Downtown San Anselmo under four feet of water December 31, 2005
Warren Carreiro
Warren@RealtyOfMarin.com
Archive for October, 2007
These figures are from BARIES MLS as of October 25, 2007. Not all October sales are in but this is how it is looking. First of all, contrary to some of the newspaper headlines, home prices in Marin are holding pretty well. Sales are down, but prices are strong. I would also like to mention that one month does not make a trend. Also, those these numbers don’t really show it, prices are very soft in specific areas (Novato) and price ranges (the lower end). These statistics are for all of Marin and include both single family homes and condominiums for all Marin county realty.
Year #Sold Median Price Median Sq.Ft.
2007 132 $927,000 1,606
2006 197 $866,250 1,672
Warren Carreiro
This picture was taken from where the current Fire Department in Greenbrae is located near Bon Air. The Fire Department was there but the patch of water I was sailing in is now filled in with land, has homes, a park and a road.
Longs Drug Store in Bon Air Shopping Center was not built yet. There was a drug store at the other end of the mall, currently Wells Fargo is taking that space.
Just to the right of the picture was a “yacht club” if you want to call it that. It was nothing more than a locked-in fenced area where we could keep the small sail boats. We would have formal races on the weekends. What do kids do today?
By the way, that is me in the sail boat. If you have an old photo you would like to share send it to me.
Warren Carreiro
October 5, 2007 It is a buyer’s market in Marin for single family dwellings for all price ranges except homes $500,000 or less. For most of the country that price range would get you a nice home but not in Marin County. With Marin realty you get a starter home, either a fixer and/or on a busy street. I should know, I am a Realtor, Warren Carreiro, and that was the type of starter home I had years ago.The reason it is a strong buyers market for the lower end is those are the buyers that were coming out of rentals and usually did not have a large down payment saved. The banks said no problem, you can fog a mirror, so just sign here. That is why we are in the credit mess. I you have a down payment and good credit the money is there for you and at good rates. If you can’t afford your payment when it adjusts your should not buy the house.
One method we use for getting a real-time snap shot of market activity is to look at the percentage of available homes in escrow. This tells us how strong the market is and we can look at this by price range and city or many other combinations.
Price Range % in Escrow Remarks
Under 500k 25% Neutral Market
500k -1 Million 18% Buyer’s Market
1-2 Million 19% Buyer’s Market
2-5 Million 10% Buyer’s Market
Over 5 Million 13% Buyer’s Market
The usual definition of a buyer’s market is less than 25% of homes in escrow. This holds true for the majority of homes, however, for the high-end I don’t feel it accurately reflects market conditions. For example, in Marin, sales of homes over five million dollars have doubled this year.
Call or email if you have any questions.
warren@RealtyOfMarin.com