Arn Cenedella

Archive for the 'Menlo Park Real Estate' Category

How common are sales prices above list prices? Part 2

On April 10, 2010, I wrote a post “How common are sales prices above list prices?”

My analysis of sales data in Menlo Park, Palo Alto, and San Carlos indicated that in the first three months of 2010:

38.3% of the homes sold and closed in Menlo Park sold at or above list price.

46.5% of the homes sold and closed in Palo Alto sold at or above list price.

51.3% of the homes sold and closed in San Carlos sold at or above list price.

What happened in the month of April 2010?

36.6% of the homes sold and closed in Menlo Park sold at or above list price.

56.2% of the homes sold and closed in Palo Alto sold at or above list price.

70.0% of the homes sold and closed in San Carlos sold at or above list price.

The number of home sales above list price increased in Palo Alto and San Carlos during April 2010 above the first three months of the year. Clearly, the market in those two cities is heating up.

The number of homes sales above list price in Menlo Park remained unchanged at about 36%.

To view historical sales data by city or by neighborhood on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis, click below:

Menlo Park Sales Data

Palo Alto Sales Data

San Carlos Sales Data

 

Allied Arts Menlo Park

Allied Arts is one of my favorite neighborhoods in Menlo Park.

Allied Arts is located west of El Camino Real between Middle Avenue and Creek Drive which runs along San Francisquito Creek which separates Menlo Park from Palo Alto. One can easily walk or bike to either downtown Palo Alto or Menlo Park or to Nealon Park and Little House, and to Stanford University, Hospital and Shopping Center. The newer enlarged Safeway is right at the corner of Middle and El Camino.

Most of the streets have University names – Yale, College, Cambridge, Princeton and Harvard among others.

A good friend and client of mine who lives in Allied Arts is a MD at Stanford and he roller blades to work most days.

Allied Arts is an “oasis” that seems far away from the hustle and bustle of Silicon Valley.

A long time Menlo Park institution, the Oasis Beer Garden is located on El Camino near the entrance to Allied Arts. Check it out – get a beer and a burger and throw your peanut shells on the floor. You can also carve your initials into the old wood tables – outdoor seating too!

The Allied Arts neighborhood gets its name from the Allied Arts Guild which was built in 1929 as a place for artists and craftsmen, the Allied Arts Guild is a Spanish-Colonial designed complex with fine gardens and artisan shops.

 

Allied Arts was originally developed in the 1920s and many of the original bungalow homes still remain.

Many of these original houses have now been replaced by larger two story homes but Allied Arts still retains its unique charming eclectic atmosphere.

The lots in Allied Arts tend to be long and narrow – 50′ wide by 150′ to 175′ deep.

You will often find two newer smaller houses built – front and rear – on one of Allied Arts long narrow lots.

So if you are looking for more “elbow room”, I would suggest central or west Menlo Park, where lot sizes are typically one quarter acre or 100′ x 100′.

Search for homes in Allied Arts Menlo Park

Average Price per square foot: Menlo Park Palo Alto and San Carlos

Below you will find chart showing average price per square foot for single family homes in Menlo Park, Palo Alto, and San Carlos:

Palo Alto shows the highest average price per square foot at approx. $850.

Menlo Park’s average price per square foot is approx. $675.

San Carlos’ average price per square foot is approx. $550.

Menlo Park Landmarks

Every community has certain landmarks that gives that community a unique ambiance.

Three long-time Menlo Park landmarks are all located right next to each other on a large plaza that fronts on El Camino and is backed by the Menlo Park Cal Train station. This plaza is located at the corner of Santa Cruz Avenue (the main business street in Menlo Park) and El Camino.

Kepler’s Bookstore is a large independent bookstore that has book signings about every other week. A dedicated helpful staff helps customers find just the right book. Several years ago, Kepler’s like many independent bookstores faced financial difficulties. Many community residents who understood Kepler’s importance to Menlo Park’s way of life rallied and provided financial support to allow Kepler’s to remain open.

Right next to Kepler’s is Cafe Borrones, a wonderful meeting place for coffee, a snack, or lunch. Cafe Borrones has wonderful salads, sandwiches, and deserts.There are probably about 30 outdoor tables, that are always full on warm sunny days. My office is a block or so from Kepler’s so it is a great place to meet clients, have a little fun, and talk.

