Archive for May, 2008
May 31, 2008
The housing market in Marin seems still uncertain. Some properties go quickly, some properties languish a bit. To turn some heads and garner some interest, more are dropping their price in this climate. Take a look at some recent pretty good price reductions all around Marin:
44 Estrada Ln, Corte Madera - 4 beds, 2 baths - $1,069,000: The third price reduction has brought this home down a total of $100,000 - just about a 10% price reduction. A large home on the Paradise side of Corte Madera.
215 Orris Ter, San Rafael - 3 beds, 2 baths - $619,000: Just over $80,000 has been taken off the original asking price. In the Las Gallinas/ Terra Linda area of north San Rafael.
1408 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, San Anselmo - 3 beds, 2 baths - $799,000: A $100,000 slash is hoping to bring more potential buyers to take a look at this San Anselmo home. On busy SFD, which may be the big distractor.
1190 Cambridge St, Novato - 3 beds, 2 baths - $500,000: A short sale in Novato hoping that $95,000 off its original ask of $595,000 will turn heads. That’s about a 15% price drop. Could use some updating but on a good sized lot with potential.
4 Corte Almaden, San Rafael - 4 beds, 3 baths - $699,000: A fixer upper in Las Gallinas for $368 per square foot, which is a fairly good value. Not to mention that over 10,000 square foot lot. Price dropped just over $150,000 since it first listed in March for $850,000. Listing notes seller is very motivated.
May 31, 2008
The Department of Justice (DOJ) and National Association of Realtors (NAR) settled an ongoing dispute Tuesday over competition and usage of the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). This can only be viewed as positive news for online discount brokers such as Redfin and ZipRealty.
The DOJ says this “levels the playing field” by providing these discount brokers with full access to the long coveted MLS, and that eventually hefty sales commissions will come down.
The NAR claims it is a “win-win” for the industry overall and also noted that they admit to no wrongdoing or paid any fines or damages related to this settlement. General counsel Laurie Janik stated:
“The settlement would have no real impact on home buyers or sellers. I don’t think they’ll see anything different. This lawsuit never had anything to do with commission rates, or discount brokerages. This was a five-year education of the Department of Justice, unfortunately, and the real estate industry had to pay for that education.”
Norman Hawker, a business professor at Western Michigan University, predicts that sales commissions will ultimately be reduced by 25 to 50% as a result of this settlement.
Wouldn’t that be nice.
May 30, 2008
In a recent Marin IJ article 
, a real estate instructor for the College of Marin noted that if the housing market in Marin hasn’t bottomed out yet, it’s very close.
The article recaps the Marin sales activity and stats for April. While overall sales are down a whopping 31% in April versus the prior year, it has been noted that homes are changing hands among buyers, and it’s picked up over the last few months.
In April, only 165 single family homes were sold. Compared to April of 2007, where 265 homes were sold, the number looks pretty paltry. However, it is a modest improvement from last month. March saw 110 homes go from seller to buyer.
In Marin, the foreclosure activity isn’t as high as other bay area locales. In Marin, only 9 percent of sales activity were due to foreclosures, meanwhile that number was 26 percent for the general Bay Area market.
So, are the stats telling us it’s time to jump back in?
May 30, 2008
I lived in Santa Cruz (right by the epicenter) when the Loma Prieta Earthquake hit in 1989. The experience was terrifying, yet I’ve ended up settling in San Francisco, a city we all know is constantly threatened by a large quake. We just don’t know when that threat will actually be realized. Science Daily projected, however, that “California has more than a 99% chance of having a magnitude 6.7 or larger earthquake within the next 30 years.”
Still, sometimes it seems San Franciscans ignore this reality, perhaps because they feel there is nothing they can do to stop it. And there isn’t, of course, but we can be prepared. I admit feely that I am not: I constantly run through my “earthquake stock” of canned food and bottled water before I buy more. We used our last battery pack to juice an old school ghetto blaster for a party in the park, and I’ve yet to buy new ones. If the big one hit today, I’d have to survive–in the dark– on one can of tuna and the beets I bought specifically because I knew no one in the house would ever open them.
