Weekly Sales Report

Another week of beautiful summer weather, and another week of properties sold in San Francisco. The number of sales was low again this week, but the surprising part of this week's statistics was how many multiple offer situations there were, and how many homes sold over the asking price.

70% of all homes Zephyr sold last week were both in multiple offer situations and sold over the asking price. This was true of the market back in the frenzy five years ago or so when roughly 75% of all properties sold with multiple offers. Of course we have not arrived back at that type of market, but buyers are still out there and are waiting for the right property.

One type of buyer that is definitely out there in full force are investors. They know that now is the time to buy and possibly walk away with a decent price. That brings me to the winner of the multiple offer wars which was 432-436 Laurel Street at California which is right at the Laurel Village shopping center but technically in the Presidio Heights neighborhood. This is a four unit building with two units in the front, two in the back, and a shared courtyard on an extra large lot. The asking price was $1,200,000, there were 7 offers, and it is a probate sale. It went between 20 and 30 percent over the asking price...again like the good old days.

As we must always provide the other end of the spectrum, we will be taking some new clients out on a tour this afternoon. With a price point going up to $750,000 and needing a minimum of two bedrooms somewhere in the central part of the city, I immediately assumed we would only be looking at condominium for their search. I thought just in case I would take a look at the single family homes in their desired neighborhoods and price point, and I was delighted to see there are a good 30 options for them. Granted, some are fixers, others are tenant occupied, and some have no parking. The worst have a combination of all three.

Many buyers have been complaining that the market doesn't feel as "soft" as the media is reporting, as they are being outbid time and again. I believe a sign of the softness is that properties with a strike against them, such as tenants or no parking, are not selling as quickly, and are often having to be reduced in price before moving at all. Pricing is always the key. If it is priced right it will sell; they all eventually do! Remember that when you go to list your home. We can help you do a careful market analysis, one that takes every detail into consideration.

Weekly Sales Report

It has been another week of limited activity here in the San Francisco real estate market. Overall, statistics look very similar to last week's numbers. Half of the properties that received offers this week were multiple offer situations. The most offers received on a property was three.

All of the properties that sold this week were either at or under the asking price. This should be a message to sellers that pricing the home where you are willing to accept the offer is very important at the moment. The idea of pricing low to generate activity and drive the price up is not getting the results it once did. Sellers are then left with their property sitting on the market at a price lower than they want to accept.

There is a single family home on the north slope of Potrero Hill, located on Rhode Island and Mariposa listed at $1,195,000. It is a large Victorian with three bedrooms, lots of light, and sits just a block away from the new Whole Foods. The sellers are in a hurry to sell and set an offer date just days into the marketing period. Due to the lack of inventory in Potrero Hill, it was a zoo at the open house that first weekend. I spoke to the listing agent on the offer date, and they only expected one offer. There are probably hundreds of buyers at this moment waiting for a single family home on the north slope of Potrero Hill. Granted, this one house wouldn't have been right for all of them, but only one party ready to pull the trigger really speaks volumes. It may very well only sell at asking; maybe even below.

Mortgage Minute

On the financial front, which along with the Presidential race is all we seem to hear about these days, the Fed announced another rate cut this morning of 0.5%. This will most directly affect those with HELOCs, or home equity lines of credit. Some adjustable rate mortgages will be affected as well, although not directly.

The key message to buyers is that rates are the best they have been in two and a half years. Get yourselves ready to go. Get preapproved and underwritten if possible. Being underwritten means that you have met the conditions that were outlined by the lender. There will be conditions specific to you, the borrower, and another set of conditions for the property. Buyer conditions will be your documentation such as pay stubs, W2s, landlord referral, credit report, etc. The property specific conditions will of course wait until you have entered into contract on a home. These are things like an appraisal and a satisfactory preliminary title report.

Because conditions are tighter at the moment, do as much work as possible on your pre-approval. That way you are really ready to go once you locate a property, and there will be fewer bumps along the road when you least need them.

