December 30, 2007

Berkeley: New Releases As Well As A Rerun

Not that we need proof that the housing slump is here to stay (one of my esteemed readers predicts Bay Area prices will continue to fall until well into 2009), but here’s another case for the prosecution.

2436 Stuart Street, a 3/2 brown-shingle betwixt Telegraph and College, came on the market in April this year, priced $859,999. (At the time I wrote “single family homes under $900,000 in the Elmwood don’t come on the market very often, so you might want to check [this one] out”. Oh the innocence… It’s back on today, a short sale, priced $667,000. That’s a 22% price plunge in 8 months. Worth noting too that it last sold in October 2005 for $685,000.

Astonishingly, there are a few more new listings to report:

938 San Benito Road in north Berkeley (above) is a smart-looking 3/2 Craftsman with original woodwork, “lovely gardens” and views. Price: $1,150,000.

465 Capricorn Avenue in Montclair looks like a rather nice 2/2 “craftsman-style” home on a large lot (6.840 sq ft) in a wooded setting with an uncompleted studio (check out the whizzbang panoramic photos). Price: $899,000.

2735 Fulton Street looks like a large (13 rooms - 4 bed/3 bath) brown shingle that used to be a duplex. It’s described as being in “Lower Elmwood” which is a new nomenclature to me. Personally I think you need to be east of Telegraph to qualify for Elmwood, but I’m prepared to be challenged on this. Price: $950,000.

December 30, 2007

Oakland Recent Sales

Oakland continues to see homes closing. This past week, a total of 47 homes closed, with homes in the 300k and 400k range taking the largest share of overall sales (10 and 9 respectively) and homes in the 500k, 600k, and 700k ranges each selling equally (6 total per range). For some reason, 0 homes sold in the 900k range and more homes sold over the $1 million mark than homes in the $800k range.

Under 300k: 5

300k range: 10

400k range: 9

500K range: 6

600k range: 6

700k range: 6

800k range: 2

900k range: 0

Over $1 Mil: 3

The Sales:

December 30, 2007

SF and Daly City: Sneaky or Squeaky Clean?

Awhile back, I posted an article about brokers: specifically, your realtor’s broker, and the way that using them both, as a matching set, is not always in your best interests.

Broker referrals from realtors, though certainly not illegal, can be problematic, because, as the New York Times reported in November, 2007:

Mortgage brokers say real estate agents sometimes steer clients to in-house mortgage brokers without making such connections clear, thereby leading inexperienced buyers into costlier loans than they could have found if they had shopped around.

The old “use my broker” line is not the only shady practice in real estate today. I don’t necessarily mean “shady” in terms of underhanded; sometimes the practice is just obscure to sellers and/or buyers. In other words, these people are in the dark when it comes to what their realtors are doing.

Carol Lloyd of The San Franciso Chronicle wrote of a few such “gray areas” this Friday. I’ve picked a few that would be helpful, for all of us, if clarified.

1. My agent says I can get credits back at closing, thereby getting some cash out. Is that kosher or is that mortgage fraud?

“A lot of people don’t understand that banks usually allow up to 3 percent of non-recurring closing costs. If the cash-back deal is concealed from the bank, however, it’s a serious crime. In effect, if you’re borrowing money under false premises and lying to the bank, that’s mortgage fraud.

2. The listing agent informed our agent we can do any inspections we want, but she doesn’t want to hear about them. In turn, our agent told us that it’s our job to pass on any reports to the listing agent. Is that normal?

“If you’re a professional, you don’t do this,” says Lorrie French of Pacific Union GMAC. Even if a home falls out of escrow, inspections become part of the public record and the seller must disclose them to any future buyers. Such disclosure laws may explain why some agents decide to act like real estate ostriches, but it’s not considered an acceptable practice.

3. We hired an inspector who will only give us a verbal appraisal of the property unless we receive written permission from the seller that he can write up his opinions. What’s this about?

Technically, the sales contract already gives written permission to inspect the property. The only kind of sales exempt from inspections are probate sales, so the buyer already has the explicit permission from the seller.

But according to real estate agents I spoke to, inspectors sometimes try this tack when they are afraid their inspection could substantially lower the property’s value and therefore lead the seller to sue the inspector. After all, as long as there is nothing in writing, the inspector is less liable for his opinions. It’s unlikely that sellers will give additional written permission, so the buyer may be tempted to simply hire the inspector for an oral evaluation of the property.

