Archive for August, 2007
August 31, 2007
There are times when realtors need to deal with delicate issues. Lord knows that we’ve put our realtor through the wringer when we sold both my father’s home and my grandmother’s home. The more recent sale had me handling the paperwork and being the liaison with the realtor, because my father had suffered a stroke and was dying of cancer. This meant she wouldn’t get as much direct interaction with the actual homeowners and open houses and realtor drop-bys were difficult, at best, as my father had trouble leaving the home. And one of today’s Daily Stat listings is no different. Actually I was a little perturbed at first when I glanced at the listing, because there is no picture of the home or the interior after 25 days on the market (one of my Pet Peeves). There is also no lot size listed, which is important, given that the listing is in Los Altos Hills. But then I saw it: TRUSTEE ESTATE SALE, AS-IS, OWNER PASSED AWAY ON PROPERTY. I have to commend the realtor for being bold enough to put this is the one paragraph description, as it will save many a realtor and their clients from making the unnecessary trip. Certain cultures will not live in a home where a death has occurred, particularly in the recent past, and many people are just plain spooked by it. Burying the fact in the mountains of paperwork may be the modus operandi for some realtors, but it’s going to come back to bite them in the rear end at a later date. Best to be up front.
The good news about today’s home is that there was just a big 7% price reduction of $160,000, bringing the list price to $2,190,000 for a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath, 3190 sf home. Located on the west side of Highway 280 at 23281 Mora Heights Way in Los Altos Hills, it looks like the property backs up to Rancho San Antonio Preserve. Of the 49 homes currently listed for sale in Los Altos Hills, there are only 3 that are cheaper than this property and only one of those is close to comparable at $1,999,995. The size of the property may account for the higher price, but you’ll have to do some investigating to get that info.
Recent Sweet Digs Bay Area Posts:
East Bay Open Houses: Sept 1-2
Review: Online Home Value Tools
Belmont: Slow and Steady
Palo Alto: Bidding War Story
Price Reductions Taking Place on the Mid-Peninsula
Berkeley: Indications of the State of Play
August 30, 2007
FREMONT
Lowest: 5224 Tacoma Cmn. – 2/2 – 1100 SF $445,000 Sat/Sun 1:00-4:00
Mid: 2266 Archer Ave. - 4/4 - 2583 SF $ 769,999 Sun 2:00-5:00
Highest: 41903 Corte Santa Barbara - 3/2 – 2736 SF $ 1,498,888 Sun 2:00-5:00
MILPITAS
Lowest: 152 Surrey Ct. - 2/1 – 873 SF $ 418,888 Sat/Sun 1:00-4:30
Mid: 1628 Quail Dr. - 4/2.5 – 1976 $ 775,000 Sat 2:00-5:00/Sun 1:30-4:30
Highest: 1198 Eagle Ridge Way - 4/3 – 2705 SF $ 1,175,000 Sat/Sun 12:00-4:00
NEWARK
Lowest: 39975 Cedar BLVD #334 - 2/2 – 1071 SF $ 388,800 Sat 1:30-4:30
Mid: 7537 Hazelnut Dr - 3/2 – 1482 SF $ 640,000 Sat/Sun 1:00-4:00
Highest: 8587 Mahogany St. - 4/2.5 – 1722 SF $ 739,950 Sun 1:00-4:00
UNION CITY
Lowest: 106 Donoso Plz. - 2/2 – 880 SF $ 353,000 Sat 1:00-4:00
Mid: 35477 Monterra Cir. - 3/2.5 – 1708 SF $ 599,000 Sun 1:30-4:30
Highest: 32711 Red Maple St. - 4/2.5 – 2693 SF $ 889,000 Sat 2:00-5:00
Real Estate Terminology:
Brownfields - Area where soil is contaminated.
August 30, 2007
Last weekend a Tudor-style four-bedroom home (1276 Dana Ave in Palo Alto, CA), received three solid offers and sold above the listing price of $3,235,000.
I thought I’d use this fresh sale to test the accuracy of several home value estimator websites. Here are the rather surprising results:
Actual Sales Price: Over $3,235,000
Zillow: $2,775,516
Comments: The interface includes a nice image showing sales prices of nearby homes.
Eppraisal: $1,966,161 to $2,660,099
Comments: The delivered price range seems to be too wide to be useful. The site includes a satellite map and table showing comparable houses in town. The entry field for city and state seemed to be very fussy with regards to format. (Don’t forget the comma and don’t enter the city/state AND the zip.)
CyberHomes: $2,426,391
Comments: I liked the aerial photos and clean visual appearance, as well the historical price listings of nearby houses.
Real Estate ABC: $2,831,000
Comments: The search engine didn’t work the first time I tried it, telling me to come back later. It worked the second time around, when I entered the zip, not the city/state. I like their house pointer graphics and the “Recent Sales” table a lot. The one unique feature that this site had was a sliding “market conditions” bar, that significantly improved the estimate for Palo Alto’s hot, hot market.
Conclusions: Overall RealEstateABC (pictured above) had the most accurate price estimate and the best user interface. But with the best estimate being more than $400,000 underpriced, these tools are clearly no replacement for a living, breathing realtor who knows your local market.
PS: I guessed the list price as $3.2M when I first drove by.
