Weekly Sales Report

As promised, here is the first sales report brought to you by Zephyr! As somebody said at the meeting on Wednesday, "Spring is finally here!" Sales were up this week, nearing the number of sales we saw at the beginning of March. We should see this level of activity continue through May and June, then of course a slight decrease as everybody and their agent takes a vacation in July and August.

In terms of sales statistics, the number of properties sold over and under the asking price was exactly equal, each representing 30% of the total sales. 16% of the sold properties sold at asking price. 30% of all sold properties were multiple offer situations.

One interesting thing about multiple offer situations that has been reported lately is that they are not always going over the asking price. We were amazed at the number of sales reported as having multiple offers but selling at or even sometimes under the asking price.

We have actually just experienced it first hand. A client of ours submitted an offer yesterday on a four unit building with plans of occupying two of the units with his family. It was a solid offer with a well qualified buyer. The property had recently experience a 5% price reduction in hopes of generating some interest, which it definitely did, even though it had been on the market for 60 days at the old price.

We suddenly found ourselves in a competitive situation as it was reported to us that there were two other offers. Our client decided that the numbers worked for him at the asking price, and he didn't feel the need to bid any higher. His offer was strong in a couple of other areas; he did not have any inspection contingencies as he is experienced with renovating and remodelling. Also, his escrow was slightly shorter than average, and he had a large down payment. All of the terms of the offer do contribute to it's strength. Although it usually comes down to dollar amount, you want to look at strengthening all aspects of the offer. Did I mention that his offer was accepted? Congratulations! Well done; it must feel good to win a bidding war without overbidding!

Zephyr!!!

After a bit of a break from blogging, The VanFenton Team would like to announce our new affiliation with Zephyr Real Estate, the largest independent real estate firm in San Francisco. We both value the time, training, and connections we made at Coldwell Banker but felt it was time for a change.

We found that Zephyr could offer us what we were looking for in a company. We had noticed at our listings that there were more Zephyr agents than agents from any other company touring the properties. Why did the agents from this company seem to be more active? We decided to find out, and in talking with the managers at two different Zephyr offices, we started to see why, and we liked what they had to offer. Their agent network is strong, they offer great support and profit sharing, they are technologically advanced, well run, and organized. We are looking forward to being a part of this great team.

All of the Zephyr offices get together each week for a meeting and a tour. This means we can keep providing our Weekly Sales Report as the number of agents in all of the offices combined will still be large enough to provide a snapshot of what is happening city wide.

Aside from the change, it is business as usual. The last month and a half has been busy. We currently have two properties in escrow, and one buyer in back up position. The first property in escrow is The Cutting Edge Condo. We received and accepted one offer. The second property is a large house in Glen Park with an excellent garden.We represented the buyers and were the only offer although there was other serious interest. The buyers we have in back up position were one of three offers on a loft in the Dogpatch. The first offer already fell through because their dog weighed more than the CC&Rs allowed (don't forget to read those)! We were in 2nd back up position, and have now moved up into first.

There is a glimpse of what is happening, we are back and promise to continue regularly as before. Comments are always appreciated; especially on the blog itself. Many of you are email subscribers and comment to me personally, but sometimes I feel that you can benefit from each other's feedback. Thanks again for reading!