Our mayor, Gavin Newsom, has a plan to get us ready for the quake– and this plan can’t be quite as easily ignored. Curbed SF reports:
His new plan requires homeowners, especially those with “soft-story” buildings (those with garages on the first level), to retrofit their buildings with seismic upgrades. At their own expense.
Now, I am not a homeowner yet, because of the expense of homeowning in this city. I wonder how much forced retrofitting would add to the price tag? I realize such an action is important, especially in vulnerable neighborhoods like the Sunset and the Marina, and with earthquake insurance being hard to get and prohibitively expensive itself.
But can a city actually compell already cash-strapped homeowners to retrofit their homes? Some residents, as Curbed quotes, don’t think so. “Resident Shawna McGrew best sums up the local attitude, “It’s my home; it’s my home to lose.”
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Loma Prieta quake photo: A car crushed by the third floor of a collapsed apartment building. Photo by J.K. Nagata, USGS, appearing on Wikipedia.
May 30, 2008
I had every intention of focusing only on the Heather Farms Art & Wine Festival in Walnut Creek. I have been neglecting that part of the Bay Area and wanted to make amends, but there were no open houses that I could find in Walnut Creek to pair up with this festival; not on Redfin and not on Movoto. W
hat’s up with homeowners over in that neck of the woods? A whole city and not one open house? They must be all be heading to the festival to check out the local wines and micro brews, music, art and crafts, and great food.
Across the San Mateo Bridge is the 37th Annual Art & Wine Festival in Foster City. Starting on Friday night with a carnival and midway rides, the fun continues on Saturday and Sunday with art and craft exhibits and vendors, two stages with live entertainment, some great food, and local boutique wineries. Held at Leo Ryan Park (corner of Shell and Hillsdale Blvd), there will be fun for the whole family. Plan on spending a few hours and then heading out to look at a few open houses (listed below).
170 Trimaran Ct - 3 Beds, 2 Baths, 2030 SF, $1,139,000 Open: Sun 2:00 – 5:00
527 Trinidad Ln - 2 Beds, 2&1/2 Baths, 2370 SF, $1,375,000 Open: Sun 1:00 - 4:00
813 Vega Circle - 4 Beds, 2&1/2 Baths, 2620 SF, $1,299,000 Open: Sun 1:30 - 4:30
229 Stilt Ct - 3 Beds, 2 Baths, 1700 SF, $968,888 Open: Sun 3:00 - 4:00
1061 Beach Park Blvd #110 - 2 Beds, 2 Baths, 1349 SF, $538,888 Open: Sun 2:00 – 4:00
777 Vespucci Ln - 3 Beds, 2&1/2 Baths, 1600 SF, $749,000 Open: Sun 1:30 - 4:30
1061 Beach Park Blvd #00204 - 2 Beds, 2 Baths, 1349 SF, $545,000 Open: Sun 1:00 - 4:00
And last, but not least is Saturday’s 12th Annual Chocolate & Chalk Art Festival in Berkeley. Held along North Shattuck Avenue in the Gourmet Ghetto, you will witness some amazing chalk art and feast on all things chocolate, from brownies, chocolate pizza, chocolate fried wontons, spicy mole burritos, and chocolate covered bugs, among other delicacies. If you’re feeling particularly artsy, you can join in and participate, covering a portion of the sidewalk with your own unique chalk art. You’ll also have the chance to wander amongst the stalls of chocolate related items and handmade crafts, located in the farmers’ market area. Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm.
Recent Sweet Digs Posts:
Has the Tide Turned? Mid-Pen Sales Improving
Slim Pickings: Recent Mill Valley Listings for Under $1 Million
Treachery And Murder: Keeping Us All Up To Speed
Taking the Plunge: First-Time Homebuyer Programs
What’s New in Sunnyvale?
