Archive for June, 2008
June 30, 2008
You thought it was hard to get a loan even if you had perfect credit? Well, how would you feel if you already had a line of credit to suddenly find that it is frozen?
That is what seems to be the latest step in the credit crunch that is now affecting homeowners. And not just newly minted homeowners who may only have little equity in their home, given recent market declines. As reported in the Wall Street Journal today, banks are taking this new move to protect themselves in light of the declining housing market. Fearful that they are lending out more than the collateral is worth, banks are pulling back on the easy credit they doled out a few years back.
Homeowners in the midst of drawing upon their home equity line of credit find themselves without any credit and no cash to pay for those purchases they had planned. So, if you are a homeowner and planning to draw upon some funds, check first to see that your line hasn’t been reduced. And if you are a potential homebuyer, just another indication that credit is no longer so easy to come by. What will be next?
June 30, 2008
An interesting blog and subsequent debate over at The Front Steps caught my eye today, not in small part due to the title: “That Dog Should be Taco.” But this is not, in fact, a treatise on dog names nor a macabre recipe. In fact, it is a blog posing a rather existential real estate sales question: to disclose or not to disclose; or: I disclose, therefore I am …. but am what? Stupid? Shooting myself, or my neighbor, in the foot?
Because the blog warns as follows:
If you own a unit in a condominium and happen to pass by when potential buyers are milling around enjoying the garden setting in the common area, and marveling at how quiet it is, do not come by and say, “Just wait for the parties from that blond girl (nodding head toward unit directly next door). And that dog (blond girl’s pet), oh!………..that dog should be taco.” …..If anything, it is the worst thing you could do, because if the sale doesn’t go through based on what you just said, …..you just might have caused a longer listing period and subsequent price reductions, which could, in theory, lower the price of your own personal unit when it comes time for you to sell…[insert choice explicative here]!
But really? How many people would turn from a sale based on finding out a neighbor is noisy or has a dog better fit for eating than patting on the head? I live in a nice enough neighborhood on 9th, but if my landlord had told me that one of the couples living next door have horrible, thrown down yer beer can, Jerry Springer brawls (they do!), would I have reconsidered living here? Not a chance: Would I do any better anywhere else? Have you seen the rental market in SF? I was lucky to get this place. Noisy neighbors become free entertainment after a while. We have parties and place bets on who will be the first to slur his/her sentence beyond recognition, or who will be first to drop an f* bomb that can be heard for 6 city blocks.
Okay, but the Front Steps addresses an own situation, not a rent one. Big diff. If anything, it’s harder still to own than to rent, so if someone plods up to me, uninvited, and announces that the condo I’m now in love with is a) haunted; b) adjacent to the practice space for a group of tone deaf musicians, or c) too close to a party girl and her brat dog…well, I’m not likely to change my mind. I can always call the cops to come shut those people (and their pets) up, right, because the cops in SF don’t have anything else to do.
Hmm. Maybe it would make a person think twice.
So is disclosing tidbits of information that aren’t legally required to be disclosed a bad idea then? If those tidbits are unflattering? Or, if this information actually truly affects the quality of life in the new home, are we sort of ethically obligated to spill our guts? It’s a question to ponder, certainly.
In the meantime, here are a few interesting condos on the market now, both in SF and Daly City. I can’t vouch for the quality of the neighbors…if you really want to know, try a door-to-door survey. Someone is bound to tell you the truth.
SF
Mission Bay 1/1 at 300Berry St., #520: $535K with fitness center and parking.
Eureka Valley/Dolores 1/1 at 237 Collingwood St.: $575K= parking, Twin Peaks views and low HOA.
Russian Hill 2/2 at 2121 Taylor St., #1: For $699K, you get a very highly sought location, parking, and low HOA.
Daly City
Southern Hills 2/2 townhome at 495 Mountain Vw. #04: spacious, parking for $565K. Pretty sure after over a year on the market, the place would sell for less.
Crown Colony 2/1 at Philip Dr., #4. Pool, tennis, rec room, parking for $409,950.
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Yech dog photo credit: Tailored.com
June 30, 2008
Monterey is one of the most beautiful places on earth, and a wonderful place to live! Redfin has just expanded its services to include Monterey County, and I am excited to write about the homes located in paradise.
The first featured listing is located in the city of Monterey itself, and is a 2 bed, 2 bath Craftsman style cottage with partial beach views. 923 Alameda Ave was built in 1943, and captures the spirit and essence of Monterey itself. The home has many picture windows, and could also qualify for historic designation. The location is near perfect, as it is close to the post office and many of the fine restaurants Monterey has to offer. It also has a really peaceful backyard patio, shown here. It is offered at $812,500, and has 1,475 square feet of living space on a 4,000 square foot lot.
