Selling your house
Bay
Area Real Estate Sales.com Newsletter
October
2009
In
This Month’s Issue:
How
Is The Marin Real Estate Market Performing?
What
is Your Home Worth in Today's Market?
Foreclosures/Bank
Owned and Auction Properties
Apply
To Have Your Property Tax Re-assessed
Marin
Schools Continue To Out Perform Many in the State
What
Did Homes In Your Neighborhood Sell For?
Search
the Marin Multiple Listing Service
What
Do Clients Say About Working With Liz McCarthy?
SEPTEMBER
MARIN REAL ESTATE UPDATE
How
is the Marin Real Estate Market Performing?
|
September
2009 Closed Sales
Single
Family Residences
|
|
|
Days
on Market
|
List
Price
|
Selling
Price
|
|
Average
|
107
|
$1,108,397
|
$1,067,263
|
|
Median
|
71
|
$825,000
|
$815,000
|
|
September
2009 Closed Sales
Condos
|
|
|
Days
on Market
|
List
Price
|
Selling
Price
|
|
Average
|
107
|
$399,079
|
$385,051
|
|
Median
|
94
|
$385,000
|
$389,500
|
The
Marin County, Single Family Home Report this week looked at 1100
homes on the market. The median price was $1,264,493. These homes
have been on the market for an average of 100 days. As far as the
condos report this week, there were 287 condos on the market. The
median price this week is $447,808. These condos have been on the
market for an average of 140 days.
If
you would like to see how many current homes are listed in each
town/zip code in Marin, what the median price is, square foot is, how
many have just been listed and the average days on the market,
please click on the following 2 reports:
Single
Family Homes Report for Marin week of 10/11/09
Condo
Report for Marin, week of 10/11/09
Below
you will find a break down by city and price range of how many homes
are in contract compared to how many homes are listed.
Analysis
by Price Range:
For the first time in almost two years years, the overall Marin is
in a “Balanced Market” category, but this is a bit
misleading. Even stronger than last month’s “Strong
Sellers” the very low end of the market (homes priced under
$500,000) is actually in a “Extreme Sellers” market, and
like last month homes priced from $500,000 - $749,000 are in a
Sellers Market which tips the overall averages. Homes priced from
$750,000 - $1,490,000 have heated up a bit to a “Buyers
Market”. Homes priced from $1.5M - $4M are in a “Strong
Buyers” market.
Analysis
by City:
In the low-end market in Novato and some parts of San Rafael
multiple offers have been the norm. (as can be seen by the fact
that Novato is now considered to be in a “Strong Sellers”
category). Keep in mind that these multiple offers and the sellers
market is in the low end, where there have been numerous foreclosures
and short sales. It’s very interesting to note that this month
Corte Madera has really heated up to a Strong Sellers Market, as 50%
of all available homes are currently under contract. ,Tiburon seems
to be in the worst shape of all the cities, as only 8% of all
available homes for sale are in contract, making it an “Extreme
Buyers Market.” The Middle to high end of the Marin market is
s still challenged, as there is a lot of inventory and it’s
harder to get Jumbo loans.
If
you are looking to sell your home, know that it MUST be well-priced
and show in pristine condition! That’s where a good Sellers
agent comes in, you need advice to help you get the house ready as
well as stage/prepare it for showing. Let me know if I can help you
devise a strategy to sell your home. My last 3 listing have all gone
into contract the first week after I listed them! Yes, in this
market! It is possible to sell your home!
It
is interesting to note that number of expired listings have
increased. Home sellers who are not seeing offers or who are seeing
offers below expectations are taking their homes off the market.
