Selling your house
Bay
Area Real Estate Sales.com Newsletter
August
2009
In
This Month’s Issue:
July
Marin Real Estate Update
Trying
To Evaluate the
Marin Real Estate Market?
Foreclosures/Bank
Owned and
Auction Properties
Marin
Home Prices Down As Sales Slowly Rise
Liz
McCarthy Featured Listings
What
Did Homes In Your Neighborhood Sell For?
Home
Ownership and
Equity Protection Act (HOEPA) Explained
Search
the Marin Multiple Listing Service
What
Do Clients Say About Working With Liz McCarthy?
JULY
MARIN REAL ESTATE UPDATE
|
July
2009 Closed Sales
Single
Family Residences
|
|
|
Days
on Market
|
List
Price
|
Selling
Price
|
|
Average
|
101
|
$1,101,372
|
$1,043,020
|
|
Median
|
84
|
$799,000
|
$760
|
|
July
2009 Closed Sales
Condos
|
|
|
Days
on Market
|
List
Price
|
Selling
Price
|
|
Average
|
106
|
$384,623
|
$371,161
|
|
Median
|
78
|
$359,100
|
$330,000
|
Below
you will find a break down by city and price range of how many homes
are in contract compared to how many homes are listed. Overall Marin
is in a “Buyers Market” category, but this is a bit
misleading. Even stronger than last month’s “Strong
Sellers” the very low end of the market (homes priced under
$500,000) is actually in a “Extreme Sellers” market, and
like last month homes priced from $500,000 - $749,000 are in a
Balanced Market which tips the overall averages. Homes priced from
$750,000 - $1,490,000 have heated up a bit to a “Buyers”
market. Homes priced from $1.5M - $2M are in an Extreme Buyers
market.
In
the low-end market in Novato and some parts of San Rafael multiple
offers have been the norm. (as can be seen by the fact that Novato
is now considered to be in a “Strong Sellers” category).
Keep in mind that these multiple offers and the sellers market is in
the low end, where there have been numerous foreclosures and short
sales. It’s very interesting to note that this month Corte
Madera, and San Rafael are all in a “Balanced” Market.
The Middle to high end of the Marin market is s still challenged, as
there is a lot of inventory and it’s harder to get Jumbo loans.
This is especially the case for homes priced over $2,000,000.
If
you are looking to sell your home, know that it MUST be well-priced
and show in pristine condition! That’s where a good Sellers
agent comes in, you need advice to help you get the house ready as
well as stage/prepare it for showing. Let me know if I can help you
devise a strategy to sell your home. My last 3 listing have all gone
into contract the first week after I listed them! Yes, in this
market! It is possible to sell your home!
It
is interesting to note that number of expired listings has increased
in July when we had seen 5 months of decreases.
Home
sellers who are not seeing offers or who are seeing offers below
expectations are taking their homes off the market.
|
MARIN
HOME (CONDO + SFR) SALES STATISTICS - BY CITY AS OF 8/19/09
|
|
City
|
Total
|
Active
|
Number
in Contract***
|
Percent
in Contract*
|
Type
of Market*
(See
Key)
|
|
Belvedere
|
39
|
32
|
7
|
18%
|
Strong
Buyers
|
|
Corte
Madera
|
47
|
32
|
15
|
32%
|
Balanced
|
|
Fairfax
|
46
|
34
|
12
|
26%
|
Buyers
|
|
Greenbrae
|
42
|
32
|
10
|
24%
|
Buyers
|
|
Kentfield
|
45
|
33
|
12
|
27%
|
Buyers
|
|
Larkspur
|
30
|
25
|
5
|
17%
|
Strong
Buyers
|
|
Mill
Valley
|
183
|
146
|
37
|
20%
|
Strong
Buyers
|
|
Novato
|
349
|
186
|
163
|
47%
|
Strong
Sellers
|
|
Ross
|
27
|
22
|
5
|
19%
|
Strong
Buyers
|
|
San
Anselmo
|
97
|
79
|
18
|
19%
|
Strong
Buyers
|
|
San
Rafael
|
300
|
195
|
105
|
35%
|
Balanced
|
|
Sausalito
|
80
|
64
|
16
|
20%
|
Strong
Buyers
|
|
Tiburon
|
116
|
111
|
5
|
4%
|
Extreme
Buyers
|
|
Others
|
119
|
89
|
30
|
25%
|
Buyers
|
|
Total
Marin 8/19/09
|
1520
|
1080
|
440
|
28.95%
|
Buyers
|
|
Total
Marin 7/23/09
|
1533
|
1097
|
436
