the market rebounds.

For sellers our advice is to evaluate your goals. If you’re considering retirement, waiting for a market rebound may take precious years away from your plans. If you’re a seller wishing to purchase a more expensive home, that home probably took a hit in real dollars more than your current home. And finally, if your downsizing, don’t miss out on the tax benefits of proposition 19 before it’s repealed.

Drew & Christine Morgan are REALTORS/NOTARY PUBLIC in Belmont, CA. with more than 30 years of experience in helping sellers and buyers in their community. As Diamond recipients, Drew and Christine ranked in the top 50 RE/MAX agents nationwide and the top 3 in Northern California.  They may be reached at (650) 508.1441 or emailed at info@morganhomes.com.

For all you need to know about Belmont, subscribe to this blog right here. You can also follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Morganhomes and on Twitter @ https://twitter.com/morganhomes

The information contained in this article is educational and intended for informational purposes only. It does not constitute real estate, tax, insurance or legal advice, nor does it substitute for advice specific to your situation. Always consult an appropriate professional familiar with your scenario.