Arn Cenedella

Archive for the 'Real Estate' Category

Buyers are out in large numbers looking for property

Chris Iverson a Palo Alto realtor and guest contributor to Kevin Boer 3 Oceans Real Estate has written a recent post about whether this is a good time to buy. Chris mentions how one of his new listings just sold with no contingencies after being on the market for 3 days.

I have just put a new listing on the market at 256 Fir St., San Carlos for $859,000.

The property was held open both Saturday and Sunday. I had maybe 40 to 45 groups through each day. 3 of these prospects had recently made offers on other San Carlos listings but did not get the winning acceptance. One of these properties had 9 offers on it and the other had 4 offers.

So if you take the 13 offers and subtract the 2 winning offers, you have 11 other buyers looking for a house in San Carlos priced between $800,000 and $900,000.

Bottom line, the buyers are out there and they are ready willing and able to buy a well-located property that is priced reasonably and offers long-term value.

For a look at open house activity on the San Mateo Coastside, please go to Marian’s blog, Marian Bennett Half Moon Bay Coldwell Banker real estate agent. Marian reports many more buyers out looking at a new listing of hers than she has seen in many months. Marian rates the weather as a 10 as I do.

Spring is here – the buyers will follow – inventory is still low – it’s a good time to get your home on the market.

On a similar note, my Menlo Park Coldwell Banker office had a very good week last week in sales. My office which is one of the strongest Coldwell Banker offices in the entire Bay Area has been averaging many 5 or 6 sales a week. Last week we had 11 sales from a San Carlos condo priced at $649,000 to an Atherton estate priced a $8,250,000.

Fannie Mae Freddie Mac loan limits have been increased !

Matt Carter of Inman News reports that both houses of Congress have passed an economic stimulus package which includes raising the conforming loan limit substantially. It is believed the new limit in California will be $729,750.

I think we will need a few weeks to let the “dust settle” before it becomes clear exactly how the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the actual real estate lenders will handle this increase in the conforming loan limit.

It is clear that this increase will lower interest rates on mortgages up to the new limit which will benefit both home buyers and existing home owners who wish to refinance to obtain a lower interest rate or perhaps to get out of a loan that will adjust upward.

Bottom line this is good news for both buyers and sellers.

The most expensive single family home in Menlo Park

1155 Trinity Drive, Menlo Park is currently listed by Michelle Englert of Cashin Properties in conjunction with two of her office mates Doyle Rundell and Kristin Cashin.

This wonderful Sharon Heights home came on the market in early January and was originally priced at $5,495,000 and is now listed at $5,295,000.

This stunning updated Mediterranean estate sits on over a one half acre parcel and has views of the coastal range and Sharon Heights Golf Club . The residence was built in 1998 and updated since that time. It contains nearly 5,600sf of living area and has 5 bedrooms and 5.5 baths. This home is built for entertaining.

Seems to me a venture capitalist who works on Sand Hill Rd. should buy this property.

Virtual tour

What do you think about agents taking listings off market and then putting them back on as new listings?

The FrontSteps a San Francisco Real Estate Blog reports the ABC Nightline may do a story on the the practice of some seller agents taking a listing that has not sold off the market and then putting the property back on the market so it shows like it is a new listing.

Many believe this practice is unfair to the buying public.
This issue seems to surface every few months.
In my mind, it is not as big an issue as many think.
If a potential buyer is working with a knowledgeable professional agent who knows the local market, that agent will know whether the property was on the market 1 month ago or 3 months ago or 6 months ago.
When I represent buyers interested in purchasing a house in a particular neighborhood, I make sure I send them ALL the market data for similar properties in that neighborhood typically back at least 6 months but often 12 months. I send them active listings, pending listings, sold properties and expired or withdrawn listings. So my buyer clients have the information they need to make an informed decision. So in my mind if seller agents want to play games with days on market, let them. These games will not fool knowledgeable buyers working with experienced professional agents. That being said, many mls services like REInfolink on the San Francisco Peninsula now have CDOM and DOM – cumulative days on market and days on market – so the data is readily available.

Julie Joyce a realtor in the Montclair Piedmont area has similar thoughts stating that buyers in the Bay Area are sophisticated knowledgeable consumers who throughly research market data before making a decision.

Marian Bennett a realtor in the Half Moon Bay area on the San Mateo Coastside gives several specific examples on how days on market can vary and what days on market really means.

