Arn Cenedella

Archive for the 'Palo Alto Real Estate' Category

How is the current market in Menlo Park ?

My Coldwell Banker El Camino office had our Half Year State of the Office and Marketplace meeting earlier today. My office is the number 1 Coldwell Banker office in the San Francisco/Peninsula region in terms of listings and closed sales per agent year to agent.

Here is what our office has experienced in the first half of the year to date.

Average sales price is up 5.5% but the number of sales is down 38%.

So in our market area, prices have held up fairly well and in some cases increased while sales volume is down significantly.

 I will supply actual market data for each community in my market area in subsequent posts.

Single Family Home Inventories are Increasing

The charts speak for themselves – inventory is increasing. Will sales increase to absorb the increasing inventory?

Palo Alto Home Sales as a % of New Listings

Palo Alto home sales as measured as a percentage of new listings is slower in 2008 than in 2007.

In 2007, homes sales were 36.% of new listings in January 2007, 73.81% in February 2007 and 94.55% in March 2007.

The corresponding figures in 2008 are 36.11%, 36.17%, and 55.36%.

Inventory is increasing.

There were 5 months in 2007 where monthly sales exceeded the number of new listings.

We see a similar trend in Palo Alto as we have in Menlo Park and San Carlos.

2008 sale numbers are below 2007 sale numbers.

The number of sales has increased through the first three months of the year.

What willthe rest of the year bring in Palo Alto?

4170 Thain Way Palo Alto Barron Square townhouse

Another exciting tour property in Palo Alto today was 4170 Thain Way, Palo Alto listed by Dante Drummond Coldwell Banker for $1,199,000.

Per Dante:

One of Palo Alto’s largest townhomes! Sophisticated & elegant with hdwd flrs, cathedral ceilings, Andersen doors leading out of living room and formal dining room to outside extended patio w/views of trees and greenbelt. Two master suites, one down which opens to patio. One up with sitting rm, walk-in closet, balcony. Lots of storage, 2-car garage. Pool, spa, tennis

 Here is a picture:

Many years ago (20? 25?) I sold a one level townhouse at Barron Square to some dear friends and great clients. They just absolutely love their townhouse at Barron Square. He is a local Palo Alto family law attorney and she has worked at Stanford for many years. So I can personally attest to the desirability of this development. Unlike many newer developments, there is a sense of some elbow room at Barron Square. It was built in 1980.

What can you buy for around a Million Dollars in downtown Palo Alto?

Downtown Palo Alto is a fabulous place to live. One can walk to numerous fine restaurants and excellent shopping. CalTrain is nearby and Stanford University is just across El Camino from downtown Palo Alto. There are several smaller parks in the downtown area.

On tour this Friday, I saw 4 smaller properties all listed around $1,000,000.

Gina Lazar of Cashin Properties [email protected] has listed 2 of these newly listed downtown Palo Alto properties:

109 Webster St. for $825,000

This is a darling 2 bedroom 1.5 bath cottage has 692sf of living area and is situated on a 2,178sf lot.

612 Palo Alto Ave. listed at $950,000.

This 2 bedroom 2 bath bungalow contains 1,640sf of living area and has been recently updated inclduing a small loft. The lot is 2,178sf.

These 2 properties are combined through a tenant-in-common form of ownership that we are beginning to see more and more of in Palo Alto. It is quite common in older San Francisco buildings commonly referred to as TICs (”ticks”). In this kind of ownership, there are several tenant in common owners of the entire property with each owner having the right to occupy a specific portion of the entire property. These are slightly different from condominium ownership but the concepts are very similar. There are governing documents in both cases which spell out the rights and responsibilities of each owner. In years past, TIC properties require one blanket loan on the entire property (i.e. individual loans were not made to each individual owner but rather one loan was made to all the owners in the TIC). This is now starting to change as a small number of lenders are offering individual loans secured by individual tenant-in-common interests. Please contact me if you would like further information on this ownership concept.

240 Fulton Street is listed by Patricia Peterson of Coldwell Banker, [email protected] for $1,100,000.

This chamring English cottage contains 2 bedrooms and 1 bath. It is located on a 4,791sf lot. There is a hot tub in the rear yard.

The next newly listed property is a condominium in the fabulous 2 year old building at 800 High Street. 800 High St. #105 is listed by Frances Papapietro of Coldwell Banker, [email protected] for $1,098,000.

This property is a ground floor 2 bedroom 2 bath unit of 1,279sf.

You can walk right out your front door and be at Watercourse Way in about 2 minutes.

So there are some options in this price range for people who want to live in downtown Palo Alto.

Who says the bubble has burst?

Gwen Luce of Coldwell Banker Menlo Park recently listed a home at 830 Ilima Ct., Palo Alto.

List price is $1,395,000 for an 1890 square foot home in a 7200 sqaure foot lot in Barron Park. Barron Park is a very desirable Palo Alto neighborohood west of El Camino Real. It was the last major annexation into the City of Palo Alto. The area has maintained its charming country feel with no sidewalks to be found. There are several neighborhood parks and the local kids go to Gunn High School. 

This property just sold with 15  20  offers. Another agent in my office did not represent the “winning buyer” and her client made an offer well in excess of list!

But I guess the newspapers and Jim Cramer must be right  !!!!- buyers can’t get financing and since there were only 15 offers, the bubble must be bursting…..I guess if the market wasn’t so weak, there would have been 45 offers on the property!

Don’t believe everything you hear – contact an experienced local real estate professional to get the up-to-date information you need to make an informed decision.

Palo Alto Market Update

The monthly average number of sales in Palo Alto has remained fairly steady to slightly decreasing over the past 18 months.

The average and median sale prices have increased significantly over the past 18 months.

For data in other communities, click on San Mateo County Market Data or Santa Clara County Market Data.