Lastly, we are hearing that more loan programs are being pulled off the market daily. This limits your options when choosing or qualifying for a loan. Areas that are most affected are 95% loan to value ratios, which means that your down payment is 5%. Also stated loans are much more difficult at the moment; your credit score needs to be higher than it used to in order to qualify for a stated program. If you fall into one of these categories, have a conversation with a lender as soon as possible.

Weekly Sales Report

Sitting on the reception desk this morning as we entered the office meeting was one of those huge water jugs full of "Sweat Tart" candies. Halloween's over, and it's not quite Valentine's Day, so what's the story? There's a bowl next to the jug asking for your business card with your best guest of how many candies there are written on the back. Oh, that game...last played at my baby shower, but that was M&Ms in a baby bottle. Anyway, we went on with the meeting and discussed the past week's activities.

At the end of the meeting, a representative from Cornerstone Title Company walks up to the front and grabs the jug. He is ready to announce the actual total and the proud winner with the closest guess. He first predicted that the average guess, as he had tallied them all up, would be very close to the actual number. His point was that if we work as a team we can come up with the answer. He had eliminated the highest and lowest guess which gave him an average of 756. The actual number of Sweat Tart candies in the jug was 753. We are much better as a team, and we encourage you to use our resources.

Now for the week's activity. Two thirds of the homes that went into escrow this past week only received one offer. The other third received multiple offers; three was the maximum number on any property.

Very few escrows closed this week, which goes right along with the slower activity we saw mid December. Of those that did close, two thirds went under the asking price and the other third went over.

The tour of new properties for the week was very encouraging. It included a cute house in Miraloma Park, two single family homes in Noe Valley, a house in Potrero Hill, and a condo with wonderful views in the Twin Peaks area. For specific listings in any neighborhood, please contact us and request one of our Buyer's Questionnaires. After you have filled it out we will have a clear idea of what you are looking for, and we can get those listings to you as soon as they hit the market.

Weekly Sales Report

Welcome to the first Weekly Sales Report of the year! The consensus in the office reflects what we have been reporting, which is that the inventory is low and our buyers are waiting on the sidelines ready to pounce. Everybody was disappointed by the size of yesterday's Broker's Tour; they had hoped to see more of a spike in activity this first week of the year. Although there weren't as many new listings this week, there were a lot of announcements of things to come; listings that are being prepared for sale but won't be released until the end of the week. All you need in this market is a little bit of patience, and you will win in the end.

The report, in terms of number of offers on each property, remains pretty steady from the last few in December. Over 80% of the properties that had offers accepted this week were single offer situations. The other 20% brought in multiple offers. There were three or four offers on each of those. It is tough for those buyers who do find themselves in a competitive situation in this market. They feel as if they are being cheated..."Isn't the market slow right now?" or "I thought prices were soft!" Both of those statements are true some of the time, but certainly not all of the time.

You may have seen this before..."Location, Location, Location"! Many times, just being in the right spot is enough for a house to attract major activity. One of the homes that did receive multiple offers this week was this "tear down" in Noe Valley.I don't think the truck is included. This property is a 576 square foot cottage located at 26th Street and Sanchez in Noe Valley which is a nice block. It is also zoned RH2 which means that you can build two residential units. The lot is longer than average, which many Noe Valley lots are. An average San Francisco lot is 25ft by 100ft. This one in particular is 25ft by 114ft. The house (or I should say the lot) was listed at $950,000! Take a moment and think about that...$950,000! It was on the market for just under two weeks when they received three offers. It undoubtedly will sell for over the asking price; we will keep you posted.

As for the properties that have sold, or closed this week, the list was quite long. It is definitely a good start for the year. Thirty percent of the sales closed under asking price, 50% closed at the asking price, and the remaining 20% did go over the asking price. The largest overbid was only 4%, and again it was a contractor's special. (Is that the same truck?) This was in Bernal Heights; it was also a short sale. A short sale is when the owner owes more on the property than it is worth. It usually involves negotiations with the lenders to get them to agree to a settled amount on the loans.

