It is a great time to sell!

Posted on January 17, 2009 by Ginger Wilcox

Did that headline make you think I am nuts?  I probably hear this question at least ten times a day- what is happening in the Marin Real Estate Market?  The real estate market isn’t pretty, anyone who tells you differently is likely to be blowing smoke.  Below is a historical look at the Marin real estate market from December 2007 to December 2008. These numbers are for single family homes in Marin County (no condos).  It is not an easy time to be a seller in Marin.  In the majority of communities, the real estate market stinks.  Despite the horrible market, it may not be a bad time to sell. 

Why?  If you are a home owner who is planning on making a move in the next 18-24 months and you are purchasing UP, buying a larger home, it is a great time to buy.  Ideally, we could all time the market to have sold in the hey day, rented and purchase now.  The reality is that most people didn’t.  If you are buying up, you may eat it on your home sale.  Excuse the brutal truth, but the market isn’t great for sellers.  Most people cannot hold on to their existing home and make a new home purchase.  The good news is that on the buy side, you might be able to find a deal.  You will in almost all cases pay less for that new home than you would if you purchased it 12 or even 24 months ago and that is the bright light in this kind of real estate market. 

  December 2007 December 2008
# Marin Homes
For Sale		 501 710
# Marin Homes
Sold		 111 82
# Marin Homes
Pending		 101 84
Months of Inventory based on closed Marin home sales 4.5 8.7
Months of inventory based on pending Marin home sales 5 8.5
Average Active Price for Marin homes $1,571,000 $1,379,000
Average Sold Price for Marin homes $1,364,000 $845,000
Average  Price/Sq. Ft for Marin homes $590 $438
Sold vs. List Price Difference 96% 94%
Sold vs. Original List Price Difference 91% 87%
Days on Market for Marin homes 94 100
Median Price for Marin homes 900 675

*Marin Single Family Homes Statistics.  Data pulled from Trendgraphix & BAREIS Multiple Listing Service.

Ginger Finds A New Home

Posted on January 13, 2009 by Ginger Wilcox

alainpinel It is with great excitement that I announce that I have joined Alain Pinel Realtors.  I will be following Steve Dickason, my former Marin county manager and Craig Silvestri, my former branch manager.  I have worked with Steve and Craig for almost four years and am excited to continue my affiliation with them while undertaking a fabulous opportunity to work with one of the top real estate firms in California.

Alain Pinel will be opening its first office in Marin County but they are not new to the Bay Area.  Alain Pinel Realtors is the largest privately owned and independent residential real estate company in California.  Locally owned, the firm has been consistently ranked in the Top 10 firms in the United States based on total sales volume.  It was founded in 1990 by its current Chairman and CEO Mr. Paul Hulme (pictured below with me).  Alain Pinel is a leading luxury real estate broker known for its professionalism, commitment to client services and cutting edge marketing programs.  The firm is also on the bleeding edge of technology- something near and dear to my heart!  I am thrilled to be joining a team with such a strong reputation and commitment to providing quality service to its clients.

 PaulHulme_GingerWilcox

Off to New York

Posted on January 6, 2009 by Ginger Wilcox

New York CityI will be away from beautiful Marin this week on a business conference in New York City.  Today I will be presenting at Real Estate Barcamp NYC about “Using Social Media to Develop Offline Relationships”.  On Thursday, I will be presenting to real estate brokers at Inman Connect  New York in the broker track on using “Innovative Techniques to Market Listings” on the web. 

In between my sessions, I will have an opportunity to attend some phenomenal sessions about real estate, marketing, the future of the real estate economy and more.  Some of the speakers include Craig Newmark, founder of Craiglist.com, Robert Schiller, Co-creator of the Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, and Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist of the National Association of Realtors.

I look forward to sharing my conference insights with you when I get back!

Marin Median Price Tanks in December

Posted on January 2, 2009 by Ginger Wilcox

Initial stats are in for December home sales.  The median price in Marin plummeted in December of 2008 to $675,000.  This is for single family homes ONLY.  The number does not include condos.  WOW!!!  When you add in condos, the median drops to $590k.  The numbers may change slightly as last minute sales are reported.  70 properties were sold compared to 111 in December 2007 and 158 in December 2006.

