Here Comes the Sun

Finally....our normal California weather. No more turning the heat on in the morning to "get the chill out," and the woolens can make their final trip of the season to the dry cleaners. Yesterday, after a walk-through at the property that is closing on Thursday, I stopped at the car wash. Then I called and scheduled carpet cleaning for tomorrow. It will be a pleasure to show houses without fighting the cold and rain. We are so spoiled in the Bay Area that a longer rainy season makes headlines...but that is a major reason for our high real estate prices, and for the fact that the median sale price in Silicon Valley climbed 7.3 percent over this period a year ago. This trend away from entry level and distressed sales to higher-priced properties is a healthy sign that our market is steadily moving back towards normalcy.

Is the Housing Market UP or DOWN?

We hear varying information in all the statistics that are published. The best recent info comes from the National Association of Realtors. Sales in the first quarter may have been down from the fourth quarter of 2009, but it's year-to-year that really matter, and Q1 of 2010 is a definite improvement over Q1, 2009.
Interest rates are also ratcheting downward.
What's happening locally?
After the frenzy of buyers rushing to beat the deadline on the Federal Tax Credit, sales are less frenetic, but still very busy. Open houses are excellent and multiple offers abound. The difficult part is always dealing with lenders.
The appraisal on my last sale came in $25,000 under the sales price, but considerably over the listed price. Inventories are rising and sales steady. Single-family homes in the low $1 millions are moving very fast with multiple offers, but the local condo market is slower than normal. My lovely townhouse listing is still on the market.

Location, Location, Location

Last week, when I had just finished negotiating a successful sale for clients in the million dollar-plus range in a very nice area of Mountain View, I found out that my oldest son and his wife had made an offer on a lakefront property in Michigan. The markets are so dramatically different. We were competing with six other offers, and had to make a non-contingent offer that was more than $100,000 over the listed price to win the bidding war. My son had no competition, and offered $45,000 under the listed price. The final contract was $20,000 under list. Both places need extensive(and expensive) renovation.
The difference? The local house was listed at $1,200,000. It has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths and about 1600 square feet on an average size lot. The lakefront house near Kalamazoo, Michigan (where my son teaches at WMU) has 7 acres, 5 bedrooms, 4 baths, over 4000 square feet, a pool and tennis court.

Sometimes It takes a Long Time

Sometimes a client calls and everything comes together like clockwork: Inspections, Staging, Photography, Advertising, Tours, Open Houses,Sale, and Closing.
And then there are the "lifetime" listings.
This little house in Mountain View was not a long time on the market...in fact, it sold for full price after a week on the MLS and closed escrow in a month. The challenge was getting it there.
I first met the elderly woman and her adult children more than 18 months ago. Her house and garage were packed full of items that had been collected over a lifetime, plus the "collectibles" from her husband, who loved flea markets. Her daughter and son in law both worked long hours, and the months that followed were spent arranging a move for their mother to a comfortable retirement home, legal paperwork for the trust, and most difficult of all, sorting through a household full of papers, boxes, old furniture, and junk. When the house was finally empty, we were able to arrange inspections, termite work, repairs, landscaping, painting, carpeting, and mini-staging. The house looked great when I brought in the photographer, and a busy open house attracted a buyer whose agent was able to time the close so that his client could benefit from both tax incentives.
We closed a smooth escrow on Thursday, nearly 19 months after our first meeting in September 2008.

The Housing Market Goes Wild

This has been a record setting week! Santa Clara County posted the most new sales since we began tracking in 2001. Additionally, the county inventory actually dropped, which is highly unusual for this time of year. At this pace the California first time homebuyer and new construction incentives will run out very quickly, so you’d better get busy if you want to benefit from these programs. Last week Cupertino broke the record with 33 pendings. This week it is Sunnyvale with 32.
If you need more information on the credit, you'll find it on the State site.