Weekly Sales Report

Welcome to the final sales report of the year. As expected, activity this week was quite low. Not many escrows were opened, and those that were for the most part were single offer situations. Many buyers are hanging up their hunting caps for the remainder of the year and hoping that 2008 will bring more options. There have been almost no new listings for the past few weeks. There are buyers out there; many are casually looking and gearing up to get serious in the new year. I feel as if the engines are revving up and the crowds are just waiting for the flag to drop.

Even this past weekend open houses were well attended for mid December. We had fifteen to twenty parties come through both Saturday and Sunday, and this on a property that has been on the market for over a month. Normally many people wait until Spring to bring their house onto the market. We may see the buying season start early this year if sellers start taking advantage of the lack of inventory.

Of the properties that sold this past week, 67% sold under the asking price. As Joe Zilioli, one of our preferred housing inspectors, said, "It is the best time to buy in ten years!" The largest underbid went a whopping 28% under the asking price. It is shocking, we know, but much of that difference can be explained by overpricing and unreasonably high expectations. This home, a five bedroom fifty six hundred square foot fully detached corner home on Lake Street was priced at $3,600,000. Interestingly enough, the same home was on the market in 2003 for $4,200,000 with the same agent. They withdrew that listing after one hundred and eleven days with a little note on the listing that said, "withdrawn for now". It seems the agent figured she just needed to withdraw the listing long enough to talk the sellers down to a more reasonable price. It took her three years. The home finally sold at $2,580,000. It was marketed as having been "on the market for the first time in over 35 years" which is a nice way of saying that everything needed to be updated.

The other 33% of the properties that sold this past week did go over the asking price. The largest overbid was 739 12th Avenue in the inner Richmond which sold at $1,160,000, fourteen percent over the asking price.

Interest rates are still holding steady. At the end of 2006 people were predicting that interest rates might hit the eight mark by the end of 2007. A thirty year fixed jumbo loan is still only at 7.000% with no points. Paying three points will bring that down to 6.125%. It is time for buyers to negotiate and have the sellers help buy down their rate, thus lowering their monthly payments.

The next weekly sales report will be on January 9th. Stick with us, though, because in the meantime we will have lots of other things to share with you. We will be starting our neighborhood series back up, and there will be announcements of things to come in 2008 including our first time home buyer workshops. Just passing it along; 2008 is going to be great!

Weekly Sales Report

Another week goes by, the holidays are closer yet, and activity is slowing down almost to a halt. We are still fortunate in San Francisco to not be suffering the same way the surrounding areas seem to be. One of our clients signed his loan documents yesterday for a condominium he is purchasing in Pacific Heights. His loan consultant was from his credit union located on the peninsula, and she does loans for properties all around the bay area. She mentioned having trouble getting the appraisals approved by the lenders. The banks are wanting the appraisers to factor in the recent decline in price. They look at the comparables and then subtract whatever the drop has been in the area. Luckily in San Francisco we have not had that problem; most neighborhoods have not suffered in value.

Seventy percent of the properties that received offers last week in our office only received one offer. The other thirty percent received multiple offers; it still can happen! The most offers received on a property was five on a single family home in the outer Parkside neighborhood. It was priced at $698,000 and was on the market for about forty five days. It is quite rare to see five offers after a month and a half of being on the market with no price reduction. Times are changing, and we need to change with them! Things do not move as fast as they used to. Don't assume that because a property has been on the market for over a month that other people are not interested. It is just that nobody seems to be in a hurry. If you love the house, make an offer.

This week 100% of the properties sold were sold under the asking price. They all sold at four, five, and six percent below the asking price. The list of properties sold this week did not include any from the hot spots such as Noe Valley or Pacific Heights.