May 30, 2008
Maybe it is just a glitch, a momentary upturn, but lo and behold, looking at the sold stats from last week (May 19-25) showed 28 sales, with 15 of those being at or above list price. Now, we’re not talking double digits here, at least not on the overbids, but the fact that over 50% of the homes sold did not go under list, and did so in 4 to 32 days, indicates that sellers are pricing their homes to sell (finally), and buyers are taking advantage of that.
The 28 properties are broken out into 18 in Redwood City, 7 in San Carlos, and 3 in Belmont. On the low end, we have a $350,000 home on the east side of Redwood City to a $2,000,000 home in Emerald Hills. The majority of the homes, 23 or 82%, only lasted on the market between 4 and 41 days. Those that lasted longer—from 54 to 324 days—were the ones that had the biggest discounts (from 10.1% to 21.5%). Overall the sales vs. list price averaged -2.79%, which isn’t as good as this time last year, but beats the heck out the last few months.
I’ve listed all 28 sales, by city, starting with the least expensive property.
Redwood City
133 Broadway Street, 2/1, 810 sf, DOM: 7 List Price $329,900 Sold for $350,000 (+6.3%)
114 Columbia Avenue, 2/1, 890 sf, DOM: 16 List Price 379,000 Sold for $379,000 (-0-)
171 Buckingham Avenue, 3/2, 1210 sf, DOM: 28 List Price $389,900 Sold for $392,000 (+.7%)
2009 Madison Avenue, 2/1, 780 sf, DOM: 82 List Price $579,950 Sold for $500,000 (-13.8%)
218 D Street, 2/1, 840 sf, DOM: 7 List Price $629,950 Sold for $615,000 (-2.4%)
1918 Jefferson Avenue, 3/1, 1210 sf, DOM: 7 List Price $649,000 Sold for $649,000 (-0-)
130 Nimitz Avenue, 3/2, 1230 sf, DOM: 18 List Price $ 699,000 Sold for $699,000 (-0-)
552 Nimitz Avenue, 3/1, 920 sf, DOM: 21 List Price $725,000 Sold for $725,000 (-0-)
2711 Carson Street, 3/2, 1050 sf, DOM: 32 List Price $775,000 Sold for $805,000 (+3.8%)
190 Opal Avenue, 2/1, 1210 sf, DOM: 11 List Price $850,000 Sold for $850,000 (-0-)
2034 Oregon Avenue, 3/1.5, 1350 sf, DOM: 9 List Price $848,000 Sold for $865,000 (+2%)
324 Alexander Avenue, 3/2, 1494 sf, DOM: 39 List Price $932,000 Sold for $915,000 (-1.9%)
870 Bayview Way, 3/2.5, 1630 sf, DOM: 83 List Price $1,160,000 Sold for $977,000 (-15.8%)
1257 Westwood Street, 3/2.5, 1900 sf, DOM: 34 List Price $1,250,000 Sold for $1,175,000 (-6%)
3531 Highland Avenue, 4/3, 2400 sf, DOM: 54 List Price $1,389,000 Sold for $1,250,000 (-10.1%)
40 Capper Court, 3/2.5, 2350 sf, DOM: 5 List Price $1,398,000 Sold for $1,435,000 (+2.6%)
30 Palomar Oaks Lane, 5/4+, 4144 sf, DOM: 106 List Price $2,195,000 Sold for $1,800,000 (-18%)
214 Sylvan Way, 5/4+, 4370 sf, DOM: 30 List Price $2,199,999 Sold for $2,000,000 (-9.1%)
San Carlos
1125 Walnut Street, 2/1, 1030 sf, DOM: 39 List Price $825,000 Sold for $815,000 (-1.3%)
108 Ruby Avenue, 2/1, 1210 sf, DOM: 6 List Price $849,950 Sold for $912,000 (+7.3%)
812 Cordilleras Avenue, 2/1, 1020 sf, DOM: 4 List Price $899,950 Sold for $925,000 (+2.7%)
119 Brook Street, 3/1.5, 1290 sf, DOM: 8 List Price $929,000 Sold for $930,000 (+.1%)
521 Vista Avenue, 3/2, 2406 sf, DOM: 18 List Price $1,299,000 Sold for $1,275,000 (-1.9%)
325 Pearl Avenue, 4/3, 2188 sf, DOM: 28 List Price $1,298,000 Sold for $1,298,000 (-0-)
385 Devonshire Boulevard, 3/3, 2660 sf, DOM: 324 List Price $1,750,000 Sold for $1,375,000 (-21.5%)