|
28.44%
|
Buyers
|
|
MARIN
HOME SALES STATISTICS - BY PRICE RANGE AS OF8/19/09
|
|
Price
|
Total
|
Active
|
Number
in Contract***
|
Percent
in Contract*
|
Type
of Market*
(See
Key)
|
|
$100,000-$499,999
|
297
|
127
|
170
|
57%
|
Extreme
Sellers
|
|
$500,000-$749,999
|
347
|
232
|
115
|
33%
|
Balanced
|
|
$750,000-$999,999
|
277
|
218
|
59
|
21%
|
Buyers
|
|
$1,000,000-$1,499,999
|
253
|
196
|
57
|
23%
|
Buyers
|
|
$1,500,000-$1,999,999
|
112
|
102
|
10
|
9%
|
Extreme
Buyers
|
|
$2,000,000-$2,499,999
|
71
|
61
|
10
|
14%
|
Strong
Buyers
|
|
$2,500,000-$2,999,999
|
49
|
41
|
8
|
16%
|
Strong
Buyers
|
|
$3,000,000-$3,999,999
|
46
|
41
|
5
|
11%
|
Strong
Buyers
|
|
Over
$4,000,000
|
67
|
62
|
5
|
7%
|
Extreme
Buyers
|
|
Total
|
1519
|
1080
|
439
|
29%
|
Buyers
|
|
*Key
to
market type:
|
|
0%
- 10% of Homes in Escrow: Extreme Buyers
|
36%
- 45% of Homes in Escrow: Sellers
|
|
11%
- 20% of Homes in Escrow: Strong Buyers
|
46%
- 55% of Homes in Escrow: Strong Sellers
|
|
21%
- 30% of Homes in Escrow: Buyers
|
56%
- 100% of Homes in Escrow: Extreme Sellers
|
|
31%
- 35% of Homes in Escrow: Balanced Market
|
**Based
on information from Bay Area Real Estate Information Services,
Inc. (BAREIS). Information has not been verified, is not
guaranteed, and is subject to change and is based on one period of
time.”
***Includes
all: Sale Pending & Contingent properties
The
real estate market is very hard to generalize. It is a market made up
of many micro markets. For complete information on a particular
neighborhood or for an evaluation of your home's worth, call me. If
I can help you devise a strategy, call or click the buying or selling
link in the menu to the top.
If
you know of anyone who would like to receive this monthly newsletter
or is thinking of either buying or selling a home please let me know.
I’d love your referrals!
TRYING
TO EVALUATE THE MARIN REAL ESTATE MARKET?
I’ve
mentioned in the past, I’m constantly on the look out for
information to better prepare my clients to understand the local real
estate market. I’ve got 2 great new stat evaluation programs
that I’m providing FREE of charge to my clients and viewers of
my newsletter!
1.
FREE HOME EVALUATION REPORT:
If
you would like a personalized Market evaluation of YOUR home, within
30 minutes of submitting your request, or if you are a home Buyer and
want to do a Market Snapshot of a particular zip code, that works
too! Check it out, I PROMISE you you’ll love what you see!
These reports will include recent comp data. just click here:
http://www.homeinsight.com/Widget/default.asp?63JKTSX3ZUFH
2.
DETAILED
MARKET EVALUATION REPORT BY CITY:
Additionally,
you can sign up to receive a detailed weekly market update of your
interested city.
To
see a sample Market Analysis report, here is the Mill Valley Report
from last week. REMEMBER that you can get this report updated weekly
by signing up here: To do so, click here and choose your market
location. http://www.bayarearealestatesales.com/stats.html
3.
FORECLOSURE
ACTIVITY
Foreclosure
activity, in the article/chart below: you’ll see that the
number of Pre-foreclosures, Auction and Bank-owned property was about
the same as in May overall. The number in pre-foreclosure did
decrease. If you’d like to see the bank owned homes on a map,
you can do a search here: Search
the Map Based REO (Bank Owned) Homes in Marin Click Here
Of
course, if you have any questions please call me at 415-250-4929 or
drop me an email at Liz@BayAreaRealEstateSales.com
FORECLOSURES/BANK
OWNED AND AUCTION PROPERTIES
|
Type
|
Number
as of 8/20/09
|
|
Pre-foreclosure
|
514
|
|
Auction
Sale
|
283
|
|
Bank
Owned
|
358
|
|
TOTAL
|
1155
|
I
can provide you a list of all of the current properties in any of the
above types anywhere in Marin.