After work, British Bankers Club comes to life as folks can meet for a drink or dinner after work. Later in the evenings, 3 or 4 days a week, dancing to live music begins. The BBC as it is commonly called has a fabulous back bar.

Live Music too at Cafe Borrone’s

Kepler’s Bookstore

Mother’s Day 2009 at BBC

New and Improved Homescopes Site Has Been Launched!

About 3 years ago, a group of nine Northern California real estate agents created Homescopes, a group blog specifically addressing the needs of Northern California home buyers and sellers.

All of the agents within the Homescopes group are experienced and very knowledgeable about their local market areas.

So whether you are looking to buy on the San Francisco Peninsula, or in Silicon Valley, or the East Bay or in Marin, Napa, and Sonoma Counties or even up in Lake Tahoe/Truckee area, we can help.

Each agent blog is devoted to a specific area in Northern California.

From each agent’s blog, one can search for homes in that particular location.

Homesscopes can be your one-stop shop for information about Northern California communities and the real estate found within those communties.

Weekly Market Watch – SF Peninsula April 17, 2010

SF Peninsula— In Burlingame, multiple offers are happening every day in the $600,000 to $1 million range, as entry level buyer are scrambling to meet first-time buyer deadlines. When the price is attractive enough, open homes are drawing big crowds. We had one Millbrae home open in pouring rain with over 60 attendees. Consistent activity at all price ranges was reported in Redwood City. Open houses have been well attended there regardless of Easter and pouring down rain. The market in Menlo Park is mixed. Spring break combined with Easter weekend caused the market to slow slightly. However, good new inventory is still flying off the shelf. There were a few multiple offer sales the last couple of weeks. Buyers are out there, dipping their toes in the water. Sales and inventory are also steady in Half Moon Bay. In Palo Alto, the market has mirrored the spring school breaks – the last week or so has been relatively slow for sales and inventory. But our local offices expect the north side of Palo Alto to have more sales activity in the near future. The south side is waiting for more inventory to hit the market.

For complete San Francisco Bay Area report, click here.

New listings in west Menlo Park

There were lots of good new listings in west Menlo Park today on tour.

Prices ranged from $959,000 to $2,995,000.

We're sorry, but we couldn't find MLS # 81017341 in our database. This property may be a new listing or possibly taken off the market. Please check back again.

We're sorry, but we couldn't find MLS # 81017571 in our database. This property may be a new listing or possibly taken off the market. Please check back again.

Read the rest of this entry »

Menlo Park Single Family versus Condo comparision

The charts below track Menlo Park real estate over the past 12 months with the data broken down by quartile price range – highest price, middle high, middle low, and lowest price.

This data indicates prices in all four quartiles have been declining slightly for single family houses.

Prices for condominiums and townhouses show a larger decline than for single family houses.

 

How common are sale prices above list prices?

Everyone is aware that the local real estate market has slowed over the past few years.

That being said, multiple offers are still very prevalent as the following data will indicate.

During the first three months of this year 2010:

38.3% of the homes sold and closed in Menlo Park sold at or above list price.

46.5% of the homes sold and closed in Palo Alto sold at or above list price.

51.3% of the homes sold and closed in San Carlos sold at or above list price.

This data indciates that buyers are out looking for property in strong numbers and that they are willing to bid over list price to obtain properties that are well-priced and offer good value.

So, buyers when you see a good value be preapred to go after the property with a strong offer.

I have written 4 offers for buyers in Menlo Park the past two weeks at price ranges from $249,000 to $2,098,000 and in all 4 cases, there were multiple offers on each property.  All of my clients’ offers were strong clean offers from well-qualified buyers. 2 were accepted. 2 were not.

This data should also indicate to sellers that pricing at attractive levels will often lead to buyer competition that will drive sales prices upward.

90 day FHA flip rule

The past 18 months I have been quite active with investors who typically pay cash for a foreclosure REO in either East Palo Alto or east Menlo Park.These investors typically fix the property up and place back on the market for sale. These transactions are known as flip due to the short turn-around time from original purchase as an REO and then re-sale to the “end user” – either an owner occupant or long-term investor who wishes to rent the property out.

Last year, FHA had a rule that stated they would NOT fund any purchase of the property that was originally purchased within the past 90 days. In fact, they would not fund a loan on a property when the contract for sale was entered into less than 90 days after to the last purchase date. Read the rest of this entry »