Another great listing is a relatively new home, a 3/2 located in a nice neighborhood of Salinas located at 1626 Marshfield Court. Offered at $409,000, it is a single-story rancher with a fenced yard, separate dining room, separate family room, and fireplace. It has been on Redfin for one day only, and is a bank-owned REO. Home square footage is not listed, but it is located on a 6,035 square foot lot. The listing says that it is clean, and there is little to do to it. It certainly looks nice from the front view.
A 5 bed, 2 bath home located in Seaside also seems like a great deal at $490,000. 1355 Harding’s listing has no photos, but tells us that this reasonably priced home has ocean views and 2160 square feet of living space on a 3650 square foot lot. The Google Earth photo shows us that it does look a bit on the aged side, but this is a lot of house for the money. And area comps are in the $500K-$600K range.
June 30, 2008
Cupertino, located in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, is home to the large Apple Computer campus and approximately 54,000 residents. With good schools, freeway access, and temperate climate, this suburb is composed primarily of larger homes sitting on the sites of former orchards. Although not really known for its McMansions, the price tag to live in this city can be a bit steep. Currently, with 82 homes for sale, only 26 are listed under $1mil, with the majority (46) in the $1-2mil range, and 10 properties over the $2mil mark. Today’s featured property is located at 22332 Regnart Road, almost at the end of the road.
Driving up through the gated entrance, you’ll encounter a quarter-century old, single-story contemporary home. With its wood exterior and mid-mod influence, it fits well onto the two-acre wooded property, which backs to the Fremont-Older Open Space, offering residents additional privacy.
The home itself is 4,730 square feet with a total of 5 bedrooms and 4 baths. Walking in, there is a large formal entry, branching off into access to the living room, the dining room, updated eat-in kitchen (which opens to a family room), and the hallway to bedrooms. All rooms face the expansive wood deck, with most having a view of the pool and spa, as well as a spectacular view of the valley all the way to the Bay.
The home, on the market 69 days, is priced at $3,295,000 ($697/sf). There are few recent comparables, but in February a similar-sized home on the same street sold for $2,587,500 or $625/sf. Located at 22245 Regnart, this two-story Mediterranean home built in 1984 is a 4/3.5 of 4,072 square feet sitting on 2.5 acres.
Recent Sweet Digs Posts:
Happy 100 Ross!
City of Alameda: Recent Sales
Monterey County Comes to Redfin
Price Cuts in the Creek
Marin Agents Looking for Luck
A Stroll, A Wander, A Saunter, A Hike, A Promenade
Can’t Afford a Real Home? Buy Property in Second Life and Build Your Own
Bay Area: Do You Really Belong Here?
Portola Valley: There’s a New Market in Town
June 29, 2008
Ross is one of my favortite towns in Marin. I’m sure a main factor is all the fabulous homes, but what I really love about Ross is that it reminds me of a quaint New England town from yesteryear. And this year, it is celebrating its centennial.
At a small 1.6 square miles, there was approximately 2,300 residents in the 2000 census. These 2,300+ residents enjoy the good life—as evidenced by the incredible homes and estates and one of the highest median incomes in the state and nation.
Life is centered around Ross Common—a very tiny couple of block area bordering the local school (with one of the most incredible fields ever) and post office. There is a definite small town community feel. One contributing factor is that no mail gets delivered to any Ross resident. Everyone needs to pick up their mail at the post office (a very nice post office).
So don’t be sticker shocked at the home prices. This is a VERY desirable area and folks are willing to pay top dollar for a Ross address. The lowest asking price of a Ross house that’s on the market is $729,00 and it’s because it sits on Sir Francisc Drake and is a small 2 bed/ 2bath. Most other homes are well in the $5MM plus range.
June 29, 2008
The latest publication of Alameda sales in SFGate shows the most sales recorded in one week for this city I’ve seen since last summer. Sixteen residential sales were recorded between May 16th and May 23rd, with over a third of these under $600k. The number of homes sold in each price range is as follows:
Under $300k=2
$301-$400k=2
$401-$500k=1
$501-$600k=1
$601-$700k=3
$701k-$800k=2
$801-$900k=2
$901-$1M=1
Over $1M=1
Check out this blog Knife Catchers: A blog documenting the implosion of one of the largest housing bubbles in US history with a focus on Alameda real estate. The above link takes you to a post on April 19th 2008 and features 3226 Central Ave., one of the homes sold below. Apparently the list price was $959,000. At the time, Knife Catchers didn’t think it would sell unless significantly reduced. However, not only did the home sell fairly briskly (in about 30 days) it sold for close to asking (approximately reduced by 50k). How’s that for an imploding market?