|
MARIN
HOME (CONDO + SFR) SALES STATISTICS - BY CITY AS OF 10/14/09
|
|
City
|
Total
|
Active
|
Number
in Contract***
|
Percent
in Contract*
|
Type
of Market*
(See
Key)
|
|
Belvedere
|
42
|
37
|
5
|
12%
|
Strong
Buyers
|
|
Corte
Madera
|
42
|
21
|
21
|
50%
|
Strong
Sellers
|
|
Fairfax
|
51
|
32
|
19
|
37%
|
Sellers
|
|
Greenbrae
|
49
|
38
|
11
|
22%
|
Buyers
|
|
Kentfield
|
42
|
31
|
11
|
26%
|
Buyers
|
|
Larkspur
|
39
|
32
|
7
|
18%
|
Strong
Buyers
|
|
Mill
Valley
|
182
|
141
|
41
|
23%
|
Buyers
|
|
Novato
|
330
|
152
|
178
|
54%
|
Strong
Sellers
|
|
Ross
|
31
|
26
|
5
|
16%
|
Strong
Buyers
|
|
San
Anselmo
|
102
|
70
|
32
|
31%
|
Balanced
|
|
San
Rafael
|
336
|
219
|
117
|
35%
|
Balanced
|
|
Sausalito
|
80
|
61
|
19
|
24%
|
Buyers
|
|
Tiburon
|
68
|
90
|
8
|
8%
|
Extreme
Buyers
|
|
Others
|
105
|
88
|
17
|
16%
|
Strong
Buyers
|
|
Total
Marin 10/14/09
|
1529
|
1038
|
491
|
32.11%
|
Balanced
|
|
Total
Marin 8/19/09
|
1533
|
1070
|
463
|
30.2%
|
Buyers
|
|
Total
Marin 7/23/09
|
1533
|
1097
|
436
|
28.44%
|
Buyers
|
|
MARIN
HOME SALES STATISTICS - BY PRICE RANGE AS OF 10/14/09
|
|
Price
|
Total
|
Active
|
Number
in Contract***
|
Percent
in Contract*
|
Type
of Market*
(See
Key)
|
|
$100,000-$499,999
|
303
|
130
|
173
|
57%
|
Extreme
Sellers
|
|
$500,000-$749,999
|
360
|
199
|
161
|
45%
|
Sellers
|
|
$750,000-$999,999
|
281
|
215
|
66
|
23%
|
Buyers
|
|
$1,000,000-$1,499,999
|
234
|
185
|
49
|
21%
|
Buyers
|
|
$1,500,000-$1,999,999
|
118
|
104
|
14
|
12%
|
Strong
Buyers
|
|
$2,000,000-$2,499,999
|
71
|
61
|
10
|
14%
|
Strong
Buyers
|
|
$2,500,000-$2,999,999
|
52
|
44
|
8
|
15%
|
Strong
Buyers
|
|
$3,000,000-$3,999,999
|
43
|
38
|
5
|
12%
|
Strong
Buyers
|
|
Over
$4,000,000
|
66
|
62
|
4
|
6%
|
Extreme
Buyers
|
|
Total
|
1528
|
1038
|
490
|
32%
|
Balanced
|
|
*Key
to
market type:
|
|
0%
- 10% of Homes in Escrow: Extreme Buyers
|
36%
- 45% of Homes in Escrow: Sellers
|
|
11%
- 20% of Homes in Escrow: Strong Buyers
|
46%
- 55% of Homes in Escrow: Strong Sellers
|
|
21%
- 30% of Homes in Escrow: Buyers
|
56%
- 100% of Homes in Escrow: Extreme Sellers
|
|
31%
- 35% of Homes in Escrow: Balanced Market
|
**Based
on information from Bay Area Real Estate Information Services,
Inc. (BAREIS). Information has not been verified, is not
guaranteed, and is subject to change and is based on one period of
time.”
***Includes
all: Sale Pending & Contingent properties
The
real estate market is very hard to generalize. It is a market made up
of many micro markets. For complete information on a particular
neighborhood or for an evaluation of your home's worth, call me. If
I can help you devise a strategy, call or click the buying or selling
link in the menu to the top.
If
you know of anyone who would like to receive this monthly newsletter
or is thinking of either buying or selling a home please let me know.
I’d love your referrals!
WHAT
IS YOUR HOME WORTH IN TODAY'S MARKET?
I’ve
mentioned in the past, I’m constantly on the look out for
information to better prepare my clients to understand the local real
estate market. I’ve got 2 great new stat evaluation programs
that I’m providing FREE of charge to my clients and viewers of
my newsletter!
1.
FREE HOME EVALUATION REPORT:
If
you would like a personalized Market evaluation of YOUR home, within
30 minutes of submitting your request, or if you are a home Buyer and
want to do a Market Snapshot of a particular zip code, that works
too! Check it out, I PROMISE you you’ll love what you see!
These reports will include recent comp data. just click here:
http://www.homeinsight.com/Widget/default.asp?63JKTSX3ZUFH
2.
DETAILED
MARKET EVALUATION REPORT BY CITY:
Additionally,
you can sign up to receive a detailed weekly market update of your
interested city.