Another point that came out in the meeting is that sellers are not inclined to counter the offers they receive. When a buyer submits an offer, there are three possible responses. The first is acceptance, which all buyers hope for. The second is a counter offer, where the seller accepts the offer subject to a proposed change in the contract which could be either the price or terms. The third possible outcome is rejection. If you receive a counter offer and do not accept it, the seller has just lost you as a buyer, and in this market there may not be another one waiting in the wings. Sellers are realizing that, and are more inclined to just accept the offer they receive provided it is in the right ballpark.

Weekly Sales Report

Coldwell Banker got together again this morning to discuss the past week's activity. While many people are looking forward to 2008 and creating their business plans, setting their goals, and thinking about new year resolutions, other people are still working on wrapping things up for 2007. Real estate continues to be bought and sold in San Francisco.

The majority of the properties that received offers this past week were single offer situations. Only 25% received multiple offers. This house on 39th Avenue did receive 5 offers, but only after a price reduction. It was listed at $749,000 originally and sat on the market for a month and a half with no activity. They reduced the price to $699,000 and received five offers within the week. Doesn't it always come down to price!

We have just lowered the price on our loft at 1605 18th Street; hopefully we will get a similar response! It is now $669,000 and will be open both Saturday and Sunday this weekend. Come, enjoy the view, and make us an offer!

As far as the sold properties go this week, a majority of them (56%) sold under asking price. Only 33% sold over asking, and the remaining 11% sold at asking price. The largest overbid for the week was 1921 Page Street in the Haight/Ashbury neighborhood. It is a three bedroom two bath fifteen hundred square foot condominium in a three unit building. The systems were upgraded and the kitchen and bathrooms were nicely remodeled. It also came with two parking spaces which is a rare find, and a large shared landscaped garden. It was listed at $949,000 and sold for $1,075,000. That is 12% over the asking price which we don't see nearly as often as we used to. I believe it was also a cash offer.

It is interesting to see that even in this market, you do still have to bid up on certain properties. Whether you are trying to outbid competitors or meet the seller's expectations which may be above their asking price, offering above the asking price is sometimes the only way to get a property. It is hard for buyers to understand this as everyone wants to feel like they've gotten a great deal. The important thing to know is that the asking price is no more than a seller's strategy; a means to an end. Don't compare your offer price with the asking price. Instead, use the recent sold properties in the neighborhood as comparables. If your offer price is in line with those, you are paying the right price.

Weekly Sales Report

Along with the regular weekly statistics, we would like to elaborate a bit on the information given in The Final Stretch. The President of San Francisco/Peninsula Coldwell Banker spoke this morning in our office meeting. He gave more statistics regarding what is actually happening in the market as opposed to what we are hearing in the media. As mentioned in The Final Stretch, San Francisco as a whole has shown appreciation over the past year. This morning, we looked at each neighborhood's numbers.

As an example, the average price of home in the Central Sunset has gone up 2%. The inventory in that same neighborhood has gone down 31% since last year.

In Bernal Heights, the average price has gone up 6.5% since last year, and the inventory has gone down 10%. Again, people are being scared into inaction based on "falling prices" but the statistics show us otherwise.

It is true that the numbers are not in the positive range in all neighborhoods. The south eastern part of the city specifically has been hit the hardest. Having said that, the Mission Terrace neighborhood has gone down but only by .7%. The Westlake District in Daly City has gone down as well, but only by .5%. Less than one percent seems to be holding steady in the bigger picture.

Another statistic we learned this morning and are very proud to pass along is that Coldwell Banker holds 20.5% of the market share in the Bay Area which is more than double that of our closest competitor. Our office, the Lakeside office, is the leading office in the city.

What does this mean to you? For buyers, it means that each week when we meet with the other hundred agents in the office, we hear about many listings before they hit the market. For a seller, one of those listings pitched in the meeting could be yours.

