Friday, August 6, 2010

August 2010 Real Estate Update

August 2010 Real Estate Update

First off I apologize for not writing for such a long time. If it is any consolation, I have been busy helping folks buy and sell real estate since Q4 of 2009 and it hasn’t slowed down since. For those of you that want real time market updates from the field, I have been micro-blogging much more often than I have time to blog so follow me on Twitter http://twitter.com/AlanWangRealty.

Repeat Top Associate Closed Volume Award

Big thanks to each and every one of you for referring me to your friends and family for their Real Estate needs. You have all helped me earn the Top Associate in Closed Volume for the second year in a row out of an office of 450+ agents. Again thank you all for remembering me as the primary contact for your Real Estate needs!

Exclusive Featured Saratoga Home

I like to give my clients first dibs at homes before they hit the marketplace especially one as competitive as Saratoga with the Cupertino schools. The address is 20211 Merida Drive, Saratoga, CA 95070. The property has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms with 1,616 square feet of living space. Property sits on an enormous 10,000 square feet lot. The home is fully re-done with pergo hardwood floors throughout the property, newer kitchen cabinets with granite countertops. Where there is no pergo there is marble and bathrooms are filled to the ceiling with granite and marble flooring. This homes goes to the coveted schools such as Blue Hills Elementary, Miller Junior High and Lynbrook High School the best of the best! After an hour of posting this home on Facebook I already have 4 interested parties so move quickly.

Here’s a sneak peak at the home:

http://alanwangrealty.com/MyListings?operation=Details&listing_id=1214497814

Call or e-mail me for an appointment first come first served. Property will go on the market 8/15 so move quickly!

Other Pocket Listings

Pocket listings are homes I have not put on the MLS yet usually due to timing, but my Sellers are definitely willing to work something out, let me know!

Milpitas – I have a rare Beresford Estate property, 3 car garage, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2,590 square feet, 6,500 square foot lot, 14 years of age that will go on sale in January or sooner. If you are interested let me know!

Whisman Park Station – I have a possible newer Whisman Park Single Family home 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, 1,839 square feet on a 5,529 square foot lot, 12 years new. The time line here is unknown but we can discuss this with the Seller’s if you are interested.

Homes for Rent

Grapevine Terrace for Rent – If you know an executive who is looking for a beautiful home with views of the city and views of Mission Peak, I have a 4 year new 6 bedroom, 6 bathroom, 7,102 square foot home on a 21,780 square foot lot with a 6 car garage. Let me know if you have anyone interested in this property for rent! http://alanwangrealty.com/MyListings?operation=Details&listing_id=1392835656

Market Update

As predicted in my previous blog post Real Estate in 2010 has continued to pick up in Santa Clara County. You may be asking how is this possible when there is only doom and gloom in the news? Remember that real estate varies by market and in the valley where there are companies, jobs and a new start-up funded everyday; limited supply will continue demand for real estate. This spells opportunity as rates remain at all time lows to jump start the rest of the country, we should take advantage here. My client just locked a 4.875% conforming jumbo loan (up to $729,000) for a 30 year fixed! This is an amazingly low rate I wasn’t even able to get during the worst times in the recession.

Currently the major activity is in areas that have strong overall school districts from elementary to high school. I suppose the question is has this area ever slowed down? They did briefly but not by a whole lot. These are areas such as Fremont (Mission District), Saratoga, Palo Alto, Los Altos, West San Jose and Cupertino you would think we were in a bull market as there is low inventory and multiple and often cash offers! In my opinion always a great investments and it would appear almost recession proof.

I am also seeing activity in areas with good elementary schools such as Willow Glen, Cambrian, Sunnyvale and parts of Mountain View. Milpitas has seen some slowness even with the support of good elementary schools, there could be some opportunity in this city until folks catch on.
Areas without the supporting school districts are not doing as well at this time. Same goes for Townhomes and Condominiums are struggling in this market as buyers are focusing their sites on Single Family Homes. The further you go from the Bay Area the better the deals but the old cliché is true, real estate is about location, location, location! If you and your family has made the decision to send your kids to private schools and don’t want to compete in the public school arena, there are nice areas with newer homes for affordable prices ask me about those areas!

Real Estate Activity Summary 2010

2649 Media Way in Willow Glen – Sold to my Buyers against multiple offers
1104 Castleton Way in Sunnyvale – Negotiated $50,000 under list price for my Buyers
3436 Chemin de Riviere in Evergreen – Beat out 3 other offers and still came under list price
2928 Calico Common in Livermore – Brand new home sold to my Buyers!
New Home in Menlo Park – Negotiated $50,000 off list price for my Buyers!
New Home Builder Mountain View – Negotiated $30,000 off list price and $50,000 in incentives for my Buyers!

Remember before you walk into a new home development bring your Realtor on your first visit so he can negotiate on your behalf! Otherwise he can’t help you in the process!

Living Trust

For those of you who have not done so already, I recommend you spend $1,500 to $2,000 and get a living trust setup for your estate. A trust makes it so that if you and your spouse pass, assets will be managed by a Trustee you assign. The alternative is that your estate goes to probate and by the time all the lawyer fees are paid, most of your estate will be gone. More importantly a trust can instruct who your children will go to in case you pass away. Health care directives can be made part of this as well.

Wishing you and your families a wonderful first half of 2010! May the rest of the year be as fruitful as the beginning!

Sincerely,

Alan

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Alan Earns Keller Williams Top Associate in Closed Volume for 2010!