To
see a sample Market Analysis report, here is the Mill Valley Report
from last week. REMEMBER that you can get this report updated weekly
by signing up here: To do so, click here and choose your market
location. http://www.bayarearealestatesales.com/stats.html
3.
FORECLOSURE
ACTIVITY
Foreclosure
activity, in the article/chart below: you’ll see that the
number of Pre-foreclosures, Auction and Bank-owned property was about
the same as in May overall. The number in pre-foreclosure did
decrease. If you’d like to see the bank owned homes on a map,
you can do a search here: Search
the Map Based REO (Bank Owned) Homes in Marin Click Here
Of
course, if you have any questions please call me at 415-250-4929 or
drop me an email at Liz@BayAreaRealEstateSales.com
FORECLOSURES/BANK
OWNED AND AUCTION PROPERTIES
|
Type
|
Number
as of 10/14/09
|
|
Pre-foreclosure
|
499
|
|
Auction
Sale
|
338
|
|
Bank
Owned
|
345
|
|
TOTAL
|
1,182
|
I
can provide you a list of all of the current properties in any of the
above types anywhere in Marin.
Now,
let’s get into the detail on these homes and others that are on
the MLS. The majority of the bank owned properties are listed on the
MLS as the banks hire local real estate agents to sell the
properties. In addition to these 358 bank owned there are also
approximately 500 additional homes on the MLS being marketed along
with these bank owned. These distressed properties will pull down the
sales price for any home in the neighborhood.
If
you would like to see the public Bank Owned properties in Marin, here
they are on a map:
Search
the Map Based REO (Bank Owned) Homes in Marin Click Here
I
have access to all of these homes!! If you would like me to pull a
more customized list for any town in Marin that will show:
Pre-foreclosure, Auction and/or Bank owned properties, just email me:
Liz@BayAreaRealEstateSales.com
FREE…..You
can search for Marin listings directly on BayAreaRealEstateSales.com:
Search
for Homes
Back
to top
APPLY
TO HAVE YOUR PROPERTY TAX REASSESSED
Has
the value of your house gone down since it was last assessed by the
Marin County Tax Assessor? One of my clients received a lowered
assessment document in the mail, but they still applied for an
Informal Review of their January 1 09 Assessment. The homeowner’s
assessment was lowered even further. If you would like to request a
reassessment evaluation of your home, you need to do the following by
December 31, 2009:
Download
and fill out the form on the County Tax Assessors website:
http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/AR/Forms/Request_for_Assessment_Review_Form.pdf
Find
3 comps that closed on or before March 31, 2009. I would be more
than happy to pull comps for you to help fill out the Review Form.
Just email me and give me your property address:
Liz@BayAreaRealEstateSales.com
Mail
the completed form to the Tax Assessor at: Joan Thayer,
Asessor-Recorder, PO Box C, San Rafael, CA 94913 Remember that it
must be post-marked as of 12/21/09!
MARIN
SCHOOLS CONTINUE TO OUT PERFORM MANY IN THE STATE
MarinIJ.com
At
least 48 Marin schools reported API scores of 800 or more - the state
standard for academic achievement - including every elementary school
in the Dixie, Novato and Ross Valley districts. As many as 22 schools
reported scores of 900 or higher, including every school in the
Kentfield, Larkspur, Mill Valley and Reed districts.
Despite
achieving high scores on the Academic Performance Index - the state's
benchmark for educational achievement - the Novato and San Rafael
school districts have been penalized for failing to meet federal
performance goals set by the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act.
Sixteen
schools in the county failed to meet federal mandates, more than
twice as many as last year. That number includes two of Novato's
three middle schools and both of its high schools, as well as four of
San Rafael's seven elementary schools, both of its high schools and
the district's lone middle school.
"The
state and federal standards are not the same. The expectations are
different for each group," said Jan La Torre-Derby,
superintendent of the Novato Unified School District. "I don't
believe the people who devised No Child Left Behind understood the
consequences of what they were doing."
Districts
that fail to meet the standard must provide private tutoring to any
student who requests it, allow any interested student to transfer to
a school outside of the district, and pay for that student to travel
to his or her new school - or risk losing federal education funds.
Statewide, only 51 percent of schools met the federal standard, down
1 percentage point from last year.
