Archive for October, 2007
October 30, 2007
Cruising around the roads of Marin County, it’s very apparent that signs are in every Marin town telling us to “Get Ready.” From yellow flags flapping from street lights to a 6 x 6 yellow poster displayed at the local firestation, the print on them is simple: www.getreadymarin.org
Having grown up in San Diego, I have family and friends who were fortunate to be have weathered the armageddon fires of this week and friends who pretty much lost everything. With the flags and banners of this Get Ready campaign being staked out on every corner of Marin, the message is more relevant than ever.
The focus of this campaign is to encourage Marin residents to take part in a 2 hour disaster preparedness class, which is modeled after a successful program in Tiburon last year, where over 30% of its residents participated. The site has a links to classes offered all over Marin cities. As they are free, it is worth 2 hours to educate yourself on how to get you and your family up to speed on what to do when the world seems to be coming to an end.
The www.getreadymarin.org site also has a couple of great home supply and car supply checklists. One quick side note - this is one of the first ever county wide campaigns I have seen - and looking at how well all the various fire and safety districts banded together, deserves a round of applause. Way to go Marin County! With fires still burning in San Diego, let’s all get prepared and hope that by being prepared, we will never need to put this 2 hour workshop to use.
October 29, 2007
Off of our Daily Stats board over the weekend, this Oakland home has a rags-to-riches and back to rags tale to tell. A little over 10 years ago, the home sold for $91,354 in 1996. Five years later the home catapulted to over twice it’s 1996 price and sold for $210,000 in 2001. Another five years passed and the home continued to climb astronomically. At the height of the buying frenzy, it sold for $570,000 in February 2006. However by the end of the year, the home plummeted to $396,000, a very short sale. Fast forward October 2007. The home has taken another drastic dive and been reduced to 50% of it’s last sale for a current price point of $199,900. Located north of downtown Oakland, not quite north enough to be in the Temescal area, or even Pill Hill, but not quite west enough to be in West Oakland, the home is in a kind of no-man’s-land near MacArthur Bart station. So, location is not great, it’s only a 2 bedroom, has fairly small square footage and from the photos, does not look to be in great condition. How could this home have sold for what it did? Certainly no investor would have bought it for this much, as at its high price it could never recapture its monthly mortgage through rent nor would it have been a good candidate for a flip. I’m guessing it was likely sold to a first-time home buyer who had no idea about home values or resale potential. And now it’s being foreclosed. As a first time home-buyer who bought in November of last year, my heart really goes out to this seller.
700 W MacArthur Blvd. $199,900 2Bd/1.5Ba 994 sq.ft. 24 DOM
October 29, 2007
I feel I have been silent for long enough now. I need to share my opinion of the photos (and lack thereof) that accompany house listings. It is actually driving me crazy. First off, when I am looking for a house to check out, if there is not at least one picture of it, I skip it. The “no photo available” thing drives me mad. How hard is it to take a snapshot of a place? I love looking at pictures of various homes.
And I really don’t understand how everyone makes a big deal out of ‘staging’ and ‘curb-appeal’ but then take very unflattering pictures of a house. I’m sorry, but all the staging and curb-appeal in the world will be lost if the photos are unflattering. When I see a close up picture of an ordinary ceiling fixture, or a close-up photo of just the house number, I am totally baffled. And don’t get me started on those bubble-like lenses that make the walls and floors look like they are in an amusement park fun-house. After looking at a few unattractive photos of houses, when I do see a nice presentation of photo(s), staging, and curb-appeal I feel like buying the place, even when I’m not in the market to buy. An example of a what I think is a well-presented listing.
REAL ESTATE TERMINOLOGY:
Concurrent Ownership - Any form of ownership in which two or more people share title to a piece of property, holding undivided interests. Also called co-tenancy.
October 29, 2007
I was listening to the Fox Business News channel with Alexis Glick talking about the Real Estate crisis. She brought up some interesting points:
- There are rumors that the interest rates are going to be lowered by ¼ to about 4.5%.
- Homes sales are down but prices are up.
- Are lower mortgages the right thing to do with a weakening US dollar especially when inflation – gas, groceries, etc. are still are the rise?
- Is the Media fanning flames on the housing problems?
- Housing prices have risen at record levels over last 10 years.
- Now that ARM teaser rates are expiring should there be refinancing of these loans or should prices be brought down?
- It is really a buyer’s market, especially with the building of more housing (i.e., proposed housing in Fremont by the new baseball stadium being built)?