In terms of this week's activity, we are again looking at a huge majority of single offers; over 90%. What I thought was interesting about the sold properties was that everything sold within $15,000 of the asking price. It looks like sellers are starting to put their properties on at a price they are willing to accept. There was only one exception this week which sold at just under 5% over the asking price.

What is the profile of a property that sells for over the asking price in this market?. This is a top floor condominium in a beautiful Victorian two unit building located at 71 Douglass in Corona Heights. It is a spacious and bright three bedroom, 1.5 bath with great outdoor space. As no property is perfect, this did not come with a parking space, and if it had, it would have sold for closer to a million and possibly over. It was listed at $879,000 and sold for $925,000 after just 22 days on the market. You see...it can still happen!

Weekly Sales Report

Due to various viruses, both in children and computers, last week's sales report is just reaching you now. The information is important so we wanted to make sure and get it out. As many of you know, as we head into the holiday season, the market begins to slow down. People are busy with family plans and holiday shopping, and the home shopping is often times put on the back burner until the new year. Inventory is lower, and there are fewer buyers ready to jump into action.

If you are a buyer who is ready, it is as Anja says "a buyer's paradise"! It is true that there isn't as much to choose from, but should the right property come along, you will also have less competition than you might in the spring.

As an example, some clients of ours just had an offer accepted on a wonderful condo in Pacific Heights. It had been on the market for almost four months, and in that time the price had been reduced by ten percent. Knowing that there was no competition, and that the unit needed some work, our clients were comfortable offering below the already reduced price. After a couple of counter offers, our clients' offer was accepted at twenty five thousand dollars below asking. Success! They are so excited and feel like they are making a smart investment. This story is a sign of the times; maybe it can happen to you!

In terms of our office statistics, the story is similar. A huge majority (about 80%) of the properties that received offers only received one. The twenty percent that received multiple offers only received two offers.

Of the closed escrows (sold properties), 44% sold under asking. 33% sold over asking, and the remaining 23% closed at asking price. The highest overbid was only 4% above asking. Again, if you are a buyer, the chances of you negotiating a smart deal for yourself (or of us negotiating a smart deal for you) are pretty high.

Weekly Sales Report

It is time for your mid week market update! It seems to be an undisputed fact that now is a good time to buy. We are hearing it over and over again from the buyers coming through the open houses. Just this weekend, out of over seventy parties who came through our loft, a majority of them were just starting to put their feelers out. It evokes a funny image of a bear who has been hibernating for the winter just poking its nose out to see if it is safe to emerge. They are careful and timid at first, but here they come!

It seems that now as we near the holiday season and the end of the year, many sellers will wait until the new year to put their property on the market, and the buyers will certainly be waiting anxiously. I believe 2008 will start off with a bang!

Let's try not to get ahead of ourselves here. We are still in 2007 and have plenty of time left. We have an offer date set today for the loft; we had given five disclosure packages out and have yet to see if any of them will result in an offer. The interest is definitely there.

As for the rest of the office and their activity:

Statistics

There were 13 opened escrows this week. One two bedroom condo in Potrero Hill received 8 offers, and a TIC in Pacific Heights received 5.

There were 16 closed escrows. Four of those sold at asking price, 9 sold over asking, and the remaining three sold under asking price. I must add that the three that sold under asking are all in the south eastern part of the city: one in Visitacion Valley, one in Silver Terrace, and one in Ingleside. The largest overbid was a condo on Dolores which closed at 9% over asking price. Location is key; certain streets and neighborhoods are not at all affected by poor market conditions.