An oral evaluation may help the buyer decide whether or not to buy the property, but, unfortunately, it won’t help in negotiating a new price.  It’s only when you have a written report — which legally must be added to the disclosure packet for future sellers — that most sellers begin to pay attention.

For more (and yes, there are many, many more) such gray areas, take a look at Lloyd’s column in full. And to protect yourself, keep in mind that real estate is an “adversarial business.” Best to know your opponent, and know him well.

December 30, 2007

E-mail List Gives Inside View of Richmond

Do you ever wish you could visit a web site, or belong to an e-mail list, tailored specifically to your neighborhood, where folks would answer your questions about the tastiest Q, best taco truck, most helpful mortgage broker, cheapest and best home repair? Where you could find out whether those popping noises you just heard were gunshots or a car backfiring, and ask if anyone wants to adopt the kittens your cat just had, and hear about the next block party? Some folks are lucky enough to have a site like that, and among them are the participants in Richmond’s North and East News list.

You can’t join unless you live in Richmond’s North and East neighborhood, north of MacDonald to the Richmond/San Pablo border and east of 23rd to San Pablo Avenue. But this list, founded in 2004 by longtime Richmond real estate agent Michael J., with 222 members and 372 posts in December 2007 alone, is a network with panache—and clout.

It’s monitored by such notables as Richmond City Councilmember Tom Butt and Police Chief Chris Magnus (pictured above - Magnus lives in the ‘hood), and both have been known to take action to solve complaints or concerns voiced by residents. Residents can access the discussions either via the Web site or by signing up for the e-mail list. If you don’t have a list like this for your community, you might want to (to paraphrase the Bay Area’s “Scoop” Nisker) make one of your own.

December 30, 2007

The Down Low in Hercules

Prices are dropping in Hercules, and three of these properties come in under the magic $417,000 figure, meaning it will be much easier to qualify for a loan. (Photo of Hercules’ Temple by Petursey on flickr.)

814 Devonwood, Hercules: 2 bedrooms/2 bathrooms, 1,011 sq ft, $299,000. This is an end unit with a fireplace and a garage. End units are especially appealing because one of the drawbacks of condos to me is the proximity to neighbors.

408 Forest Run, Hercules: 2 bedrooms/2 baths, 998 sq ft, $299,900. This condo has a fireplace and a deck and either the real estate agent is a genius at staging or the people who live there have amazing taste. If I were going to move in I’d ask to buy the furniture!

173 Palermo Court, Hercules: 3 bedrooms/2 baths, 1,141 sq ft, $299,900. Hmmmm … sold “as is,” and REO, which as we know spells “foreclosure.” Though the price is right, this is one you’d want to approach with care.

139 Cinnabar Way, Hercules: 5 bedrooms/3 baths, 2,085 sq ft, $510,000. On a quiet street, with a fireplace, this could have potential for a big family.

2003 Central Street, Hercules: 4 bedrooms/3.5 baths, 2,146 sq ft, $499,000. If you can get past the fact that this condo is in a single big square three-story building, this place sounds tres magnifique. The master suite has a soaking tub with jets, granite island and countertops in the kitchen, fireplace, ooh la la!

December 30, 2007

Recent Sales in El Sobrante

If you love the idea of living in the East Bay hills but dread the high-end prices, El Sobrante could be a solution. Its hills have privacy and great views, just as the Berkeley Hills do. El Sobrante has a pretty good location; you can take San Pablo Dam Road to Interstate 80 and whisk off to San Francisco or jump on 24 and motor up to Walnut Creek. But because it’s further north in CoCo County, houses here tend to be cheaper, as these recent sales demonstrate. (Besides, John Kiffmeyer of Green Day came from El Sobrante!)

5820 Hillcrest Road, San Pablo: 3 bedrooms/2 baths, 1,559 sq ft, sold for $418,500 on Oct. 12.

3923 El Monte Road, El Sobrante: 2 bedrooms/1 bath, 805 sq ft, sold for $400,000 on Oct. 10.

4040 Wesley Way, El Sobrante: 3 bedrooms/1 bath, 964 sq ft, sold for $164,000 on Oct. 10.

4441 Wesley Way, El Sobrante: 3 bedrooms/ bath, 1,274 sq ft, sold for $340,000 on Oct. 19.

December 30, 2007

SF: Data Crunching…Carefully

In real estate, Altos Research has quickly emerged as one of the most often relied on and referred to resources for tracking the state of the market.  However, whenever we look at such data, we need to read the fine print, consider the sample pool, and otherwise be critical thinkers. For although Altos Research’s December housing market update offers interesting and valuable information, it cannot tell the whole story for this city.