I wanted to extend a big thanks to all my clients for your referrals and business over the years. For the second year in a row only with the help of your referrals I have earned the Keller Williams award for Top Associate in Closed Volume for 2010 and earning this 2 years in a row! This is an extreme honor as there are over 450+ agents in my office and currently I am in the top 5 at the office. This could not have been possible without your trust and referrals. I wanted to take a moment to thank each and every one of you for your business.

I will be posting a mid 2010 update shortly, apologies for the radio silence, I have been busy making sales!

Saturday, January 2, 2010

2009 Bay Area Real Estate Review

First off I wanted to wish you and your family a Happy New Year in 2010! May 2010 be a prosperous year! I wanted to extend big thanks for your referrals and making 2009 a record year for Alan Wang Realty. I appreciate your trust in allowing me to service the real estate needs for you, your family and your friends and it is your help that has helped me to get through these trying times.

2009 Real Estate in Review

Macroeconomic Environment

2009 has been a year to remember in Real Estate in one of the toughest economic times for the United States with major highs and major lows. The Bay Area real estate market struggled from mid 2007 with the subprime crisis until Q2 2009 and picked up steam in Q3 and came roaring back Q4 of 2009. The reason was primarily due to government tax incentives for resale and new home developments and interest rates as low as 5% for conforming jumbo loans. There has also been a pent up demand since mid 2007 as Buyers were too nervous about their jobs and the market to make a move. In the meantime families have grown and life has squeezed people out of tiny apartments to fulfill that housing need.

Santa Clara County

There is generally low inventory in Santa Clara County which has also created more demand for homes.

I’ve noticed a pickup in activity on the high end homes with good school districts. West San Jose, Cupertino and Saratoga have seen on average 5 offers for homes in the Lynbrook and Monta Vista High School areas. In Palo Alto I have seen on average 10 offers to even a high of 20 offers for a recent sale for Palo Alto and Gunn high schools. There are lots of all cash offers with 1 week closings in these areas. In Los Altos the higher end homes are also seeing on average 4 offers many all cash as well. If you are in the neighborhood of such a home, ask me how to make your offer the strongest to be able to compete with these all cash offers.

On the other end of the spectrum I’ve also seen a pickup on homes less than $400,000. Investors are out in the previously foreclosure heavy East San Jose, I have seen as many as 80 offers on $250,000 Single Family Homes that end up selling for $100,000 or more over list price. Condominiums in this range are also moving due to FHA loans. There is heavy demand in these areas due to the prices and affordability of homes as well as investors looking to invest.

The homes in the middle rung without the support of a strong school district have seen some slowness, but are recovering slowly but steadily. Areas outside of the immediate Bay Area Santa Clara County are still struggling.

Alameda and San Mateo Counties

Generally I am seeing very nice homes in the Fremont Mission area that have homes available and generally slow outside of Mission. San Mateo County has seen some pick up in certain higher demand areas, but homes tend to sit a bit longer in these areas as compared to Santa Clara County.

2010 Outlook

I don’t have a crystal ball but I anticipate the pent up demand from mid 2007 to continue through 2010. My hope is for an increased inventory of homes in 2010 to fulfill this demand. A-lot depends on what the government does with their tax incentive programs. Anytime government intervenes there will be an artificial increase in demand which undoubtedly could create a bubble once natural order is restored. Foreign investors are flooding our area with safe cash investments in real estate which increases demand as well. The key would be to get into this on the early side before everyone jumps in and catches on and hold on for the long term as real estate should be for the long run. All in all the government seems to be doing their part in jumpstarting the economy and backing the banking system.

My expectations for rates to stay steady but slowly increase through 2010 still within reasonably low levels. The Bay Area has always been a resilient real estate market. If you stay close to the companies, anchor yourself with a good solid area, or better yet a school district you will be in a low supply and high demand location simply due to the population and supply of homes. I see us recovering slowly and steadily in 2010 which will trickle over to surrounding neighborhoods.

For those of you that own and want to know your home value, please contact me for a Competitive Market Analysis and I can advise you on what to do with your specific situation.

Homes Sold in 2010

Again thanks to you for your business and referrals, I was able to sell more homes in 4 months than any other year in my career. Thank you for all your support!

2621 Grapevine Terrace, Fremont
7101 Camino Tassajara, Pleasanton
3240 Murdoch Drive, Palo Alto
968 Amstutz Drive, San Jose, CA
4670 Castlewood Drive, San Jose
607 Valley Forge Way #4 in Campbell
2928 Calico Common, Livermore

For more details on these sales please proceed to http://alanwangrealty.com/ and click on Featured Listings.

Happy New Year

Again I wanted to wish you and your families a Happy New Year. If you or someone you know require Real Estate advice or have any Real Estate needs please do not hesitate to e-mail me at alan@alanwangrealty.com or call me at (408)313-4352. It is with your support that I can continue to sustain this business during tough economic times.

As things move faster I am finding less time to blog but follow me on Twitter for real time real estate updates! http://www.twitter.com/AlanWangRealty

Sincerely,

Alan Wang

Sold 3420 Murdoch in Palo Alto and 607 Valley Forge Way in Campbell!

I am pleased to announce that my Buyers beat out 20 other offers to take 3420 Murdoch in Palo Alto and after a long negotiation 607 Valley Forge Way #4 in Campbell has also sold!

Wishing everyone a very happy New Year!