Weekly Sales Report

Happy Halloween! Understandably most of us adults do not do much celebrating on this day, but if you have children it is a whole other story. You'd better believe that I will be out there trick or treating with my four year old who chose to be Elvis Presley and made his grandmother very proud. He is the only boy not dressing up as a super hero in his preschool. My four month old son will be a tootsie roll; the most ridiculously cute thing you have ever seen! I'm only mentioning this because there are certain spots in San Francisco that go all out for Halloween. It shows a sense of community and pride in the neighborhood which some people look for when trying to choose where they want to settle. Some of those spots are:

Fair Oaks in Noe Valley: they close of this street from 21st to 26th Street and it is packed with little princesses and superheros before long.

Westwood Park: This neighborhood is bordered by Ocean Ave and Monterrey Street. It feels like a suburb in that the houses are detached and have front yards. All through this neighborhood you will find homes decorated to the max and people sitting on their porches watching the crowds of trick or treaters pass by.

Belvedere Street in Cole Valley is another popular spot. I've this is where I've heard that the best candy can be found!

29th Ave in the Sunset at Golden Gate Park is the last on this list. It is a wonderful block of beautiful houses and families who know each other and love to celebrate.

There may be others, but how much candy can one person eat? The point is that if it is community you are looking for, learning about the events in the area may give you an idea of the level of involvement.

In spite of the holiday, there are still houses to be sold! The Fed announced another rate cut today bringing the federal funds rate to 4.5%, the lowest since January of 2006.

Statistics

14 Escrow opened this week; only 3 were multiple offer situations. The most offers on a property were 4 on one of the mural building units on 24th Street in the Mission.

13 Escrows closed this week. 5 sold over asking, 7 sold under asking, and one at asking. The lowest underbid was a single family home in Jordan Park listed for 2,095,000. It finally sold for $1,875,000 after being on the market for about a month.

Weekly Sales Report

The subject of last Thursday's entry was staging, and in our meeting this morning staging seemed to be the theme as well. It is something I have been hearing a lot about lately. The reason is that properties, for the most part, are not selling themselves anymore. As Anja says, "A year or two ago you could have put crates in the house and it would have sold straight away!" That's no longer the case. At the moment, as you will see in the statistics, the majority of the properties that are selling are only receiving one offer, and the average days on the market is longer. True, it only takes one offer, but that one offer does not always come easily, nor does it give the sellers a good position for negotiating. We had gotten used to the sellers having the upper hand, but we are in a very balanced market right now. It is an equal playing field for buyers and sellers. Yes, the market has changed and softened. It has gone from completely out of control to balanced.

In the midst of the craze, you could put a sign up in front of a house and expect 5-10 offers. Now we must work to get it sold. Yes, folks, life is hard. It must be price correctly and marketed aggressively. It also needs to be presented in the best possible way which is where staging comes in. I am only following up on the story because we heard some pretty great success stories in our meeting this morning and I thought I would share one with you.

The best example was a condo on Clayton that had been on the market for seventy eight days. It came out at $1,080,000 and after a month on the market with no activity they lowered the price to $995,000. It sat at that price for another month with no activity, and the sellers realized they needed to make another change. They did not want to lower the price again, so they decided to pull the property off the market temporarily, have the place professionally staged, and put it back on at the same price. Guess what. It sold within five days. What the staging really did for the place was lighten it up and gave it a more spacious feeling. Also, the consensus was that it helped the condo appeal to a younger crowd; the owners had larger pieces of furniture with a more antique feel, and the staging made the place feel young and fresh.

When putting your property on the market in a time like this, you want to leave no stone unturned. Like I said, price it right, make sure everybody knows about it, make sure everybody sees it, and make it look great. Pricing it is something we help you do, making sure everybody knows about it and sees it is our job, and let's leave making it look great to the staging companies.

Statistics

There were 11 open escrows this week. Three of those received multiple offers. The most offers were received by a home on Morningside in the Lakeshore District. I know, you've never heard of it. It was priced at $1,035,000 and received five offers so it seems at least a few others are familiar with the neighborhood.

There were 7 closed escrows. Four of those sold under asking, one sold at asking, and two sold over asking price. The scale has tipped slightly in the buyers direction.

