So Close But Yet So Far: Marin Homes Falling Out of Contract

As we all know, when the status of a home turns from “active” to “contingent,” an offer has been made and the house is in contract. Just as the word actively describes this process, the completion of the transaction is contingent – on many things. Whether it’s the home inspection, the ability of the buyer to secure financing, the buyer being able to sell their current home, etc, there are many many hurdles to overcome even though the price is agreed upon.

A handful of homes this week in Marin have fallen out of contract, going from “contingent” back to “active” status. The reasons are unknown, but I would guess that one common trait is that the seller is probably very disappointed to go back to the drawing board and is very eager to get their property sold. I.e. they may be very negotiable and this may present an opportunity to take advantage.

Four homes this week that fell out of contract:

60 Marina Vista Ave, Larkspur - 3 beds, 1.5 baths – $629,000: This Larkspur home is surrounded by trees and looks to sit in the hills above Larkspur. It’s noted as a contractor’s/ owner’s special but the pics don’t point to anything apparent. Not only did this drop of our contract, the seller also dropped its price – most likely in hopes of getting this back on track again. On the market for over 100 days, it first listed in June for $799,000.

219 Monte Vista Ave, Larkspur – 2 beds, 1 bath – $849,000: Another Larkspur drop out and if I can recall correctly, this is the 2nd time it has fallen out of contract. In a great neighborhood clsoe to downtown, it’s in the vicinity of upgraded homes. Large lot of redwood trees. One note – possession is subject to tenant rights. Hmmm… maybe this is the catch.

28 Jefferson Ave, San Rafael - 3 beds, 2.5 baths – $699,000: In San Rafael by the Civic Center, this is an almost brand new home built in 2004. Vacant and looks well maintained with hardwood floors and granite countertops.

13 El Camino Dr, Corte Madera – 3 beds, 2 baths – $799,000: Off of Paradise Drive in Corte Madera, this has been on the market for 66 days. No pictures of the inside so hard to tell of the state of things here.

San Jose’s Piece of the Pie, Let’s Get Homes Occupied Again!

More than $5.6M has been allocated to San Jose to help residents purchase and fix up foreclosed homes, out of the $539M reserved for the State of California by HUD.  

According to Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein, this amount is not nearly enough and is an insult to the state.  They have pointed out that California is receiving less assistance than Florida even though we have nearly twice the number of foreclosures!   However, the residents of San Jose seem happy to have some of this HUD pie to work with.   A plan is being created to help buyers to purchase vacant homes, and return them to their former glory.

The program being considered would provide help for the downpayment, and some remodeling work.   Income limits have been established - according to the Mercury News, the income limit for a one person household is $88,600 and $126,600 for a family of four.

On Monday, HUD will be publishing rules for how to spend the grant money, and communities will not be given their allocation until HUD approves plans in place.  Although San Jose’s plan won’t help current homeowners facing foreclosure, it should help solve the problem of vacant, untended properties dragging down neighborhood property prices – and morale. 

Doves and Open Houses

Before I present the local open houses and my personal opinions* of them I am compelled to take a stand on an issue that is related to keeping neighborhoods in order — no matter their location. Last week I had a couple of doves adopt my patio as their home base. At first I thought it was lovely and romantic. But then I began noticing just how messy birds can be. Our hot tub, patio furniture, and patio roof rafters were blanketed by bird droppings. And then to my horror the neighborhood cat gang got wind of the doves and started stalking them. Yesterday was absolutely horrible because they caught one and I had to listen to the pathetic whimpering bird chirps as the cats ran off with the dove.

Why do people feel the necessity to release these rather tame birds into the wilds of outdoors just because they think it makes a beautiful statement of love, death or some such thing. How can casting an innocent and ill-prepared creature into the outside world to be terrified and scared be a beautiful thing in any way? A lot of the doves are not homing pigeons so they don’t know where to go. A lot of places don’t allow the throwing of rice at the newly weds nowadays because uncooked rice is dangerous for birds to eat. But it’s okay throwing the birds at the couple? I don’t think so!

And keep in mind a lot of people want to let their cats outdoors. And cats, no matter how well they are fed by their humans, will hunt. But at least people should neuter their cats to keep the overall population down and this will reduce the number of stray and feral cats that will come into your backyard to hunt.

People should avoid the temptation to suddenly release captive birds and animals into the wild. They need time to acclimate to a life in the wild. Some never can. And messes made by various animals in your yard and not knowing how to avoid predators is an example of how this makes our neighborhoods less attractive.  Disoriented birds flying into windows and various cats attacking them is not a good selling point.

There is a related issue. We all know that throwing trash from our cars is ugly. But some people will throw out things like apple cores, thinking that they will simply compost into the earth. Well, they attract critters to the road. Trust me, deer love apples. Animals roaming around on the roads at night are dangerous, both to them and to us.