Perusing the pdf in its entirity, you will see graphs for average DOM, listing inventory, and price reductions among other analyses. These data are gathered from major metropolitan areas, and a brief summary shows us that:

• In SF, the November average DOM in was 83 days on the market. That makes us the third lowest of the 20 cities listed, but it also shows that November DOM was higher than both September and October.
• in SF, the number of listings with at least one price reduction was third highest with an average of 8.6% increase in price reductions over the past three months (we were also third highest in Sept. and Oct.). Yet the median price for homes sold is still among the highest in the country.

Data, like The Bible, can be interpreted any way you like: you could use the above to paint a rosy picture, or you could use it to paint doom.  In whatever way you use Altos Research’s report, however, note that the data are not complete for San Francisco. SFHomeBlog points out:

“the data is [sic] significantly flawed, at least for San Francisco being as they excluded condo and new home inventory.”

Still, although “without condo stats, it’s impossible to get a true picture since that accounts for such a large percentage of the overall housing in our fair city,” the information is “more fuel for market watchers to debate and worthy of keeping an eye on.”

So yes, certainly, especially if you are interested specifically in single-family homes, Altos Research is an excellent resource. And we always like to see how our city performs compared to other major US cities. Just keep in mind that performance is just that: a performance- and each member of the audience will  see it in a different way.

December 30, 2007

Strike A Bargain?

Here are two of today’s ‘most popular’ houses on Redfin in the East Bay. They have both been on Redfin for over a month and because this is really a super slow time of the year to be selling, I would try my best to bargain down if I were going to buy.

2465 Kilkare Rd., Sunol – 2/2 – 1,928 sf $829,990 Single-family house
This is a very nice house in one of my favorite areas for hiking, near Pleasanton Ridge. Sunol is a great little town, very quaint and peaceful. Even though I would rather live on the San Mateo side of the Bay I would consider a house in Sunol or Niles over on the East side of the Bay because I consider both places to be the coolest places in the East Bay Tri-Cities area.

1315 Daniel Ct., Milpitas – 2/2.5 – 1223 sf $535,000 Townhouse
This is located in a nice area of Milpitas — far away from the dump where the smell in summertime is pretty darn offensive.

December 30, 2007

Mid-Peninsula Sales Report: Some Surprises

Well, predictably, the reported sales between December 17th and 23rd were a bit sluggish. There were 13 in total: 9 in Redwood City, 3 in San Carlos and 1 in Belmont. The surprises were in the time the homes spent on the market and their sales prices (compared to list). The average days on market was 21.6 days, which is pretty remarkable given current conditions. More surprisingly is that the average sales price was only -.46% less than asking. That is less than a half of a percent. So some sellers out there are being very wise and offering up their homes at realistic prices.

The statistics:

Days on Market
High 63
Low 6
Average 21.6

Sales Vs. List Price
High +5%
Low -5%
Average -.46%

Price
Over $1,000,000 6
Under $1,000,000 7

The details are after the jump.
Read the rest of this entry »

December 28, 2007

Marin Gets a Green Trophy

With Mt. Tam presiding in the background, whales gliding along the shores of Pt. Reyes and all around natural beauty - no surprise that Marin County has been acting green for decades.

More recently, the county put their attitudes to actions - by incorporating a Sustainability Team within the County’s Community Development Agency’s Planning Department.  In 1999, when dot com was more the catch phrase and long before “green” became mainstream, this group was created “… to work with others to develop policies and programs that will help make the County of Marin healthy, vibrant and sustainable for many generations into the future.

The MarinIJ reports that the efforts of the Sustainability Team have recently been given the approving nod by the American Planning Association.  Called to the podium, Marin is receiving their 2008 National Planning Excellence Award for Implementation.

With initiatives in place, such as encouraging more green buildings, developing a program to encourage local Marin businesses to go green, resources on local organic farms and developing strategies with an aim at becoming fossil free, the Sustainability Team has many programs and projects that promote and encourage a more ecological and sustainable Marin way of life.

While all good - one can’t help but notice - as one Marin resident pointed out in the MarinIJ article, that, “… the county’s new “green” plan drew criticism for eliminating or reducing the potential of proposed affordable housing sites in favor of protecting more open space from development.”  As we know that the Marin median price hovers around the million dollar mark, some local workers - such as school teachers and county employees - who can’t afford the nearly seven figure home will have to commute longer.  And thus, more pollution spewing out of the pipes.  Guess you can’t have your cake and eat it too.  Or can you?