- It is tempting to buy up the ‘low’ priced housing with plans to turn it around but that isn’t really as simple as it seems.
Read over her report. I found it very interesting and though-provoking. I’d like to hear some of your opinions on these subjects.
REAL ESTATE TERMINOLOGY:
Concurrent Escrow - A real estate transaction procedure in which the closing of one escrow is dependent upon the closing of another one; also called a double escrow; commonly used in exchanges and in instances where the buyer depends on funds he expects to get from the sale of another property.
October 29, 2007
Lots more bad news in real estate today makes being smart about selling and buying more important than ever. Get yourself in the know with any of these seminars- most, if not all of which, are free.
Monday
First-Time Home-Buyer Seminar:
Sponsored by Whitney Davis of Zephyr Real Estate and Tina Leonardi of Guarantee Mortgage, 6-7:30 p.m., Opera Plaza, 601 Van Ness Ave., Suite P, San Francisco, free, reservation required, (415) 533-3990.
Thursday
Real Estate Seminar:
6:30-9 p.m, Crowne Plaza, 480 Sutter St., San Francisco, free, reservation required, (415) 621-2000, Ext. 222.
First-Time Home-Buyer Seminar:
Presented by Princeton Capital and Coldwell Banker, 6:30-8 p.m., 1295 El Camino Real, Menlo Park, free, reservation recommended, (650) 566-5268.
Saturday
Home-Buyer Seminar:
Hosted by Eric Berggren of Intero Real Estate and Adam O’Donnell of Guarantee Mortgage, 10-11:30 a.m., 1528 S. El Camino Real, Suite 307, San Mateo, free, reservation required, (650) 931-0645.
Home-Buyer and Home-Seller Seminar:
Led by Suzanne Frank of Zephyr Real Estate, 10 a.m.-noon, 4040 24th St., San Francisco, free, reservation required, (415) 695-8805, Ext. 281.
Real Estate Investment Seminar:
Hosted by Keller Williams Realty, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., 1500 Franklin St., San Francisco, free, reservation required, (415) 202-9900.
source: sfgate.com
October 29, 2007
Foreclosures rose to their highest levels statewide in 20 years, and East Bay default levels were high, with 3,216 Contra Costa County households getting the dreaded default notices in their mailboxes in this year’s third quarter, a real estate information service reported Friday.
A default notice is the first step in the foreclosure process. Such notices were up 217.8 percent in Contra Costa County compared with the same period last year - a huge jump. In comparison, Alameda County saw a 164.8 percent increase, DataQuick reported.
CoCo County, as residents affectionately call it, is where Antioch, seemingly the foreclosure capital of the Bay Area, is located, and also has a lot of affordable housing and the kind of people who take out subprime loans, which is to say, poor people. These are the folks who are suffering and often defaulting as their adjustable-rate loan payments go up.
Alameda County has affluent Berkeley, Albany and Kensington, not to mention Oakland and Fremont, among other towns.
With these kinds of numbers, it’s unlikely CoCo County will be recovering anytime soon. This means long-suffering East Bay buyers can expect some great bargains, if you’re careful and do your homework. (See Sue Herz’ post on buying a foreclosed property. This is one of those things that often sounds better than it lives, as they say.)
Regardless, all these elements will contribute to lower home prices and opportunities for Bay Area buyers who have long struggled to break into the housing market. It’s that silver lining thing. Let’s hope the lenders show some mercy on their subprime clients and figure out how to avoid more foreclosures.
October 29, 2007
A ribbon-cutting for the restored, century-old Trainmaster’s Building in Point Richmond, which will serve as the Point Richmond Office of The Mechanics Bank, is taking place today, Monday.
The landmark, which was almost demolished before a group of local residents intervened, was originally a reading room for employees of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad (now there’s a name that rolls off the tongue!)
The Mechanics Bank has moved its Point Richmond Office into the extensively renovated Trainmasters Building, ensuring the century-old building’s preservation and guaranteeing a steady stream of community income for the nonprofit Point Richmond Gateway Foundation which holds the building title.
A coalition of local residents worked for more than 15 years to save the building from the wrecker’s ball. Through their efforts and with an investment of nearly $1 million from The Mechanics Bank to help pay for renovation, it now stands as a reminder of Richmond’s historic role as a center of commerce and industry. Wahoo! Go Richmond! Go preservationists! (Photos courtesy of Richmond Councilmember and preservationist Tom Butt.)