These are really very simple things to do. They don’t affect our enjoyment of the moment, and their overall effect is to improve the quality of our neighborhoods.

FREMONT
4572 De Silva St – 3/2 – 1148 sf ($374) $429,000 Sat/Sun 1:00-4:00
Just an average tract house in an average neighborhood.
481 D St – 4/3 -2304 sf ($377)  $868,000 Sat/Sun 1:00-5:00
This house is in Niles – ‘nuff said!
2851 Sanderling Dr – 5/3 – 2900 sf ($317) $920,000 Sat 1:30-4:00
A bit pricey but close to Alameda Creek for fun walks.
45241 Elk Ct – 6+/3 – 3150 sf ($486) $1,529,980 Sat/Sun 1:00-4:00
A big house, big lot and close to Mission Peak – a great area.

HAYWARD
23387 Hopper Rd – 3/1.5 – 1025 sf ($259) $265,000 Sun 1:00-4:00
Too close to the shopping mall and too close to the airport.

MILPITAS
22 Images Cir – 3/2.5 – 1683 sf ($386) $649,000 Sun 1:00-4:00
Nice roomy and airy house but not in my favorite neighborhood.
  1283 Fontainbleu Ave – 3/2 – 1644 sf ($406) $668,000 Sat/Sun 1:00-5:00
Too close to the dump for my nose. Awwww!
803 Kevenaire Dr –  /2.5 – 2412 sf ($301) $725,000 Sun 2:00-4:00
Well away from the dump in a nice area, with a pool.
  648 Costigan Cir – 3/2.5 – 1715 sf ($431) $740,000 Sat/Sun 1:30-4:30
Nice size house in a good area.
2266 W Seacliff Dr – 4/3 – 2074 sf ($362) $749,900 Sun 1:00-4:00
Ah – it’s the bright blue house again. And I still like it.

NEWARK
36535 Mulberry St – 3/1 – 984 sf ($308) $303,500 Sun 1:00-4:00
Not so good area but still might be a good rental investment?

UNION CITY
4548 Alvarado Blvd –  3/3 – 1889 sf ($328) $619,000 Sun 1:00-4:00
A nice place but all the houses are very close together. Maybe?
  32733 Belami Loop –  /3 – 2283 sf ($346) $789,000 Sat 1:00-4:00
A very spacious house but I would like to see a lower price, myself.

*The open house ratings are strictly my own opinions and should by no means be used to determing the true value of any property.

SF: Why Won’t These Homes Sell?

Almost time to snuggle up to some good, old fashioned presidential debates. Before I go- and you go- here are a few possible side effects of the ecomomic downturn, sure to a topic du jour for the candidates. Yep, these are houses that  just can’t sell, even here is SF where real estate has historically been hot, hot, hot.

84 Riverton Dr. : Lakeshore 3/2 SFH with 2 car garage, yard, and unwarranted rooms down for possible rental income. Yes, the kitchen looks like something from the set of The Brady Bunch (complete with round formica table for earnest family discussions), but lots of people want to remodel their own kitchens anyway– and you could do that here. On the market 63 days.

169 Grand View Dr: Twin Peaks does offer the grand views and this 2/1 cottage has panoramic potential (I mean, since no view is pictured, I assume you could get one by walking across the street). This is a small cottage, less the 800 square feet, but purports to be a contractor’s dream or investment opp. It sold for $750K in ’05; now offered for $599K, on the market almost a year.

Here’s a West Portal classic at 319 Vicente St. This is a 2/1 SFH, gorgeous wood floors, lots of light, and unwarranted bonus rooms for more space and/or rental income. Plus a garage. Offered at $899K, this by all accounts very desirable place has been on the market 57 days.

Up in Ashbury Heights houses are lingering as well. But of course, prices haven’t come down much up there, since it’s such a posh neighborhood (its another one with amazing views too). Here is a 3/2 SFH at 20 Loma Vista Terrace: total mansion facade and interior, fully landscaped, includes garage, sun room, deck… you know, the good life.  And all for $2,250,000. Hasn’t been snapped up yet though, after 119 days.

You get where I’m going: homes are sitting, and sitting, and sitting– and not just in Bayview either; they linger all over the city. If you’re in the market to buy, check Redfin’s 45 day+ search feature to peruse listing ripe for the picking.

Photo, and debate story: ABC News

Marin Shoppers: Get Smart

Marin  County’s local news periodical – the Marin Independent Journal, has been sprucing up their website with some pretty cool tools for consumers. 

First, it started providing links to databases to look up the payroll of Marin County public employees.  Very informative, since as taxpayers, it’s great to see how our money is spent and how the employees of the county are being (or not) managed.