Weekly Sales Report

There is strength in numbers. Coldwell Banker is a strong company. Every Wednesday in our standing room only office meetings, the strength of our network is evident. If feels very much like one of those Verizon Wireless commercials where you turn around and the whole network is following you.

Our Wednesday meeting is the time where we come together and try to help each other sell our listings. New listings all get pitched, we are reminded of offer dates, price adjustments are announced, and if we have a specific buyer need or concern we may ask the group for help. This is important when choosing a company to represent you in the sale of your home. Just like when choosing a cell phone company, you want the real estate company with the largest network.

It is because of this networking that 20% of our opened escrows this week were sold within our office as were 50% of the closed escrows. That happens because we get the opportunity each week to pitch our listings to over one hundred agents, each of whom has a list of active buyers they are working with. There is something more powerful about a face to face presentation than seeing an advertisement on the Internet. Don't get me wrong, Internet advertising is extremely important. Did you know that 70-80% of all home buyers start their search on the Internet? Of course you did, you're on the Internet!

Statistics

There were 10 escrows opened this week. Three were multiple offer situations. Two of the properties had fallen out of escrow once, came back on the market, and opened escrow again. Many buyers look favorably on a property that has come back on the market as they believe the seller will be that much more motivated to sell the second time around.

There were only four closed escrows this week. One sold at asking price, one sold over asking, and the other two sold for under asking price.

Our office alone had ten properties on tour this week, which is a good number. I hope to see that continue.

Weekly Sales Report

Although the bulk of our meeting today was taken up with the lively words of a motivational speaker, we did manage to get in a few facts about how sales went this past week.

There were 21 Escrows opened this week, and only a quarter of them were multiple offer situations. This is down quite a bit from the last few weeks; it had been holding steady at about half.

14 Escrows closed this week; only two sold over the asking price. Three sold at asking price, and the other nine sold below asking price. This should be good news for you buyers.

As we enter October, a typically strong month for San Francisco real estate, it is starting to feel even more like a buyer's market. I was excitedly telling everyone in September that there were a lot of great properties to choose from. I am starting to change my tone a bit as the downpour of inventory that hit the market in September has lessened to a trickle. We are working with a lot of buyers who are just waiting patiently for the right property to hit the market. Get yourself ready, get your team together, and start looking! That way when the right house comes along you are ready to submit your offer.

The speaker in our meeting today talked a lot about belief systems. Believe it, and it will happen. Does that translate to home buying? Why not! Just believe that you will find the right house. Visualize yourself and your family living there. See yourself entertaining your friends in your new home. How does it look?

Weekly Sales Report

Welcome to another Wednesday sales report. There was not quite as much activity this week than there was in weeks prior. New inventory is back down to regular numbers; sales were down a bit as well. There were 12 escrows opened this week as opposed to 18 the week before. There were 14 closed escrows. Of those, exactly half sold over asking. That statistic has remained fairly steady over the past weeks. Six sold under asking and the remaining one sold at asking.

With the surge of new listings that we saw at the beginning of the month and lower sales numbers this week, what does that tell us? There is a large number of listings still sitting on the market. The average days on the market, although it varies from neighborhood to neighborhood, is much longer than the two weeks we were seeing for so long. In general, the average is closer to 30 days. Don't be turned off by a property because it has been on the market for a month. Instead by happy you weren't forced to rush in and overbid.

Another trend I have been noticing lately is that sellers are deciding not to sell if they don't get the price they need. They are opting to hold onto the property; either live there themselves or rent it out. Homeowners who bought in the past year or two have not yet built up enough equity to make a profit on the sale of their home. In the past, San Francisco properties appreciated so rapidly that you could make money in a sale a year or even less after purchase. That has not been the case in the past two years; many homeowners are forced to hold onto their property longer than they intended. A property like this may sit on the market for a month or two while the seller tries to get their price. The buyers will see it sitting on the market and assume they can negotiate a lower price, but the seller will not negotiate. My point is, time on the market doesn't necessarily mean you can get the seller to lower the price.