October 29, 2007
Our mansion of the day is a modern masterpiece built for a growing family or the entertaining entrepreneur (or maybe both in one!). Built in 2005, this three-story, seven bedroom, eight bath home is located on three-quarters of an acre on Rockingham Court near the Leona Regional Open Space Park. And the street name is apt, as this house is rockin’. For $6,388,000 you get a glass-and-steel structure with killer views, home theater, in-law quarters, au pair area, sport court, and everything else for an active lifestyle. Set atop a hill, it is an impressive structure from any angle, and I am sure the interior photos do not do it justice.
Recently reduced in price, our shack today has been on the market for 60+ days and is currently listed at $450,0000. Located at 1121 Magnolia Street, 4 blocks off Mandela Parkway and in between Wade Johnson and Lowell parks, I think this house has some potential. The exterior has peeling paint and the garage appears to have been haphazardly planted in front of the main house, but this 1908 Victorian has charm and character. Someone with vision could bring this back to life and original glory. A 3 bedroom, 1 bath two-story, it sits on a slightly substandard lot of 3484 sf, which is somewhat typical of the neighborhood. Zillow shows homes in the immediate vicinity ranging from $419,000 to $777,000. The listing agent has conveniently left off interior photos and a description, so much like a Cracker Jack box, I am not sure what is inside: A sparkly ring or a poorly made plastic figurine.
Recent Bay Area Sweet Digs Posts:
Should You Sell, or Wait?
Berkeley: Price Reductions In Key Spots Mean Just One Thing
SF: Escape City Life in Pine Lake Park
How You Can Reduce Home Fire Danger
Grand View Drive: Is There Something They’re Not Telling Us?
Mid-Pen New Listings: October 15-21
Survey Says…. 2009? 2010?
Get Hip In Happening Emeryville
October 29, 2007
The question looming over many homeowners now, with the recent housing bubble crash is this: Should they sell now, or wait to see if the market recovers next year?
Although there are some positive signs in the Bay Area such as the emergence of Biotech and the upswing of technology companies - there are increasing signs that indicate that we are no where near the bottom yet.
Foreclosures continue to increase, and everywhere you look, you see For Sale signs marked as “Recently Reduced”.
The Bay Area has been fortunate over the last 10-15 years, but if you look at other markets and how they fared after the crash, values could continue to plummet and may take many years to recover.
From a recent Chicago Tribune article, the LA market peaked in 1990 and then dropped due to changes in the defense and technology industries. Homeowners who bought at the peak in 1990 had to wait 10 years to recoup their investment.
Boston had a similar story - and home-buyers in Houston had to wait 15 years before the market again turned.
Will this happen in the Bay Area? I have been optimistic in the past about our market, but now I see that my optimism may have been born of blind faith. I don’t think we will see a decade go by before our market perks up, but I no longer think it will just be one year.
If you want to get a decent price before prices sink further - I say sell now!
October 29, 2007
Definitely more price cuts to report today than usual — all jolly good news for buyers.
It’s the location of some of these homes that suggests to me that things have finally started to slow down at the higher end of the market in Berkeley. In more buoyant times, homes would definitely not be lingering and enduring price cuts on Woolsey Street, Wildcat Canyon Road or Spruce Street.
The time might be right to pounce, folks.
1142 Woodside Road: 3/2 contemporary in Berkeley hills — down to $749,000.
1527 Grant Street: updated 3/2 bungalow — reduced by $103,000 to $799,000.
1010 Wildcat Canyon Road: 3/2 rustic, one-level house overlooking Tilden Park — down to $789,000.
545 Panoramic Way: 2+/2 “tree house” with luxury master suite (above) — reduced to $849,000. (My pick of the day — just check out that bath tub and that Craftsman meets Modernist vibe.)
734 Cragmont Avenue: 3+/2 Mediterranean with views and artist’s studio has its second price cut from $1,095,000 to $1,070,000.
2808 Woolsey Street — this 3/2.5 traditional with cottage only went on the market in mid-September, but it has already been reduced from $1,3750,000 to $1,250,000.
144 Bret Harte Road: a 3++/3 1930 Reimers craftsman with bay views which came on the market for the first time in 30 years — down from $1,399,000 to $1,300,000.
1097 Creston Road — 5/3.5 with Bay views and chef’s kitchen — down from $2,800,000 to $2,695,000.
770 Spruce Street: a “large” home with views in North Berkeley — cut from $1,170,000 to $1,095,000.