Marin Median Home Price December 2008

Wow.

Ginger Wilcox named in Top 12 Women Real Estate Bloggers

Posted on December 27, 2008 by Ginger Wilcox

sellsius-top-12-women-real-estate-bloggers I have to toot my own horn just a little.  Last week, I was honored by Sellsius Real Estate Blog as one of the “Top Women Real Estate Bloggers” for 2008.  According to Sellsius, the honorees were selected for their “exemplary efforts in publishing local consumer-centric content across multiple channels, building their brand identity, awareness and trust and, most importantly, for their community involvement and service, both online and offline.”

The other honorees are all women I respect and admire.  I am extremely honored to have made the list!

Prepping your Marin home for Sale

Posted on December 26, 2008 by Ginger Wilcox

iStock_000004274238Small The holidays are almost through and many Marin homeowners are thinking about putting on their homes in the New Year.  Here are a few tips to prep your home for sale.

  1. Create curb appeal.  First impressions can be everything.  If it doesn’t look good out front, potential buyers may never enter the front door.  Cut back overgrown landscaping, put fresh pots of flowers by the front door.  Replace your exterior light fixtures if they are rusted and dirty.
  2. Paint.  It is amazing how much a coat of paint can change the look and feel of a home.  Use neutral colors but don’t go all white inside.  Use paint to make your home feel warm.
  3. Clean, clean, and clean again.  Make your home sparkle. 
  4. Organize your closets, buyers will be looking in them.
  5. Remove excess furniture, clutter, and toys but don’t just move it to the garage, buyers look there too.
  6. Remove valuables, prescription medicine and personal items that should remain private. 
  7. Eliminate odors.  Bad pet smells can send a potential buyer running almost immediately.
  8. Have professional inspections before you put it on the market.  Buyers are picky in today’s market and inspections are one of the primary reasons buyers back out of transactions.  Know of any potential roadblocks before you put it on the market and eliminate those problems in advance.
  9. Consider professional staging.  Staging works!  Want more information about why you should stage?  Read this excellent article about why to stage.
  10. Don’t spend a lot of money renovating without first consulting a Marin real estate professional.  Renovating that kitchen before you put it on the market may not make sense.

Marin Real Estate – OFF the MLS

Posted on December 12, 2008 by Ginger Wilcox

The real estate stats lie.  If you have spent any time on my site, you know I LOVE real estate stats.  I am stats junkie as a matter of fact.  They provide a ton of valuable information.   Unfortunately, what you can’t see from the currents stats are real listing inventory numbers.

In Marin County, a HUGE number of home are for sale, but are not on the MLS.  Tons of homes are coming on the market or are staying on the market, but you won’t find a good chunk of them on whatever search engine you might be using. 

Home sellers and agents are afraid of the all important DOM- Days on market.  Fearing a high number, they are withholding the listing from the MLS. This skews the stats for both real, accurate days on market numbers and also for market absorption rates. 

I believe keeping listings off the MLS is a bad for everyone, even sellers fearful of too many days on the market.

Marin home sellers- listen to me now, most buyers are smart enough to know that the days on market stats aren’t accurate.  The tradeoff of being off MLS is that you miss a huge portion of buyers.  Suddenly, you rely on agents, many of whom may not know that your home is for sale.  What if the home buyer happens to have an agent who isn’t connected?  This also assumes active buyers are working with an agent.  There are tons, and tons of home buyers doing their initial research on their own.  Those buyers are very real, and they aren’t being exposed to your property.  As much as high days on market may be undesirable, it is even more undesirable for you to limit your access to home buyers.  Staying “off the MLS” is really like being off the market.  It just doesn’t make sense if you want to sell your home.

Unfortunately, do-it-yourself home buyers are really only seeing a small portion of true home inventory.  If you are a buyer not working with agent, there are a lot more homes available for sale in Marin than show up on the MLS.  Contact a qualified (and connected) agent to give you the inside scoop.  As much as I dislike off the market listings, the reality is that there are a ton of them out there, and unless you are working with agent “in the know”, you may never see them.