Lately, they released two other databases geared towards the Marin real estate market.  One allows you to look up recent Marin home sales data and the other provides information on Marin foreclosures.

The sales database provides a list of recently sold homes in the area, which one can search by city, zip or specific address.  It provides the sale price and when it was added to the database (i.e. assuming that was the sale date).  What it doesn’t tell you is what it was listed for, but hopefully you’ve been keeping a keen eye on certain properties anyways.

The foreclosure database also allows you to search foreclosed homes by the same criteria – city, zip, address, date, value, etc.  Unlike other online foreclosure sites, these lists look accurrate and you don’t have to pay anything.  Results tell you the date of the foreclosure, the lender and the value.  From there, you pretty much have to figure out how to take advantage of it.

As potential home buyers and with everything else, knowledge is power.  Educating yourself and seeking out information will arm you to be a sharper and smarter buyer.

What a Difference a Day Makes

I know I read yesterday morning’s paper, but I had no chance to catch the evening news, so it came as quite a shock that in the 24 hours I was shut off from news sources that the government had taken over WAMU and already sold off pieces of it. First, how did they do this without the bailout agreement getting through Congress? And how did they rustle up a deal in less than 24 hours? I mean it takes longer than that just to fill out the paperwork to sell a friggin house!The collapse of Washington Mutual is the largest in our nation’s history, and comes after getting hit daily by customer withdrawls and widespread stock sales, and the weight of enormous (bad) mortgage debt. The bank had assets ($307b) almost ten times larger than that of IndyMac, which failed in July ($32b). WAMU’s assets have been sold to J.P. Morgan, who also picked up Bear Stearns earlier this year. Looks like they are gunning to take over as top dog in the banking world, ranked second to only BofA.

If you are a WAMU banking customer, you should see no change in service at this point. As the companies integrate, I would surmise that branches will close and consolidate where there is overlap, and layoffs will be expected. But short term, all is status quo. If you are a shareholder, however, you are on the short end of the stick. This goes for individuals as well as equity investors. The government takeover means shares in WAMU are worth nothing.

BONUS: On the lighter side of things, I happened to catch the YouTube clip of Represenative Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), who took 5 minutes of the House of Represenative’s time earlier this week to be snarky, snide, and facetious about the $700 mil bailout. My kind of elected official! You can watch her pontificate on “Wall Street Bailout.”

Krunching: A Tool for RE Investors

Over recent months, commentors have been discussing buy v. rent and whether it is a good time to buy investment property. I have never aspired to be a landlord, but I have friends who have bought investment property or a duplex to live in and rented one unit. I recently wrote about this topic in “Multi-family Dwellings: Tips and Leads to Consider.” But the skill set to determine what is feasible in this realm and to keep on top of it on a regular basis is beyond me. That’s where Krunching comes in.

Developed by two Realtors who run two California brokerage companies dealing exclusively with property investors, Krunching gives you the lowdown on current listings, and whether they would make sense financially to purchase, short or long term, and rent out. The data is presented in a simple and straightforward way, although much like our recent post “Making Magic Happen: The Scoop on List v. Sold Prices,” this data is just a guide to the investor, and should not replace the advice and wisdom of an agent specializing in this type of dwelling.

The property report on a given listing will have the basics and a map at the top, with listing description, MLS pictures, Actively and Recently Sold Comps, Rental Comps, and Investment Summary. For more detailed information, you can sign up as a member of Krunching (at no cost). The rental Comps gives low, median, and high rents for similar units, while the Investment Summary provides a break-even purchase price and cash flow analysis. I must admit that this last chart had me confused, and rental rates went up in year 2 and then dropped considerably in years 3, 4 and 5, but that’s why they are doing this and not me.

I did a few sample reports based on properties listed in the above-referenced multi-family dwelling post. In most cases there were no comps, which isn’t all that surprising. They do use prevailing market rents, which is a bit skewed at times, based on actual rent collected. But again, this is just one tool in the toolbox to use when considering investment property.

A Building So Beautiful It Has to Bode Well For Oakland

Somehow I have managed not to see Oakland’s new Cathedral of Christ the Light in the flesh, or in photographs, until today when I dropped in to Curbed SF.

I am literally awe-struck. This is one very, very beautiful building.

Designed by international architects Skidmore Owings & Merrill, the cathedral, which is in a prime spot on the edge of Lake Merritt, is being consecrated today. I can’t help but think that this gorgeous building will be good news for Oakland — and I don’t just mean in terms of the gospel of St John.

[Photos credit: Inhabitat.]