August 30, 2007
There were definitely fewer sales during August 6-26 in the Belmont area, only 16 total, but they were split evenly above and below the $1mil mark. Average days on market is 50% of what it was last period, down to an average of 21 days, and 9 of the 16 sold at or above list price, which is good. No big spenders this time around, with the highest property selling for $1,510,000. The rundown:
SALES PRICES
Under $1,000,000: 8
Over $1,000,000: 8
Highest: $1,510,000
Lowest: $730,000
Average: $1,025,688
DAYS ON MARKET
Least: 0
Most: 62
Average: 21
SALES VS LIST PRICE
Low: -8%
High: +17%
Average: +.9%
August 30, 2007
While the real estate markets around us take a breather, Palo Alto buyers are still burdened with multiple offers and crazy bidding wars.
Case in point: Last weekend this Tudor-style four-bedroom home (1276 Dana Ave), received three solid offers and sold above the listing price of $3,235,000.
It continues to amaze me that the real estate bubble in Palo Alto hasn’t at least begun to contract, as it has in many other Bay Area cities.
August 30, 2007
From the San Jose Mercury News real estate blog - the news is in that the supply of homes in California as a relative measure of time to deplete inventory for sale is greater than in the rest of the US as
a whole. On top of this news tidbit, supplied by the National Association of Realtors - California sales of existing inventory are now slower than the rest of the US.
From the blog:
The “supply” figures are measured based on the pace of sales in the previous month or so. In California, it would have taken 10.7 months to sell out the supply of homes on the market in July at the current sales rate, according to C.A.R. (Last year in July the supply was 7.3 months’ worth.) But in the whole U.S. of A., it would have taken a mere 9.6 months to deplete July’s supply of homes on the market. Nationwide, there were about 4.95 million existing homes for sale at the end of June, N.A.R. reported.
Adding to the conundrum that represents our real estate market is a report by the Association of Home Builders that again affirms that California homes are the least affordable in America.
It appears that the old scientific law that everything tends towards equilibrium is at work in our real estate markets - and perhaps prices have just not fallen enough yet to impact inventories. Or perhaps buyers just don’t want to purchase homes while prices are still falling. Similar to the stock market, they are waiting for the bottom to hit before scooping up the best bargains.
August 30, 2007
Looking at 3 weeks of statistics on prices updates can be a bit daunting, but after number crunching time, there are a few surprises. Redwood City leads the pack with 36 reductions, three times that of Belmont or San Carlos. While both Redwood City and San Carlos tied for average reduction percentages, Redwood City had some whopper reductions, 8 of which were in the double digits, and one of which topped at 20%. (Is that one desperate homeowner or was that home horribly overpriced to begin with?) Belmont leads the race in time it takes to reduce a price, while San Carlos seems a bit laid back, almost hesitant to even bother. Of course, given their good records of sales, I am not surprised.
The most deeply discounted homes were:
1817 Hopkins, Redwood City – 3/2, 1440 sf
Original $1,250,000 New $999,000 (-20%)
1103 17th Avenue, Redwood City – 2/2, 1490 sf
Original $1,100,000 New $899,000 (-18%)
57 Fay Avenue, San Carlos – 4/3.5, 3190 sf
Original $1,749,000 New $1,499,000 (-14%)
August 30, 2007
The health of the property market can be determined in many ways. Here are two of them:
The median price for a home in Berkeley is on the way down, as shown in the following table. At the beginning of this year you were looking at spending about $725,000, five months later the price is down to under $700K. More significantly, the general trend, as highlighed by the 90-day orange line, is for lower prices.
Another sign of the times is the gradual increase in the number of days a home for sale is staying on the market, as shown on the table below.
Source: Altos Research.
August 30, 2007
Which is exactly what I wanted to do when I saw this home at 731 Fawn Drive in San Anselmo. Of course the stifling heat with no breeze has something to do with wanting a home with a pool to float around in, but the clean modern lines and interior appointments won me over. Unfortunately it is a bit out of my price range at $2,350,000—but there is some bang for your buck. While it is only a 3/2 on 2209 square feet, it is situated on 1.5 acres atop a knoll with a gorgeous view. You can stare at that view from your large infinity pool, the main house, or the guest house. Both the kitchen and the backyard are perfect for entertaining, and there is no need to heat up the kitchen on a hot evening, as there is a built-in barbecue for that chateaubriand. The whole package reminded me of resort living, something you would see at a high-end hotel in the Caribbean or Mexico, which is what the designer had intended.
Recent Sweet Digs Bay Area Posts:
Santa Cruz Pre-Foreclosure Sale
Mountain View Private Schools
SF: New Listings Under 700k
San Carlos/Belmont: What’s New on the Market
SF and Daly City: For Sale By Owner
Mountain View: Prices Holding Steady
Redwood City: New Listings
August 29, 2007
This three bedroom, one bath home has not one, but two extra living units - perfect for additional income or artists. Located at 1881 16th Avenue at Capitola Road in Santa Cruz, it is close to the beach - yet a quick trip over highway 17 to San Jose.
The bathroom and kitchen are both newly remodeled, and each accessory unit has a separate entrance for privacy. One of the units was recently rented for $850 per month.
The pictures of the 9100 square foot lot look lush and inviting. The Craigslist ad also tells prospective buyers that all offers will be entertained.