To
read the entire article at MarinIJ.com go here Marin
IJ School Story
To
see how your neighborhood schools scored, find all the Marin Test
Reports here: http://star.cde.ca.gov/star2009/SearchPanel.asp
And
here is an easy chart to check on the Academic Performance Index API
scores for 2008.
http://www.sfgate.com/webdb/2008api/marincounty/
WHAT
DID HOMES IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD SELL FOR?
Are
you Curious to know what the Median home price is in your
neighborhood?
Click
here to get an automated Market Snapshot of your house and the
surrounding home comps.
http://www.homeinsight.com/Widget/default.asp?63JKTSX3ZUFH
SEARCH
THE MARIN MULTIPLE LISTING SERVICE
The
following links will take you to home searches for different cities
in Marin.
All
search results are displayed from the highest price to the lowest
price. You can scroll through pages at a time.
Belvedere
homes for sale: Belvedere
Homes For Sale
Corte
Madera homes for sale: Corte
Madera Homes For Sale
Fairfax
homes for Sale: Fairfax
Homes For Sale
Greenbrae
homes for sale: Greenbrae
Homes For Sale
Kentfield
homes for sale: Kentfield
Homes For Sale
Larkspur
homes for sale: Larkspur
Homes For Sale
Mill
Valley homes for sale: Mill
Valley Homes For Sale
Mill
Valley condos for sale: Mill
Valley Condos For Sale
Novato
homes for Sale: Novato
Homes For Sale
Novato
Condos for Sale: Novato
Condos
Ross
homes for sale: Ross
Homes For Sale
San
Anselmo homes for sale: San
Anselmo Homes For Sale
San
Rafael HOMES for sale: San
Rafael Homes For Sale
San
Rafael CONDOS for sale: San
Rafael Condos For Sale
Sausalito
homes for sale: Sausalito
Homes For Sale
Tiburon
homes for sale: Tiburon
Homes For Sale
Back
to top
WHAT
DO CLIENTS SAY ABOUT WORKING WITH LIZ MCCARTHY?
“My
husband and I keep Liz's business cards in our car at all times in
case we meet someone in need of a realtor in Marin. We were
blown away by Liz's mission to find us the perfect home for us. She
thoroughly evaluated each home that we walked into, pointing out the
pluses and minuses to each house. She really per herself in our
shoes, thinking about what kind of home would be best for us now, and
also what kind of home we would want to grow into. I can
honestly say, that she didn't miss one important detail, and we now
are in the home of our dreams.
Not
only was Liz amazing to work with professionally, but she was also
incredible on a personal level. I became pregnant while we were
in our search for a home, and Liz brought by books and toys for our
baby. She also framed pictures of my husband and I in the
house, so when we walked in for the first time we felt like we were
really at home. It was the little touches that went a long way
with Liz, and we are happy to not only call her the best realtor that
we have met, but also a great friend.”
-Bruce
and Colleen Cassidy, San Rafael
THE
BAY AREA REAL ESTATE NEWSLETTER IS PROVIDED TO YOU BY:
If
you would like to have Liz help you sell your Marin home or help you
find a home, or you know of someone that could benefit from her
services, just send her an email: liz@BayAreaRealEstateSales.com
or give her a call: 415-250-4929
“High-Touch
through High-Tech”:
Did you know that Liz McCarthy is ePro Internet Certified by the
National Association of Realtors and that 70 percent of home buyers
today use the internet in their home search? Why are you still
working with a Realtor who isn’t a technology expert?
What
this means to you:
Home
Buyers:
Liz is an expert in helping save you time by using the internet,
email and other technology resources to help save your valuable time
and money. She knows how busy you are!
Home
Sellers:
Liz will hire a professional photographer and market your home
extensively on the internet: a personal property website (see
www.SonomaHorseProperty.com
or www.48LibertyDock.com
for samples), she will post your home on over 50 websites.
FREE…..You
can search for Marin listings directly on BayAreaRealEstateSales.com:
Search
for Homes
Be
sure to check out all the other great content & features of my
website:
www.BayAreaRealEstateSales.com
Liz
McCarthy, PMN
“High-Touch
through “High-Tech”
Real
Estate Broker, e-PRO certified
McGuire
Real Estate
415-250-4929
Liz@BayAreaRealEstateSales.com
www.BayAreaRealEstateSales.com
BLOG:
http://bayarearealestatesales.blogspot.com/
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/lizsmccarthy
Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/lizsmccarthy
License
Number: 01421997
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