The presents are open and the stomach's full best to keep laying and watching the bull. Let the hangover of New Year's subside before you get out and ride.
San Francisco real estate inventory will start growing around 1/12/07 and should be at full force by 1/22/07..get your financial ducks in a row by then!!
Happy New Year!!!!!
The last posting to my blog gave a modest prediction. And now I must say that the "Window of Opportunity" may have passed the discerning buyers. While most people were busy buying their holiday gifts there were a number of buyers who were aggressively making home purchases in San Francisco. Now agents are pulling the remaining properties off the market for the main holiday vacation period and there will be few choices for buyers to choose from.
But starting the second week of January be on the lookout for a number of properties to come on the market and once again buyers will have a reasonable number of properties to choose from.
In the meantime, enjoy your holiday and best wishes to you and your families!!
From time to time you have to make a prediction in life. Here is one of mine. The real estate climate is such that "I think it is a great time to buy a property in San Francisco, CA." There you go I said it.
Ken, why do you say this? Well, we are looking at rates that are equitable to those from earlier this year (January 2006) there are currently not many buyers in the market (low competition) and there a number of good properties on the market. All good signals that now is a good time.
If my buyers are reading this contact me right away to discuss this more specifically to your individual needs.
This past Sunday I held open my New Listings on Fillmore Street. A 1 bedroom and a 2 bedroom condominium...We had about 64 people thru the property which I was quite pleased with given it was the first Sunday in December and theoretically the beginning of the shopping season.
I hope all of you enjoy this Holiday season and if you haven't paid your San Francisco property tax be advised that is now due and payable.
I was out this past Sunday looking at property with a client and I began seeing a trend. It started out like most Sunday Open Houses but it was also a little different.
WHY?? Well this particular Sunday was right after a Thanksgiving holiday, it was raining and if you are into sports there were alot of games on tv to keep people happy. And away from the tours.
After the second property I realized they were all VERY busy with couples and agents with clients filling most of the square footage of each, that I visited.
So knowing that both resale and new home sale numbers were coming out I watched in anticipation.
Well on 11/28 the NAR ( National Association of Realtors) reported a .5% increase in resale home sales but a decrease in the median price. Adversely, new home sales numbers were down so that is telling me that we are heading into a "stabilizing market".
With interest rates at approximately 6.18% currently, money is still cheap in the big picture terms but not as cheap as the bottom of the interest rate levels.
In my opinion, a wise buyer who sees a property that meets their needs is in a good position to make a wise investment NOW!!
Just returned from a trip to the U.K. and thought I would share the costs of some of their listings to make you feel better.
I spent some time in the lovely hamlet of Oxford and then several days in London.
As you can imagine my body clock was all out of whack so I found myself watching TV at the wierdest hours. And they have a show where they follow a property from "auction" to "redo" then to "sale". Of the 4 or so I saw the majority were in the 269 pounds range for a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom, kitchen and what we call a family room. No Garage!! Street parking.
So with an exchange rate in the 1.93/ pound area I will round up and say (x2). 2 x 269 pounds = 538,000 US$
There were cheaper examples but I believe the shows target audience is the first time home buyer and small time developers.
I have also included a photo here of the Rothschild Collection place known as "Waddesdon" for your enjoyment.
As a real estate agent, I am often asked
"What is going on in the market?" or "What is my place worth?" etc...
Let me take this opportunity to give all of you a simple and concise overview.
Premise this by saying we are coming off record sales so be careful when comparing data to last year and saying it's a declining market.
So what is criteria for a "good" real estate market? I would answer that by looking for any city with 1.) Job Growth 2.) Income Growth and /or 3.) Population Growth
When you have more people and they have more money it puts upward pressure on home purchase prices. More dollars vs. Fewer Properties.
Now let's throw in a scenario where there are zoning restrictions or anti-growth sentiment. This too drives prices up.
For San Francisco specifically the median price is up 37% since 2003, which is 3X national figures. And right now there are fewer bidders but a fair amount of inventory. Interest rates are low anywhere around 6.14% but some are offering 5.25% on new construction.
Lastly, for my investors you know I have been preaching the "Buy & Hold" strategy well I am happy to say some national magazines are currently supporting that very same philosophy!!
This is the first installment of what I hope will be many updates and perspectives of "How I see" the San Francisco Real Estate market.
My opinion will be based on my in the streets perspective of what is going on with both buyers and sellers of San Francisco residential properties.This up to the minute analysis may have a selective topic depending on with whom and where I am working in the market at that particular time.
This could be a condo in South Beach or the Marina or it could be a house in the Richmond district or Noe Valley. Just depends on where my clients lead me at the time.
I will start with a general opinion of what is happening with the latest MLS systems and where that may be headed in the near term.
San Francisco home buyers are unique in that they are very savvy when it comes to searching for properties online. You are a demanding bunch that has an expectation that a real estate agent only searches property and that the buyer can do just as good a job as the agent given the current mls technology.
Although that may be true in many cases a proficient agent will have a current in depth knowledge of how to search properties both online and within their network of real estate agents, both locally and regionally. These networks are invaluable and any rookie agent or out of area agent is handicapped when competing aganist the more seasoned agent locally.
But the combination of experience needs to be linked with the technical capability of an agent as well. Some agents are just getting email, oddly enough. How do you say "behind-the-times"??
Anyway, to the point. Many of the Northern California MLS systems are working towards having a collabrative system by mid-year 2007. So be on the forefront of knowledge especially if you are looking to invest in the small apartment market regionally.
That is it for today. More soon but if you need to reach me before then try emailing me at: kglidewell@pacunion.com
