May 29, 2007
Both sales and prices are up for single family homes in Marin County year-to-date compared to the same period last year.
For 2007:
Median Price: $1,025,000
Median Days on Market: 40
Total number of sales: 822
For 2006:
Median Price: $960,000
Median Days on Market: 38
Total number of sales: 790
The median days on market are up by a couple of days but not really enough to make any difference.
Warren Carreiro
415-846-7286
May 29, 2007
Okay, you want to move to a new home in Marin County. The question is should you sell you home first or buy the new home contingent on yours selling? There is a third option of buying the new home without a contingency which is great if you have the cash or can handle double payments until your home sells.
The contingent offer is not that common, usually representing 3% of the homes in escrow. If your current home is in escrow and the contingency is just waiting for the close of escrow you are generally in a good position. However, if you plan on writing contingent offers and your home is NOT in escrow most sellers will not accept the offer unless you price is great or the home you want to buy has been on the market a long time. Don’t expect a good deal on a newly listed home.
One way around this problem is to sell your home asking for a rent-back for a couple of months. With an escrow typically 30 days long you would have 90 days (including the rent-back) to find and get into your new home.
Warren Carreiro
415-846-7286
May 25, 2007
So far this year 15 homes for $5,000,000 or more have sold in Marin. What you may not know is this is triple the usual rate of sales for ultra expensive homes. In 2003 four homes over five million sold; each year after that the number grew by one. So in 2006 we had 7 sold. Remember these are all for the first five months of the year.
Looks like the people with money are buying up the expensive homes in Marin as fast as they can.
Warren Carreiro415-846-7286
How are home priced and what price would your real estate agent like? Most good REALTORS want the same as you, the best possible price for your home. How to come up with the starting asking price is an art, not a science. For the most part, gone are the days of setting a low price and letting the multiple offers determine the market rate.
Often the asking price is “seller assisted” which means the seller wanted to start at a higher price than their agent recommended. So what is wrong with trying a higher price for a few weeks? Experience shows that if a home is priced too high in the beginning ultimately there will be a price reduction and usually an offer that is lower than the suggested starting price. Buyers want to know how long a home has been on the market and a home that has been sitting for a long time usually means it’s time for a buyer to bring in a low ball offer.
On the other hand if you under price a home you risk just one offer at the asking price as the only offer you have. If you don’t want to sell your home at the price you are asking then don’t use that price.Ideally, you home is priced so buyers feel it is as good or better than other homes priced in the same range. If not, the offer will go to the other home, not yours. When you are ready to sell take a look at other homes in the same price range and ask yourself which home your would rather have.
Warren Carreiro, Broker
415-846-7286
warren@TheMarinRealtor.com
It is fun to look at monthly sales statistics and they do give us a snap shoot at what the market looks like but one month does not make a trend. I often post quarterly or annual comparison between one year and another so we can get a better feeling of how the market is trending. This is not a crystal ball, however, past performance is often an indication what the future holds.That being said, here are the numbers for Marin County Real Estate Sales for April 2006 and 2007. The numbers are from the Marin MLS (BARIES) which includes the vast majority of sales in Marin.
April 2007
Median Price DOM #Sales
Overall: $1,000,000 (+11%) 34 (+6%) 250 (-5%)
Homes: $1,086,250 (+10%) 31 (-3%) 208 (+3%)
Condos: $549,500 (+1%) 49 (+26%) 42 (-48%)
April 2006
Overall: $899,000 32 263
Homes: $985,000 32 201
Condos: $544,750 39 62
Please let me know if you would like additional information on your town or home.
Warren Carreiro, Broker
415-846-7286
www.TheMarinRealtor.com
Published on May 4, 2007
in Blog.
It seems impossible to get a clear look at the housing situation these
days. Where there is hope there is despair, if good news there is bad,
existing home sales plummet while new home sales climb toward recovery,
ying begets yang. And in that spirit, The National Association of
Realtors (NAR) just released its annual report on the
sales of what we will call “additional homes,” that is vacation
residences and residential investment
properties.
Read More Now
Published on May 3, 2007
in Blog.
Lots of news on the mortgage front in the last few days.
…A second part of the proposed legislation is designed to “seal the
cracks in our regulatory system to prevent future widespread lending
abuses.” The bill seeks to regulate mortgage brokers and
lenders under the Truth in Lending Act. Among the proposals is…
Read More Now
Published on May 2, 2007
in Blog.
To use the word “drift” in conjunction with the mortgage market the past
week would be suggesting too much energy in mortgage rates
and in the market.
…”Recent economic data releases showing weaker existing home sales in
March, coupled with lower consumer confidence in April, caused the market
to pause and reevaluate the potential growth of the economy this year,”
said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief
economist. “This allowed all mortgage rates…”
Read More Now
Published on May 1, 2007
in Blog.
Before we were sidetracked by new and existing home sales reports and
falling interest rates we were
href="http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/4242007_Subprime_Solutions.asp">profiling
hearings before the House Committee on Financial Services that featured
some of the big wheels of banking regulation and mortgage lending talking
about solving problems with subprime mortgages and helping homeowners who
are facing foreclosure on their homes.
Read More Now