Now,
let’s get into the detail on these homes and others that are on
the MLS. The majority of the bank owned properties are listed on the
MLS as the banks hire local real estate agents to sell the
properties. In addition to these 358 bank owned there are also
approximately 500 additional homes on the MLS being marketed along
with these bank owned. These distressed properties will pull down the
sales price for any home in the neighborhood.
If
you would like to see the public Bank Owned properties in Marin, here
they are on a map:
Search
the Map Based REO (Bank Owned) Homes in Marin Click Here
I
have access to all of these homes!! If you would like me to pull a
more customized list for any town in Marin that will show:
Pre-foreclosure, Auction and/or Bank owned properties, just email me:
Liz@BayAreaRealEstateSales.com
FREE…..You
can search for Marin listings directly on BayAreaRealEstateSales.com:
Search
for Homes
Back
to top
MARIN
HOME PRICES DOWN AS SALES SLOWLY RISE
MarinIJ.com
There
were 207 single-family home sales in June, up from 171 in May, 130 in
April and 111 in March.
"That's
definitely on the strength of the number of foreclosures and short
sales and historically low values," said appriaser Mark Lindsay,
of San Anselmo. "Buyers in 2006 and 2007 were literally priced
out of the market. Today's market allows buyers a lot of latitude to
go further afield."
Only
211 single-family homes were sold at a median price of $725,500 in
Marin in July - the lowest sales volume for that month since MDA
DataQuick of San Diego began keeping records 20 years ago. But it
marked a continued steady increase in sales activity over the past
several months." There's still a lot of foreclosures in the mix
and we're seeing some price cuts going on in some high-end areas,"
he said. "Some people are getting more realistic. Median
(prices) are different for different areas. It sort of all adds up to
a market where prices aren't moving much across the board.
County
sales volumes may be on the rise, but median price "has been
darn near flat" in recent months, he said.”….
To
read the entire article at MarinIJ.com go here July
Marin Home Sales
LIZ
McCARTHY FEATURED LISTINGS
724
Alta Vista Road, Mill Valley
Wonderful
Mid-Century modern 1-level home. Sunny and bright with open beam
ceilings, hardwood floors, skylights, fireplace in living room,
breakfast bar in kitchen, and dining/family room. Garage & lots
of parking. 2 level lawn areas! Spacious patio and deck with
incredible Mt Tam views, Gardens have flowering plants, fruit trees
and wandering paths. Price includes extra parcel: (049-131-04),
approx 3500sf lot (total approx 8500 SF lot) Excellent Mill Valley
schools, near Golden Gate Recreational Area trailheads, easy San
Francisco commute.
So
much charm and warmth, it's a must see!
Price:
$899,000
SOLD:
$870,000
View
the Property website:
27
Rutherford, San Anselmo
This
is what you have been waiting for - Fall in love with this sunny and
bright 2 Bedroom, 2 Bathroom charming San Anselmo home. You'll find
1930's period details, an updated kitchen with marble counters and
high-end stainless-steel appliances, hardwood floors and decorator
colors. It is just up the street from one of San Anselmo's award
wining elementary schools. It has a sunny deck for entertaining, a
flat, grassy yard and a private drive with a locking gate. Ample
storage and parking for more info and pictures. !!!
Price:
$799,000
In
Escrow in 1 week!
(This is a short sale, so the escrow process can be very long
awaiting bank approval)
View
the Property Website for 27 Rutherford
View
the Virtual Tour
22755
S Central Ave, Sonoma
Wonderful
horse/vineyard property located in convenient East Sonoma with so
many amenities you have to see it in person: 5 private acres
includes: Breath-taking vineyard views, an organic Chardonnay
vineyard (located in prestigious Carneros Vineyard Region), gated
property, custom spacious main house with 2 master bedroom suites +
additional room/office (no closet), 2.5 bathrooms, granite kitchen
and stainless appliances, pool, sauna and landscaped back-yard,
detached guest house (1BR/1BA) with private driveway/garage, separate
artist/studio/retreat, beautiful barn with 5 horse stalls, tack room,
electricity and water, paddocks and turn outs, hay barn with trailer
parking the property even has numerous redwood trees for peace and
tranquility.
Price
reduced again – Make any offer, very motivated Seller!!