A 4.5% conforming fixed rate? Don’t count your chickens…

Posted on December 5, 2008 by StaceyFleece

These are certainly very dynamic and fast moving times in the mortgage market these days!  Just when you think things are settling down a bit, another curve ball comes our way.  The most recent one came to us courtesy of Secretary Treasurer Hank Paulson yet again.

As you know, the Treasury has already announced a plan to buy mortgage backed securities (MBS) issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  Yesterday, they came out and said that they would ideally like to step up those purchases in order to drive mortgage rates down to 4.5% for conforming loans.  I would love to see that happen as much as the next person…but there is NO guarantee that rates will actually get there.  A couple of points to consider:

  • The Treasury DOES NOT set home mortgage rates…period!  Mortgage rates are based on where mortgage bonds trade in the open market.  There are many economic and other external factors that contribute to the trading of these bonds.  While their aggressive purchase of the securities could help drive rates down, it is not the only factor.
  • It is very difficult, if not nearly impossible, for any one entity to set a target interest rate on home mortgages because of the reasons stated above.
  • The MBS market is obviously skeptical of the ability for the Treasury to impact rates down to 4.5% as the market reaction to the announcement was quite muted…and, in fact, rates have ticked UP slightly today.

We certainly are not in a typical trading environment for mortgage backed securities as we are still experiencing significant volatility which is causing rates to move rapidly.  If you are buying a home or refinancing and have locked in a rate that you are happy with now, you should grab it while you can.  There is no guarantee that rates will go lower and in waiting for an incremental drop that may never come, rates could move up fast and furiously in this environment as well.

Most mortgages now come with no prepayment penalty so if down the road rates do come down further, you can always refinance again and can even do it with no closing costs…just ask your mortgage professional about that option.

Stacey Fleece is a Mortgage Loan Consultant with Countrywide Home Loans in Mill Valley in Marin County, California.

Marin Luxury Home Sales Over $5M

Posted on December 3, 2008 by Ginger Wilcox

There have been 21 Marin homes with a sales price over $5,000,000 sold year-to-date.  In the same time period in 2007, 29 Marin homes with a sales price over $5,000,000 were sold. 

Address Selling Price
1960 Straits View Drive, Tiburon $12,518,000
106 Mount Tiburon Rd, Tiburon $10,500,000
210 Beach Rd., Belvedere $9,750,000
3 Upper Ames Ave., Ross $9,000,000
324 Palm Ave., Kentfield $8,575,000
104 Laurel Grove Ave., Ross $8,500,000
2 Upper Rd W, Ross $8,000,000
1499 Lucas Valley Rd, San Rafael $7,250,000
37 W. Shore Rd, Belvedere $7,000,000
148 Seadrift Rd., Stinson Beach $6,595,000
49 Glenwood Ave., Ross $6,500,000
135 Belvedere Ave., Belvedere $6,485,000
21 Sky Rd., Mill Valley $6,350,000
276 Seadrift Rd., Stinson Beach $6,300,000
100 Spencer Ave., Sausalito $6,250,000
19 Place Moulin, Tiburon $6,100,000
3636 Paradrise Dr., Tiburon $5,975,000
700 Goodhill Rd., Kentfield $5,900,000
109 Fawn Dr., San Anselmo $5,850,000
59 Bridge Rd., Ross $5,500,000
321 Summit Ave., Mill Valley $5,300,000

*Statistics pulled from BAREIS MLS

Marin Medium Home Prices Drop

Posted on December 1, 2008 by Ginger Wilcox

Initial November Marin home sales numbers are in.  As expected, median home prices in Marin County have dropped.  As of now, the median price for single family homes in Marin dropped to $805,375.  (The numbers may change slightly as last minute sales are reported.)  In November of last year, the Marin median home price was $1,000,000.  The number of units sold was down over 41%, a dramatic drop off in sale activity.

Clearly the election and the volatility in the financial markets has had a significant impact on the Marin real estate market.  Buyers who have jobs or cash are sitting pretty right now.  Great interest rates, motivated sellers, and low home prices make it a great time to purchase for those who are able.

MarinMedian_113001

Data is pulled from BAREIS Multiple Listing Service.