Marin County, people, places, culture and real-estate
Yes, we love watching movies outdoors, and this one is kind of special. This Saturday you can watch the animated film Madagascar while sitting on the lawn in an incredible setting, while helping to raise money for a great cause. Tickets and info here.
It’s that time of year so our friends at MarinMommies have put together a handy list of free outdoor movie showings around Marin, San Francisco, and Sonoma County. Lots of great family films, from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to Finding Nemo!
SFist has a pretty cool visualization of where San Francisco commuters are coming from. All those purple dots are why 101 gets so backed up in Marin. You can also see where the reverse commuters head back to when their work day is done.
The stats are in for December so it’s time to look at the 2015 Marin housing market and how it compared to the years previous. The short answer is that the pattern continued: low inventory and rising prices. If anything, inventory levels were even lower than they had been, with last month having the fewest new listings and lowest months supply of inventory in years. In the chart below, the blue bars represent how many months it would take to sell the current supply of homes based on how quickly they are selling, and it’s down to less than a month for December, at the far right. That’s crazy low.
It was a combination of very few new listings and an uncommonly high amount of sales closing for what is typically a quieter month. In this chart you can see the dark green bar, representing closed sales, is higher than the Decembers previous, while the blue line, which is new listings, is lower than for any month across the three year span of the chart.
So basically, few new properties were coming on the market at the end of 2015 and buyers were snapping them up. We’ve been waiting for a few years now for the floodgates to open and for more new listings to come on the market in Marin and it just hasn’t happened, while demand has remained extremely strong. As long as those dynamics remain prices will continue to increase as buyers are forced to compete for homes. There are a number of things that could change this picture, including rising interest rates, a correction in the tech sector in SF, or the stock market and economy in general. With so many variables to watch it should be an interesting year ahead, and as always we’ll be here helping our clients navigate the complex Marin market.
If you have questions about what’s happening in Marin or would like market info tailored to your price range or area feel free to drop me a line at george@sfnorth.com.
Hard to believe the 4th is already coming up next weekend, and there’s plenty to do all over Marin. Marin Mommies has a great list of fun Independence Day activities, from Nicasio to Sausalito. And if one night of fireworks isn’t enough, the Marin County Fair will have a display every night it’s running, July 1st through July 5th.
Via Zillow Digs, some trends in patio decor. Not sure about some of them but the vertical garden idea is pretty cool.
Photo Source: Kerrie Kelly Design Lab
With summer coming up fast it’s time to start thinking about fun stuff to keep the kids busy. Our friends over at Marin Mommies have a handy Summer Camp Guide that lets you browse by camp activities, grade level, and location. There’s a lot to choose from–everything from arts & crafts to mountain biking–making it a fantastic resource.
Photo courtesy of Bay Area Discovery Museum
I have lived in Homestead Valley since 1993 and there are many things I love about this part of Mill Valley. Definitely in the top five is our abundance of hiking trails. Over the years, we’ve had friends whose house it was faster to hike to than to drive. I used to leave the house every weekday morning at 6:00 am, meet my buddy on the trail and hike the “Homestead Loop” which took an hour. I don’t get up that early anymore for my walk, and have included a few others in my regimen, but my dog and I can be spotted on the trail about once a week after dropping the kids at school.
Our community is blessed to have the Homestead Valley Land Trust, and they put together a trail map that I think is an amazing resource for residents and visitors. It shows the Homestead trail where we now hike all the way to Amaranth, which then loops to four corners, and eventually drops us down on the Homestead-Lattie Lane trail (I didn’t know that was the name of it, we just call it Waterview). Then we turn back onto the Homestead trail to get home. This has evolved into an hour and a half work out that takes us through different terrains and microclimates, and is beautiful!
My family occasionally walks out the back door and hikes all the way to Muir Beach where we have snacks on the grass at the Pelican Inn or explore the tide pools (my husband drives there and runs back so we don’t have to walk both ways). While the map doesn’t take you that far, it could be the first step to many new adventures.
With softball and baseball season right around the corner, it’s a good time to find places that can help your kids get in practice shape for their teams. I’ve been taking mine to Line Drive Baseball, which opened recently in a really convenient location in San Rafael, and it’s great!
Reasons I suggest going here:
They have an indoor field for rent, four batting cages, and eight hitting tunnel cages. They also have rooms for party rentals and have a variety of camps available. Check out their website for more information and prices.
3160 Kerner Blvd, San Rafael 415.233.8862
Seems like it’s been in the works forever, but you could actually see a SMART train being tested on the tracks in Marin as soon as April, with passenger service expected to start in late 2016. At launch it’ll run from Santa Rosa to downtown San Rafael, with the extension to the Larkspur Ferry coming later.