Arn Cenedella

Archive for the 'Palo Alto Real Estate' Category

Downtown Palo Alto tour April 30, 2010

Here are a few new listings in downtown Palo Alto that will be on tour this Friday.

Downtown Palo Alto offers all of the excitement and fun of living in a city but with suburban convenience.

Many of the streets are lined with beautiful old trees.

The houses vary from 1920 bungalows to spectacular new construction.

We're sorry, but we couldn't find MLS # 81001691 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 # 81016759 in our database. This property may be a new listing or possibly taken off the market. Please check back again.

Just let me know if any of these properties interest you or if you would like to learn more about the downtown Palo Alto real estate market.

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.

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.

Palo Alto tour properties in Crescent Park and Old Palo Alto

Here are new listings in Old Palo Alto and Crescent Park, two of Palo Alto’s most desirable neighborhoods.

We're sorry, but we couldn't find MLS # 81017676 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 # 81018184 in our database. This property may be a new listing or possibly taken off the market. Please check back again.

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Downtown Palo Alto tour properties

There are two new listings on tour in downtown Palo Alto Friday April 16, 2010.

We're sorry, but we couldn't find MLS # 81018262 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 # 81012941 in our database. This property may be a new listing or possibly taken off the market. Please check back again.

To search for all homes, condominiums, and townhouses for sale in downtown Palo Alto, click here.

Palo Alto Single Family versus Condo Comparision

The charts below track Palo Alto 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 basically flat for single family houses.

Prices for condominiums and townhouses have declined slightly over the past 12 months.

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.

The number of homes for sale in San Carlos, Menlo Park, and Palo Alto is down from 2009.

Spring is typically the time of year when the number of homes for sale increases.

The number of homes for sale in San Carlos, Menlo Park, and Palo Alto has increased from the first of the year but it is interesting to note that in all three cities, the number of homes for sale in March 2010 is less than the number for sale in March 2009.

It is my opinion that the market is in kind of a log jam where only sellers who need to sell are putting their homes on the market. These sellers might be owners who need to sell for financial reasons or for job transfers or change in life events – birth of a child, marriage, divorce, illness, etc.

The typical seller is our market area often sells their existing residence in order to “move up” to a larger residence or perhaps to a better neighborhood. Many of these sellers seem to be sitting the market out this spring. Perhaps they still have job security concerns where they are reluctant to take on a larger mortgage or perhaps the value of their house has fallen the past few years so that the equity in the current house is not large enough for the needed 20% on a larger home.

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Real Estate Market to Rebound in 2011

so says Warren Buffet…………

The Real Estate Bloggers report that Warren says:

“within a year or so, residential housing problems should largely be behind us”

“prices will remain below “bubble levels”"

“many families that couldn’t afford to buy an appropriate home a few years ago now find it well with their means”

Click here for full article.

I would say Don’t bet against Buffet.