Belmont
2911 San Juan Boulevard, 4/4+, 2000 sf, DOM: 41 List Price $1,050,000 Sold for $988,000 (-6%)
1607 Belburn Drive, 4/3, 2050 sf, DOM: 19 List Price $1,190,000 Sold for $1,125,000 (-5.5%)
1303 Notre Dame Avenue, 3/2, 1635 sf, DOM: 7 List Price $1,049,000 Sold for $1,151,000 (+9.6%)
May 29, 2008
Mill Valley is quintessential Marin County. With it’s prime location close enough to the city, a hop skip and jump to the trails fo Mt. Tam and Muir Woods and a small town community vibe, it’s no surprise that Mill Valley single family homes average more than $1 million a pop.
So when I see homes going for under the one million mark, I always be sure to look twice. While they may come with some required sweat equity to be put in, it’s the location, location, location of Mill Valley that may be the main ingredient to consider.
As usual, the offerings are slim, but here’s are the most recent properties to hit the market:
416 Ethel Ave - 2 beds, 1 bath - $825,000: If you don’t mind steps, this home will offer you a great reward. Incredible views and a 1500 square foot deck for entertaining outdoors (once you get up there). The deck is bigger than the 1200 square foot house. But, a good central Mill Valley location.
16 Saint Jude Rd - 2 beds, 2 bath - $890,000: Off of Panoramic Highway, this home boasts amazing Mt. Tam views from every vantage point. If you don’t mind the drive on Panoramic (the views are worth it), this home comes with expanision plans to turn it into a larger 4 bedroom, 3 bath.
390 Eldridge Ave - 2 beds, 1 bath - $725,000: Hmmm… this is an interesting one. No pics and as the listing notes, maybe because it “…shows poorly.” Nice desirable Blithedale Canyon area, but you really got to love the location. As you will need some imagination. Maybe worth taking a look.
May 29, 2008
Thank you reader Optionarm for identifying the UC Berkeley President’s usual residence as Blake House in Kensington (pictured below in 1928).
In another update on a previous post, it is not my pleasure to note the sixth murder of the year in our fair city.
[Pic credit: www-laep.ced.berkeley.edu/laep/blakegarden/history]
May 29, 2008
Everytime I go to a social gathering these days (from BBQ’s to weddings to birthdays) two life-changing events keep popping up: having babies and buying a home. Sure, having kids and nesting into a home are nothing new under the sun, but in the Bay Area with home prices and cost of living the way they are, I find that both events take on a new significance, e.g. “Wow, you can afford to have a baby/buy a house in the Bay Area?” But now that the market is easing up, I’m hearing more and more couples (and single folks) talking about undertaking two of the possibly biggest steps of their lives and often in quick succession.
Enter: first-time homebuyer programs. As prices come down, they’re becoming all the rage for newbie homeowners, especially those who never thought they could own and/or will be newbie parents looking to nest. Although these programs have been around for awhile, they didn’t make as much sense when the market was booming since the stringent ceilings on income were incompatible with the actual market prices of homes (e.g. very low incomes qualified for many programs yet these same incomes could not afford the bubble’s mortgages).