Alameda Sales
63 Britt Court $665,000, sold 05-19-08, 3 bdrms, 1489 sq. ft., 1997
3226 Central Avenue $908,500, sold 05-22-08, 3 bdrms, 2541 sq. ft., 1902
3273 Encinal Avenue $525,000, sold 05-23-08, 2 bdrms, 763 sq. ft., 1941
3455 Hazel Lane $430,000, sold 05-20-08, 3 bdrms, 1334 sq. ft., 1973
381 Hollister Avenue $750,000, sold 05-16-08, 4 bdrms, 2219 sq. ft., 2005
1254 Park Avenue $925,000, sold 05-20-08, 8 bdrms, 2584 sq. ft., 1910
950 Shorepoint Court #200 $270,000, sold 05-21-08, 1 bdrms, 741 sq. ft., 1972
1421 Versailles Avenue $634,000, sold 05-23-08, 2 bdrms, 1388 sq. ft., 1932
455 Central Avenue #A $339,000, sold 05-23-08, 1 bdrms, 420 sq. ft., 1912
1316 Clinton Avenue $770,000, sold 05-16-08, 2 bdrms, 1460 sq. ft., 1906
26 Gonsalves Court $1,320,000, sold 05-22-08, 5 bdrms, 3646 sq. ft., 1997
1103 High Street $840,000, sold 05-23-08, 4 bdrms, 2361 sq. ft., 1925
8 Kinkaid Square $850,000, sold 05-20-08, 3 bdrms, 2724 sq. ft., 2005
1142 Peach Street $666,000, sold 05-23-08, 3 bdrms, 1242 sq. ft., 1900
950 Shorepoint Court #222 $309,000, sold 05-20-08, 2 bdrms, 951 sq. ft., 1972
1327 Webster Street #B306 $282,000, sold 05-21-08, 1 bdrms, 701 sq. ft., 1970
June 29, 2008
Beautiful Monterey county -home to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey Jazz Festival, and Big Sur, is now part of Redfin! World famous for its stunning coastlines and rugged landscape, Monterey is a favorite vacation spot for many in Northern California and beyond.
Roughly 1.5 times the size of Delaware, Monterey County includes the cities of Salinas, Monterey, Carmel, Seaside, and Pebble Beach among others. The name Monterey was derived from the Spanish words Mont or hill, and Rey or king - so it means “King of the Hill” or “Hill King”. Indeed the rugged hills are breathtaking!
Despite its size, Monterey County is not heavily populated. Its census figures for 2007 show just over 106,000 people as residents. Much of the land is either protected park land or agricultural land - and the two top industries in Monterey are agriculture and tourism.
Established in 1850, Monterey County was one of the very first counties in California. It is home to many historic buildings, such as California’s first theatre, the popular Fisherman’s Wharf, and Mission Carmel.
The average home price in Monterey County is $399,950, which is down 47% from one year ago. This drop has led to another trend - sales are up a whopping 69%. If you are looking for a home in picturesque Monterey County, now is the time to buy!
June 29, 2008
I am getting skeert. Frequent commenter David, who knows a whole heck of a lot about the real estate market, recently posted a comment, “Basically, now we have home prices and stocks that have gone nowhere for the better part of a decade. Oh, well. So much for that “wealth building” and then people wonder why Americans “don’t save.” Ain’t much to it, apparently.”
This worries me, because David knows what he’s talking about and, you know? He does not sound exactly optimistic in this comment, eh? I imagine perhaps his remark might have something to do with the fact that a new Harvard University study says the housing market is in its lowest slump since World War II and still has a year to go.
If unemployment worsens, there may be “forced sales” that will compete with foreclosures and drive prices down further, said Daniel McCue, a research analyst for Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. Ducky.
The economy is “shaping into a perfect storm” of tight mortgage credit, shrinking credit card limits, higher unemployment and prices for consumer staples, says Oakland’s Center for Responsible Lending. Tell me about it. I may not be able to continue eating my beloved cherries because they are $5.99 a pound! I’ll have to live on actual metal staples if this continues!