A look at the Half Moon Bay San Mateo Coastside Market

For an up-to-date analysis of the market on the San Mateo Coastside, please go to a local blog written by Marian Bennett, a Coldwell Banker agent in Half Moon Bay. Marian also provides some detailed information of the various Coastside communities.

Increase in Conforming Loan Limit may be in Doubt

Inman News reports that the conforming loan limit agreement passed in the House of Representatives may run into opposition from Sentate Republicans.

Stay tuned for up to date information on this current legislative action.

Countrywide Financial Market Ratings

Countrywide Financial one of the nation’s largest lenders and recently purchased by Bank of America has published its rankings of market risk for the entire country.

The rankings are on a scale from 1 to 5 – with 1 being the most stable and 5 being the most risky.

San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties are have been rated 2.

NO counties in California were rated as 1s.

The rankings will be used by Countrywide as a basis for determining the size of loans made in each area.

Potential Change in Fannie Mae Freddie Mac loan limits

The House of Representatives has just passed a bill raising the Fannie Mae Freddie Mac loan limit from $417,000 to $625,000. The bill is on its way to the Senate and President Bush has indicated that he will sign the bill should the Senate pass it.

This is a potentially promising development for home buyers and home owners in high cost areas like the San Francisco Bay Area.

At the current time, conforming loans (i.e. those currently under $417,000) carry interest rates about 1% below jumbo loans (i.e. those currently over $417,000).

If this bill passes, it will be a big benefit to buyers who wish to borrow up to $625,000 or current homeowners who have existing mortgages up to $625,000 who wish to refinance.

Let’s take a look at what this may mean from a dollars and cents point of view.

Let’s take a $600,000 loan.

At 7%, the monthly payment for a 30 year fixed rate loan is $3,991.81.

At 6%, the monthly payment for the same loan would be $3,597.30 or $394.51 less per month.

In terms of qualifying for a loan, this $394.51 reduction in payment will reduce the income needed to qualify for this $600,000 loan by nearly $1,200 per month.

Smart Money provides further details on this exciting news. In addition, the bill passed by the House includes a provision for a 1 year increase in the limit to $729,750.

David Blockhous a long-time Los Altos resident and real estate agent with Coldwell Banker correctly points out that even if the increase in loan limit is passed it will not have a large effect on the Los Altos Palo Alto Menlo Park market since average prices are over $1.5M so even a $625,000 loan is well under 50% of the normal house price. Of course, the Los Altos Palo Alto Menlo Park real estate market is doing just fine. It is the lower price range that needs help. In the $600,000 to $800,000 price range, the proposed increase will help home buyers.

Marian Bennett living on the San Mateo Coastside and working as a Half Moon Bay real estate agent wonders whether these proposed changes will be a long term benefit to our economy. Marian also wonders how much of this activity is politically motivated. Per the RE Guru: Yes Marian it is ALL politically motivated – just about everything that goes on in Washington is. Most if not all of those Washington politicos sit around and yak yak yak – sit around and do nothing – and then when a problem hits – look for someone to blame – look to profit from it politically – and then try to get on TV and talk about how they feel the pain of the common man and woman while being driven in their limo to a five start restaurant which we the taxpayers pay for. So typical……….

 OTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION ABOUT THIS ISSUE:

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight indicates that nearly 50% of jumbo mortgages are originated in California. This office appears to be against passage of the new bill.

Menlo Park 2007 Real Estate Trends

The number of single family homes sold in 2007 increased  8.8% from 2006 levels.

Average and median prices of single family homes in Menlo Park decreased slightly by 2.1% and 0.7% respectively.

The number of condominium and townhouse sales in Menlo Park dropped 7.7% from 2006 to 2007.

Average and median prices however increased 5.4% and 5.2% respectively.

Redwood City 2007 real estate trends

The number of single family homes sold in Redwood City droped 11.1% from 20060 to 2007.

570 homes were sold in 2006 and 507 homes were sold in 2007.

The average and median prices increased 6.8% and 4.1% respectively to $1,030,281 and $885,000.

The number of Redwood City condominium and townhouse sales dropped 14.9% from 2006 to 2007.  There were 74 sales in 2006 and 63 in 2007.

As with single family homes, the average and median prices also increased 6.9% and 12.8% respectively. $591,594 average price and $597,400 median price.

To find market data in other San Mateo communities, please go to San Mateo County Real Estate Data on my blog www.SFPeninsulaREGuru.com.