Labor Day Peninsula Real Estate Stats!
First off, HAPPY LABOR DAY! These stats are coming from beautiful South Lake Tahoe, CA (stay tuned for Lake Tahoe Weekend Getaway Writeups Coming Soon). Anywho, time for the local real estate market analysis!
The promising trend is the increased number of homes in the pending status continues! In 2006 there were 136, 2007 there were 96, last year at this time 130 and as of this morning there are 212. Now we can speculate a portion of the increase of homes in the pending status to homes being in escrow for a longer period of time primarily due to lender issues, either waiting for a short sale approval for the seller or some new last, minute requirement from the buyer’s lender. But I truly believe that the increase is primarily being driven by improved market conditions, with the greatest amount of multiple offers and overbiding occurring in the price ranges of entry level homes in these communities. Additionally there has been an increase in number of pending sales of the more expensive homes. If this is true, look for reports on the rise of median prices as a result (they will be posted here in our Monday Market Reports, when we can verify that this is true)
Enjoy the stats!
What Do The Different Real Estate Statuses Mean?
Hello Everyone,
We recently received a question regarding a certain status on a listing in the area so we figured that we would explain what each status means and what it means to you (the buyer and seller).
ACTIVE - Means “Buy Me” or “I’m for sale”, “please make an offer!” An active listing could be a new listing, or it could have sat on the market for 30 days or more. Or, it could be a re-list where the home was listed before at a higher price, or listed with another agent. It could have also been listed and expired. Please note: Make sure you work with an experienced agent who knows the area where you are looking.
PENDING - means the property has sold and there are no contingencies and is waiting to close escrow.
PENDING W/ RELEASE - means the buyer has agreed to purchase the home subject to selling their own home, or another contingency that allows other buyers to make an offer on the home. If the seller receives another offer, the buyers in contract usually have 72 hours to determine if they would like to move forward with the purchase and remove their contingencies, or bow out and do a release of contract.
PENDING W/ OUT RELEASE - means the buyer and seller have agreed to terms and the buyer has a set time frame to do their inspections and or get their loan approved. Other buyers cannot make an offer and push the buyer out of first position, but they may make a back up offer. Please note: If a buyer really likes a home that is Pending, they should have their agent contact the listing agent to see if they can write a back up offer. If the seller agrees, the buyer would go into first position without the home going back on the open market. The seller does have the right to renegotiate the terms and conditions unless specified in the contract.
EXPIRED - means the property did not sell within the time frame set in the listing agreement. Please note: When a home expires, it is almost always because the home was over priced. Many sellers who have had their properties expire believe it was the fault of the listing agent, not the price.
WITHDRAWN - means the property was taken off the active market (the MLS) but the listing agent still has a valid contract. Please note: Sometimes sellers decide to remodel or do some clean up and painting before re-listing their home and putting it back on the open market.
CANCELED - means the seller and listing agent have agreed to terminate their relationship.
SOLD - means that property has closed escrow and transfered ownership. This is often music to a buyer’s ears, the house this finally theirs! For more information, on the transfer of ownership read this post.
The Aiello’s Peninsula Real Estate Market Write-Up
This week’s real estate statistics are interesting! Check out the amazingly positive trend line for the Pending Sales. While a portion of that number is due to longer closes of escrow primarily from Short Sales or new lending delays, I’m feeling that the majority of that increase is merely due to increased demand. Several factors may be influencing this demand, including but not limited to: The upcoming expiration of the $8,000 Federal Tax Credit, Consumers believing that we are at or may be close to the bottom in some price categories, some very good values, there are a lot of cash buyers particularly in the entry level pricing and historically low interest rates.
As I mentioned last week, typically Belmont and Burlingame have approximately the same amount of units in each of the Statuses. While this trend remains consistent in the Pending and Month-To-Date Closed statuses, the Active listings in Burlingame are now nearly double of those in Belmont.
One of the things that my weekly survey helps me with is to get a visual of where the price ranges are of “what’s selling” in each market place. Generally, there is some consistency from city to city, status to status (Pending and Solds) in the price ranges. Look at the difference between those prices and the Listing Prices. The Pendings and Solds give a clearer picture of what price ranges are selling. It’s a good tool for determining the desirability and marketability of a property. Again, take Belmont for example: The median active list price is $949,950. The median pending list price is $799,000. That’s a large difference. So my theory is that if you have a home with an actual value in the $799,000 range, your chances of getting an offer on it relatively quickly are quite good.
Lastly, I wish I could claim credit for these following statements, but it was Avram Goldman, President of Pacific Union, who said this and the simplicity of it is brilliant.
There are two factors that influence a quick sale of a property. The first is Immediate Emotional Appeal (I.E.A.) This is when a property is brought into the market fully prepared to “wow” a buyer. They fall in love with the home emotionally. The second factor is Immediate Value Appeal (I.V.A.). With all of the pricing information available on the internet, buyer’s can walk into a house in a market they are familiar with and know the value the minute they walk into the home. Sometimes buyers know this better than some agents, because the buyer may be focusing on a very finite marketplace, either by location, price, or home configuration and amenities. So here’s what happens: The buyer walks in the home and falls in love with it. If, in their heart, they feel the home is worth $1,000,000 or a little more. The home is priced at $1,150,000. The buyer will think, I love that house, but I’m going to wait until the first price reduction. It they walk into that same home and it’s priced at $950,000 (the lower end of its value price range), they think; “I love that house and it’s a deal. I can’t wait because someone else is going to buy it.” Then there is a higher possibility of getting multiple offers and doing one, or both, of two things: drive the sales price up (usually not to the ultra high levels of our former market) and/or generate an offer with very clean terms.
That’s it for now! But, you can bet that we will touch on the IEA and IVA factors on a seperate blog post in the near future. Enjoy this weeks stats!
Burlingame’s St. Paul’s Nursery School
With back-to-school season in full swing, I decided to start looking into some local schools to blog about. So I figured, why not start where I started my education? I attended St. Paul’s Nursery School about 20 years ago. Looking back, I found it to be a great starting point to my education and am proud to be an alumni of this great school!
Saint Paul’s is a private preschool located on the corner of El Camino and Chapin in Burlingame, CA next to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. It is located in the Burlingame Park Neighborhood. The school has been around since 1950 and is accredited by the
National Association of the Education of the Young Child. This plan focuses on socially, emotionally, physically and intellectually while respect each child’s unique learning style & curve.
Other than a stellar educational system and staff, St. Paul’s day school is known for their Annual Halloween Fun Faire. An event that takes place every October to benefit the school while providing a fun atmosphere for students and other local children to enjoy the season!
If you have any questions about this school feel free to ask me [as a semi-active alumni] or feel free to call the school directly at (650) 344-5409.
Real Estate Report: Burlingame’s Active Listings Rise
Good Morning Readers!
Well, I don’t really have anything new to report. As said the past few weeks, pending sales are considerably higher than the previous three years, we believe mostly because of lender delays either as a short sale, or approval of new financing.
However, one glaring satistic is the number of Active Listings in Burlingame. Quite high for that community. Typcially Burlingame, CA and Belmont, CA have approximately the same amount of inventory in each of the Statuses. This week that generalization is true for the Pendings and Solds. But, the number of Actives in Burlingame are significantly higher than Belmont.
That’s my tidbit for this weeks real estate statistics. Enjoy!