Programs are generally available in every city and interestingly can be combined. For example, you could get a loan through Acorn Housing (a national non-profit), pay below-market APR, pay no mortgage insurance and then get down-payment assistance through CalHFA (a state program) or your city’s program (for example, Oakland has a down payment assistance program which pays either $10,000 or 6% of the purchase price, whichever is greater). Each program has its own income and family size requirements so you will need to do your research. Ideally, you should attend a workshop held by your city, a lender, or one of the many non-profits dedicated to housing counseling. Not only will these types of workshops give you information about each program, they should be able to refer you to knowledgeable loan officers at eligible lenders.
Here is a sampling of some of the programs available:
Acorn Housing This is a non-profit with service offices across the country. They provide home-buying counseling and workshops as well as special loans to those who qualify. Highlights: below-market APRs, no mortgage insurance, lower down payments and closing costs.
CalHFA A state agency, CalHFA provides mortgage products, down payment assistance, and special programs for those who are buying in areas needing revitalization, as well as unique programs for teachers and individuals with disabilities.
Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America A national non-profit, this organization’s tagline touts “America’s Best Mortgage Program”, and it just may be since it requires no down payment, charges no closing costs or fees, has below-market mortgage rates and has “no requirement for perfect credit”. While there is no income limit (very interesting!) there are maximum purchase prices.
Oakland The Town offers both a Mortgage Assistance Program (a $75,000 loan with no payments due until the home is sold again) as well as down payment assistance ($10,000 or 6% of the purchase price, whichever is greater).
City of Alameda Loans from $50,000 to $80,000 available to use as down payment or towards closing costs.
Emeryville Provides down payment assistance for both regular properties as well as “Below-Market-Rate” properties. Special assistance for City of Emeryville employees as well as teachers.
Dublin Loans available for up to 10% of the purchase price (15% for Below-Market-Rate units). Those who live or work in Dublin have priority as well as individuals with disabilities, seniors, or people needing to relocate due to housing demolition or condo conversion.
Pleasanton Pleasanton’s program consists mainly of Below-Market-Rate units. They had a down payment assistance program but funds were not available as of February 1st, 2008. However, the website states to “check back periodically” as the status may change.
Livermore Provides loans up to $30,000 for low and moderate income borrowers.
May 29, 2008
Sunnyvale has two brand new listings - one is a fixer-upper without a kitchen (details!) that can be gutted and turned into something nice. Located at 302 W EAGLEWOOD Ave Sunnyvale, CA 94085, the selling price is $479,000. It does have 3 beds and 1 1/2 baths, and you could bring your camp stove until the kitchen was restored to usefulness. It is located off Borregas and Duane, which is a well-established neighborhood with easy 101 access if you are a commuter.
It does appear to be an Eichler - and the outside looks like it needs some work. The listing says that it is sold strictly as is. But if you are looking for a flipper at a good price, it is hard to find anything in Sunnyvale for less than $700K, even in this market.
The second new listing is located at 821 Goldenrod Ct, Sunnyvale, CA 94086, and is a beautiful 5 bedroom two-story with 3 full baths and 2231 square feet of living space. Located in a nicer neighborhood off Gail Avenue, the price of $1,138,888 reflects its location and is more typical of a Sunnyvale home.
Goldenrod Court is a cul-de-sac, and this home sits at the end - giving it a nice triangle-shaped 8K plus square foot lot. The kitchen appears to be newly remodeled, with gleaming stainless steel appliances and new cabinetry. The only thing this home is missing is a swimming pool!
Other comparable properties in Sunnyvale not-so-new on the market include:
1650 Meadowlark Lane - 4 beds, 2 1/2 baths for $1,099,999
850 San Mateo Court - 5 beds, 2 baths for $679,000 but located in the less prestigious Lakewood Villages area near highway 237
1205 Heatherstone Way - 4 beds, 2 baths for $928,000 and located in the nice Cherry Chase neighborhood and zoned for Homestead High.