Though I’m okay and my house isn’t even underwater (yet), across the street and two houses down there’s an auction sign on a house, which should help drop prices even more. What do you think, readers? I guess the idea is to do as with the stock market, take a deep breath and take the long view?
While we’re doing that, for all you smart, responsible buyers out there, here are some juicy properties in hot, happenin’ Walnut Creek whose prices dropped recently. Enjoy!
2477 Buena Vista Avenue, Walnut Creek: 4 bedrooms/2 baths, 1,414 sq ft, was $549,000, now $499,000. It’s in the hills! It has a fireplace! Single-family detached with a really pretty lawn, at least in the photo, dual pane windows. Original price $799,000. Oof.
2611 Oak Road #A, Walnut Creek: 2 bedrooms/2 baths, 1,208 sq ft, was $425,000, now $399,950. You guys, it’s a condo but it’s two blocks to BART, a characteristic that is going to shine brighter and brighter as gas prices around the pay top $4.50 a gallon for regular. (Which they are doing right now.) HOA dues $277.
2709 Oak Road #P, Walnut Creek: 2 bedrooms/1 bath, 878 sq ft, was $350,000, now $340,000. This is a small condo, but has nice amenities. It’s a penthouse with a vaulted ceiling, woodburning tile fireplace and overlooks the pool. HOA dues $314.
2675 Overlook Drive, Walnut Creek: 5 bedrooms/3.5 baths, 2,644 sq ft, was $799,000, now $775,000. This is a single-family dwelling, a ranch style house (not my personal fave, but whatev) with a wrap-around porch, slab granite and views of Mt. Diablo. So prices are coming down, even at the high-ish end, it seems. (Photo of Mt. Diablo: zeveck)
June 28, 2008
With the housing market the way it is, all sorts of gimmicks are showing up. Sellers coming into a not so promising 
environment are hoping to get their homes sold as quickly as possible. Their agents are also thinking the same thing. The Marin IJ recently profiled a few agents who are turning to the St. Joseph, who is the patron saint of real estate.
A bit comical is the fact that the Marin Association of Realtors office started selling these little figurines a few months ago. Guess when the going gets bad, you really start to dig deep.
This ritual lends itself back hundreds of years ago to Europe. A statue of St. Joseph woud be buried upside down in the yard of homes that were up for sale. And it seems that the few agents who have paid homage to an old world tradition have found some luck.
With the market the way it is, I guess it doesn’t hurt to invest in a $10 statue. Why not? You never know…
June 28, 2008
We all have our pet subjects. One of mine — you may have noticed — is “walkability”. So I was delighted to read that the wonderful Walk Score is soon to launch “America’s Most Walkable Neighborhoods”, a ranking of the 40 largest cities in the U.S. Can’t wait to see it.
In the meantime, it is revealing to see how Walk Score defines a “walkable neighborhood”. The parameters are much broader than I would have imagined and encompass demographics as well as proximity to useful resources.
A walkable neighborhood is, according to them, a community which has the following characteristics:
- A center: a discernible center, whether it’s a shopping district, a main street, or a public space.
- Density: The neighborhood is dense enough for local businesses to flourish and for public transportation to be cost effective.
- Mixed income, mixed use: Housing is provided for everyone who works in the neighborhood: young and old, singles and families, rich and poor. Businesses and residences are located near each other.
- Parks and public space: There are plenty of public places to gather and play.
- Accessibility: The neighborhood is accessible to everyone and has wheelchair access, plenty of benches with shade, sidewalks on all streets, etc.
- Well connected, speed controlled streets: Streets form a connected grid that improves traffic by providing many routes to any destination. Streets are narrow to control speed, and shaded by trees to protect pedestrians.
- Pedestrian-centric design: Buildings are placed close to the street to cater to foot traffic, with parking lots relegated to the back.
- Close schools and workplaces: Schools and workplaces are close enough that most residents can walk from their homes.
I would be interested to hear from readers which neighborhoods they think fit some or all of these descriptions. Central and South Berkeley? Rockridge? Montclair Village? El Cerrito?
Walk Score have also devised a couple of very cool maps which clearly demonstrate the difference between a walkable area and its opposite:
To me, these maps bring to mind the difference between taking a one-mile walk in Berkeley and in Piedmont.
Previous posts that have addressed walkability issues:
On San Leandro (or why it’s tiresome to buy underwear in Berkeley)
Montclair: is this the new hot spot for savvy Bay Area buyers?
Notes on a neighborhood: Chabot
Rockridge duplex offers price and fixing potential
Berkeley: can’t get enough of those views
Mapping the walkability factor
