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