Price:
$1,199,000 (was originally $1,790,000!)
In
escrow
(due to short situation, this is a long escrow process)
View
the Property Website for 22755 S Central:
www.SonomaHorseProperty.com:
View
the Video
Others
may say the Marin Real Estate Market is slow, Liz doesn’t
agree:
Liz’s
Recently Sold Homes:
133
Locust Ave, Mill Valley
This
downtown (Sycamore Park setting) is a 2,000 square foot lovely home,
with 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms right next to Park School. I helped
a family relocated from New York. We spent may days touring all of
Marin County before they decided that Sycamore Park was where they
had to be. They have 4 children which proved hard to find a large
enough home for their family!
Represented
Buyers
Original
List Price: $1,800,000
SOLD
Price: $1,600,000
143
Forbes Ave, San Rafael
This
home is located on arguably the most desired street in all of San
Rafael. It’s location is next to many historic Victorian era
homes rich with San Rafael history. This 2 bedroom home has warmth
and sun and it couldn’t’ be in a better location. My
newlywed clients will are expecting their first child and already
love living in San Rafael. They moved from San Francisco in order to
get to the sun and start their family together.
Represented
Buyers
List
Price: $769,000 (Originally listed for sale in 2008 for $939,000
SOLD
Price: $749,000
208
Corte Madera Ave, Mill Valley:
Mid-Century
Classic just a few blocks from downtown Mill Valley. This 1950's home
has never before been on the market. Update it to current mid-century
modern standards or build your dream home nestled in the redwoods
just around the corner from town with it's many parks, schools and
quaint shops. This home has been well-loved for many years by its
owners. The gardens all around the house feature many varieties of
plants and flowers and are all on drip-irrigation.
This
won’t last long!
Represented
Sellers
Price:
$899,000
SOLD
$899,000 in 41 days!
View
the Virtual Tour for 208 Corte Madera Ave
View
the Property Website
WHAT
DID HOMES IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD SELL FOR?
Are
you Curious to know what the Median home price is in your
neighborhood?
Click
here to get an automated Market Snapshot of your house and the
surrounding home comps.
http://www.homeinsight.com/Widget/default.asp?63JKTSX3ZUFH
HOME
OWNERSHIP AND EQUITY PROTECTION ACT (HOEPA) EXPLAINED
By
Liz McCarthy
It’s
imperative to understand the new lending rules that have just gone
into affect the first of August. This is especially important t if
you are trying to time selling of a home with the
purchase/replacement of a new home. The Home Ownership and Equity
Protection Act (HOEPA) has just gone into effect and it’s
important to understand how this new regulation can delay home
purchase closings.
It’s
important to also keep in mind that this doesn’t account for
delays from the problems/delays arising from the new appraisal
regulations that I discussed in last months newsletter (click
here for the appraisal article).
Four
key elements to HOEPA that you need to know
1.
If the consumer is financing the property, these new regulatory and
investor guidelines will impact—and could even dictate—the
closing date. Historically, consumers and sellers would agree on a
closing date, and then service providers–including
lenders–would work as best they could toward meeting that date.
Going forward, contracts can still be written with a specific closing
date in mind, but all parties need to take into account that the
earliest any home financing transaction can close is 7 business days
after the consumer is issued his or her initial mortgage disclosures
from the lender. (Note: Saturdays, with the exception of federal
holidays, do count as a business day for the purpose of disclosures
only.)
2.
Upfront fees cannot be collected by the mortgage broker/originator
(except for a credit report fee) until the initial disclosures are
received by the consumer. If the lender chooses to mail the
disclosures, the consumer is considered to have received them 3
business days
after they are mailed.
Historically,
upfront fees could be collected immediately. Starting July 30, 2009,
upfront fees cannot be collected, including the appraisal fee, until
the lender is reasonably certain that the consumer has received the
disclosures. If hand delivered, fees can be collected immediately, or
if mailed, the consumer is considered to have received the
disclosures 3
business days after mailing.
The only exception is the credit report fee which can be collected at
application.
3.
The consumer must be provided with a copy of his or her appraisal a
minimum of 3 business
days prior to closing.
The consumer must receive the appraisal at least 3 business days
prior to the mortgage closing. If the consumer believes the
3-business-day required review period is not necessary for whatever
reason, he or she has the right to waive that requirement.
4.
