Q4 2011 Real Estate Update

Q4 2011 Real Estate Update

Greetings to you all and as the holiday season approaches, I wanted to wish you and your family a holiday season. I wanted to send out a my Q4 Real Estate update before you all head out for the holidays. In my 8 years in this business, this year may rank as the best year in my career. I am blessed and thankful for each and everyone of you who continue to refer me to your friends, family and co-workers; over half of my business was from you as my clients referring my name. Again thank you all for remembering me when it comes to your Real Estate needs.

The market has unfolded as I predicted in 2010. Whereas in 2010 School Sensitive Buyers were buying, this year ALL segments are buying. If you recall earlier this year I said that 2011 is the last year to buy for those of you that wanted to take advantage of the downturn; that bottom has longed passed. Multiple Buyers of mine are looking very hard, but not finding much to buy. Inventory supply levels are low and Buyer demand high. Economics dictates that this means we are in a Seller's market overall. Many of my Buyers are shocked when I say this and the tough lesson gets learned when low offers get rejected while more reasonable offers get accepted. We are in a new market unfortunately so do adjust your expectations accordingly going into 2012. My hope is that there is more inventory in the new year to meet this demand, however right now we are entering a slow period with Thanksgiving and Christmas, so I am expecting inventory levels to remain low.

There has been a surprising come back of Townhomes! My customer segments that do not prioritize schools as high, but rather want to live in a newer town home close to work have taken flight. I think this is a good call as Town homes have been a bargain buy from peak, so much so that there are low inventories in this class of property as well just over the last few months.

Property Taxes Due 11/1 Overdue on 12/10

Remember that property tax is due on 11/1 but you have until 12/10 to pay them without a penalty. After 12/10 penalties will apply. Here are the links to your respective counties accessor sites. You usually can search by your address but if you need your Accessors Parcel Number (APN) let me know!

Santa Clara - http://www.sccgov.org/portal/site/tax/
Alameda - http://www.acgov.org/assessor/assrinfo.htm
San Mateo - http://www.sanmateocountytaxcollector.org/

House Hunters

I am very excited to announce that I will be featured on House Hunters around the May timeframe next year! We just wrapped up 4 full days of filming a few weeks back, with some finishing touches in November. This will air on HGTV. For those of you that are not familiar with House Hunters, initially they start with the Buyer requirements, I show my client 3 homes and go through the pros and cons of the home. They then weigh the pros and cons then they select the home at the end of the show. Since I announced this, I couldn't believe how many people watch this show! I'll send more details once I get the exact air date. It's been a ton of fun to dabble in acting and even more exciting when you don't need to act, they let me be myself the way I usually operate. Welcome to reality TV!

Mortgage Loan Limit Changes

On October 1st, the Conforming Jumbo loan went away and today a Conforming Loan in Santa Clara/Alameda/San Mateo County goes for loan amounts less than $625,500 while the Jumbo loan are loans above $625,500. For those of you that are buying over the $1 million dollar mark the variable second loan has returned for the delta between $625,500 and the loan amount that you need.

Hidden Jewels

- Possible new pocket listing, fully re-modeled and expanded single family home in San Jose Berryessa, more details to come
- There is a subdivision of 4 brand new homes I've been watching for over a year. It's located in Mountain right on the border of Varsity Park/Los Altos border going between $1,278,000 to $1,358,000 for 1,800 to 2,000 square feet. The schools are Mountain View schools though but an opportunity nonetheless. Let me know if you are interested before they are released.
- There is a new Townhome development in which I really like the 3 and 4 bedroom models in the middle of the Bay Area, great location, 2 of my clients bought already, ask me about them!
- There is a new Santa Clara Townhome development as well let me know

Homes Sold

- 5117 Fioli Loop in San Ramon earned my fastest close ever in 14 days! We were $50,000 under market price and $25,000 under the appraisal price, great deal!
- 10220 Sterling Blvd in Cupertino - Sale Pending a lovely brand new home development boasting 5 bedrooms, 5.5 bathrooms, stunning!
- New Townhome development closed, bought in the first release and lines continue for this lovely model!

Summary

If you have thought about selling your home in 2011, do contact me so I can assess where you live. I generally would not advise selling during the holiday season but depending on where you live, this market may allow you to do so and close fairly quickly. Buyers, do expect low inventory at this time which means getting a "deal" most likely won't happen, "multiple offers" is more likely. We have to deploy different strategies in a new market. Not all areas are showing low inventory levels. I've noticed Santa Clara, parts of West San Jose bordering Campbell/Santa Clara, Campbell, Fremont, Belmont, San Ramon seem to have Single Family Homes that have been sitting on the market for a longer period of time than usual. Some of these may need some work, but that is a way to get an under priced home and pour some investment to fixing it up.