People are always asking if it is a good time to buy. Nobody can tell you what lies ahead. Nobody knows whether interest rates will rise or fall, or whether home values will rise or fall. What I can tell you is that the longer you hold on to your property, the safer your investment.

Weekly Sales Report

The theme of this morning's office meeting was "Giving Back". Coldwell Banker sees the importance of giving back to the community, and what better way for a company that sells homes than to support the wonderful organization that builds and donates homes to families in need. Every year Coldwell Banker raises money and donates time to Habitat for Humanity; in 2006 they raised over $368,000 and donated over 3,500 volunteer hours to 11 home construction projects throughout Northern California. Yes, I got in there and swung a hammer! I highly recommend it. Not only does it give you a new found respect for construction workers, but you learn a lot about building a home. It's amazing to see it all come together. This year's goal is to raise $500,000; our office held our annual raffle this morning. The final numbers aren't in yet but I will let you know if and when we reach our goal!

Statistics

There were 18 open escrows this week. Of those 18, 7 were single offers, 10 were multiple offers, and 1 was a preemptive offer. A preemptive offer is an offer that was presented to the seller before their published offer date. A preemptive offer typically needs to be well over the asking price for the seller consider it.

The property that received the most offers this week was a "heavy cosmetic fixer" on 19th Avenue in the Richmond District. It is a large Edwardian single family home on a great block. It does require quite a bit of upgrading, but it has many original details intact. It was listed at $799,000 and received 22 offers. We will know the sold price when escrow closes.

There were 19 Closed Escrows this week. 5 sold at asking price, 9 sold over asking, and 5 sold under asking. That keeps things pretty steady from last week with about 50% of all properties selling over asking price and more than half receiving multiple offers. Steady as she goes!

Weekly Sales Report

It's Wednesday again and as promised I will conduct our mini market study based on Coldwell Banker's sales meeting. As I mentioned in the last report, the size of our office is large enough and covers all of San Francisco, thus giving us a clear idea of what is happening in the market as a whole. Today I walked away from the meeting with one word going through my mind...INVENTORY! Aside from Tuesday Tours, where all of the properties in San Francisco are opened up for the agents to see, Coldwell Banker has another tour on Wednesdays after the meeting for just our agents to see our office's new inventory. On average, this tour probably consist of about eight to ten properties. Today there were seventeen properties on tour. That means one office in San Francisco brought seventeen new listings onto the market this week alone. I took a look at the tour for the Lombard Street office. They usually have a smaller tour than our average, but today they came in strong with thirteen new listings! These numbers may not sound huge to you, but consider all of the real estate offices in San Francisco and the numbers multiply quickly.

Buyers Market

Did you ever wonder why the market in San Francisco is so competitive? It really boils down to a very simple supply and demand concept. In the last few years, demand has outweighed supply, thus keeping prices going up and creating a seller's market. If there is only one house for sale in the neighborhood, but twenty people want that house in that neighborhood, a bidding war begins and the seller is in complete control. On the other hand, if ten homes hit the market at the same time, the demand for each home is lessened exponentially thus giving the buyers the upper hand. Even recently as the market has softened, we were seeing a fairly even playing field for buyers and sellers. If we keep seeing large numbers of properties hit the market each week, we will certainly be on the road to a buyers market. What that means is that the buyer has more room to negotiate on price and terms rather than having to overbid and purchase a home as is.

Statistics

Opened Escrows: 16 (sales now pending)
Closed Escrows: 31 (solds; 16 over asking price, 7 under, 8 sold at asking price)

Clearly the majority sold over asking which tells us we are not quite in a Buyer's Market yet, but inventory is growing rapidly so if you are thinking of buying...get out there, the scales just may tip in your favor! Give us a call!