An increase of more than.125% in the Annual Percentage Rate (APR)
from the initial Truth in Lending disclosure (TIL) requires the TIL
disclosure to be revised and reissued to the consumer. The consumer
must receive a revised TIL disclosure at least 3
business days
before closing, providing the consumer with the time required to
determine if he or she is comfortable with his or her loan choice. If
the lender chooses to mail the disclosure, the TIL disclosure is
considered “received” 3 business days after mailing.
A
more typical contract date may be 30-45 days—or possibly longer
(such as with a new construction loan). Considering that many things
occur and may be changed or finalized throughout the course of the
transaction, there are a number of things that can impact the
consumer’s APR. Therefore it is critical on the front end to
ensure that estimated fees are as accurate as possible.
SEARCH
THE MARIN MULTIPLE LISTING SERVICE
The
following links will take you to home searches for different cities
in Marin.
All
search results are displayed from the highest price to the lowest
price. You can scroll through pages at a time.
Belvedere
homes for sale: Belvedere
Homes For Sale
Corte
Madera homes for sale: Corte
Madera Homes For Sale
Fairfax
homes for Sale: Fairfax
Homes For Sale
Greenbrae
homes for sale: Greenbrae
Homes For Sale
Kentfield
homes for sale: Kentfield
Homes For Sale
Larkspur
homes for sale: Larkspur
Homes For Sale
Mill
Valley homes for sale: Mill
Valley Homes For Sale
Mill
Valley condos for sale: Mill
Valley Condos For Sale
Novato
homes for Sale: Novato
Homes For Sale
Novato
Condos for Sale: Novato
Condos
Ross
homes for sale: Ross
Homes For Sale
San
Anselmo homes for sale: San
Anselmo Homes For Sale
San
Rafael HOMES for sale: San
Rafael Homes For Sale
San
Rafael CONDOS for sale: San
Rafael Condos For Sale
Sausalito
homes for sale: Sausalito
Homes For Sale
Tiburon
homes for sale: Tiburon
Homes For Sale
Back
to top
WHAT
DO CLIENTS SAY ABOUT WORKING WITH LIZ MCCARTHY?
“My
husband and I keep Liz's business cards in our car at all times in
case we meet someone in need of a realtor in Marin. We were
blown away by Liz's mission to find us the perfect home for us. She
thoroughly evaluated each home that we walked into, pointing out the
pluses and minuses to each house. She really per herself in our
shoes, thinking about what kind of home would be best for us now, and
also what kind of home we would want to grow into. I can
honestly say, that she didn't miss one important detail, and we now
are in the home of our dreams.
Not
only was Liz amazing to work with professionally, but she was also
incredible on a personal level. I became pregnant while we were
in our search for a home, and Liz brought by books and toys for our
baby. She also framed pictures of my husband and I in the
house, so when we walked in for the first time we felt like we were
really at home. It was the little touches that went a long way
with Liz, and we are happy to not only call her the best realtor that
we have met, but also a great friend.”
-Bruce
and Colleen Cassidy, San Rafael
THE
BAY AREA REAL ESTATE NEWSLETTER IS PROVIDED TO YOU BY:
If
you would like to have Liz help you sell your Marin home or help you
find a home, or you know of someone that could benefit from her
services, just send her an email: liz@BayAreaRealEstateSales.com
or give her a call: 415-250-4929
“High-Touch
through High-Tech”:
Did you know that Liz McCarthy is ePro Internet Certified by the
National Association of Realtors and that 70 percent of home buyers
today use the internet in their home search? Why are you still
working with a Realtor who isn’t a technology expert?
What
this means to you:
Home
Buyers:
Liz is an expert in helping save you time by using the internet,
email and other technology resources to help save your valuable time
and money. She knows how busy you are!
Home
Sellers:
Liz will hire a professional photographer and market your home
extensively on the internet: a personal property website (see
www.SonomaHorseProperty.com
or www.48LibertyDock.com
for samples), she will post your home on over 50 websites.
FREE…..You
can search for Marin listings directly on BayAreaRealEstateSales.com:
Search
for Homes
Be
sure to check out all the other great content & features of my
website:
www.BayAreaRealEstateSales.com
Liz
McCarthy, PMN
“High-Touch
through “High-Tech”
Real
Estate Broker, e-PRO certified
McGuire
Real Estate
Liz@BayAreaRealEstateSales.com
www.BayAreaRealEstateSales.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/lizsmccarthy
BLOG:
http://bayarearealestatesales.blogspot.com/
415-250-4929
License
Number: 01421997
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