San Mateo By the Numbers

I took a meander through the Beresford Manor neighborhood yesterday. This mixed-use area stretches from Highway 92 to 31st Avenue and El Camino to Alameda de las Pulgas, and encompasses the numbered streets from 20th to 30th. The 25th Avenue Shopping District sits smack in the middle of the east edge of the neighborhood, with locally owned shops and restaurants, as well as a post office. The northeastern edge is mixed use, with apartments, condos, and SFRs, as well as commercial development (retail and medical/dental/professional offices). Easy access to Highway 92, and near both private and public schools.

Reductions are a bit slower to happen in most parts of this neighborhood, and multiple reductions don’t get real serious until 90 days, if homes last that long. The average reduction is at 7% right now, for both SFR and condos. Median list price for homes is $624/sf and $466/sf for condos, while median sale price is $594/sf and $436/sf, respectively. A few of the current offerings:

55 West 20th
This is the first available listing off El Camino, just past Highway 92. One block off the main thoroughfare, this is a condo located directly across from a shopping center (grocery, restaurant, JoAnn’s, etc). Carports and some underground parking. Pool, spa, exercise room, tennis court, HOA: $365
Currently there are 3 units available
Unit #305, 2/2, 1213 sf $565,000 (last sold 2000 $350,000)
Unit #101, 2/2, 1253 sf, $409,000 (last sold July 2007 for $568,000)
Unit #208, 2/2, 1234 sf, $539,500 (last sold 1993 for $201,000)

1951 O’Farrell (pictured above)
This large condo complex is located on the corner of 20the Avenue, on a one-block long cul-de-sac. San Mateo City Hall is located across O’Farrell and the Elks Club (including tennis courts) is across 20th. This large complex has underground parking (2 spaces) and HOA dues of $358-366. Some train noise would be expected, and there is easy access to Highway 92.
Currently there are 2 units available:
Unit #312, 2/1, 886 sf $499,500
Unit #105, 2/2, 1143 sf, $560,000 (last sold 2000 for $480,000)

490 22nd Avenue, 3/2, 1880 sf $999,000 (pictured above)
This home is located two doors from the playground for the Carey School and a stone’s throw to Alameda de las Pulgas. Additionally, both the side and back yard appear to abut the Serra High School athletic fields, probably contributing to the 153 days on market.

256 Portola Drive, 3/2, 1900 sf $1,278,000 (pictured above)
Located in a quiet, tree-lined neighborhood adjacent to the 25th Avenue Shopping District, this looks to be a great area for families. Almost every single home had at least one (nice) car in the driveway at 10am on a Wednesday, meaning people work at home or have young children at home. Yards are well kept, and the homes have charm and character. Last sold in 2003 for $300,000.

35 W. 28th Avenue, Unit #103, 2/2, 1206 sf, $572,000
A large condo complex situated one block of El Camino, also in a mixed use area. Train noise detectable from street. Underground parking, pool, and sauna. HOA: $411. Long on market with no price reductions as yet. Last sold in 2005 for $550,000.

Making Magic Happen: The Scoop on List vs. Sold Prices

Last night, Redfin put on another smash hit Red Carpet event at the BBC in Menlo Park (British Bankers Club, for those of you not in the “know”). Amongst the overload of information and data provided to eager attendees, was some serious data crunching from the Redfin techies. (Check out the slide show here, which is a downloadable Powerpoint document to read in your leisure time.) They just have the gift for pulling rabbits out of their hat and providing numbers that seem too good to be true sometime. One document in particular yielded some very surprising information: Final versus List price for 38 cities in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.

This week I have been reporting some very downer news—on the credit and mortgage crisis and the new DataQuick figures. I have to say it brings me no joy to do so, and was thus in dire need of something uplifting. I think this did the trick, or at least gave me a bit of hope. The informative document is a compilation of all single family homes sold between July 22nd and September 22nd of this year. It gives the rundown on 38 cities in the two county area, with data on the number of deals closed, the final vs. list price, and the average price of a home in each city.

In 33 of the 38 towns, the final vs. list price on SFRs was over 95%, and in 5 cases was over 100%, meaning homes sold for more than asking! Who were the lucky winners? Believe it or not, Daly City, Redwood City, East Palo Alto, Mountain View, and Palo Alto. Seventeen of the 38 had average sales prices of over $1,000,000, with 3 of those averaging over $4,000,000 (Atherton, Hillsborough, and Woodside).

San Jose came out the big winner in number of SFRs sold, at an even 500, no doubt due to the large number of affordable, short sale, and REO homes that were available. (Add in the condos/townhouses sold in San Jose and the total comes to 638.) Sales overall were slow and down a bit from April/May, when we last reported on this data. Given that this time around included the hot-selling summer months, I would have expected more in the way of homes sold, but people are nervous about the economy and banks are making it harder to get loans. People seem to be waiting for the election results, among other things, to make the big buy.

San Mateo/Santa Clara County SFR
July 22 – September 22, 2008