Coastal Real Estate and Lifestyles

The loan officers I work with do a good job of keeping me (and I’m sure their other Realtor contacts) up to date on any news about loan changes or updates from their companies.  I got an email notice yesterday from one of the loan originators I refer to, Gordon Ling at Bank of America.  He provided BofA stats on their company’s purchase money loans for 2009 - they closed the most purchase money loans in 2009 for San Mateo and Santa Clara counties then other lending institutions, including jumbo loans, according to Gordon’s reports.

Gordon represented one of my clients last year with a jumbo loan (over $1 Million loan amount) with an extremely competitive rate and a smooth close.  I was referred to Gordon by a mortgage broker who knew she could not provide the best loan product for my clients’ needs - a professional approach I appreciate.

These are the rates as of yesterday.  As you know they change daily and the final rate is subject to the borrower’s overall situation.  Gordon advises borrowers still need to pay special attention to major job, asset or income changes, and self-employment.  These rates are for general information only.

Thanks to Gordon for his care and service to my clients.  Fortunately, I have found a few loan officers who provide an exceptional level of integrity and service over the years.

As a footnote, I just want to add it’s not just about the rate, but also whether your mortgage professional stands behind his/her words, and can get the loan funded in a challenging lending environment.

Between January 24th and 31st, there has been a flurry of activity on the Coastside.  These numbers include Half Moon  Bay, El Granada, Moss Beach, Montara and Pacifica.

22 new listings - 3 are at $1.2 Million and above, all in Half Moon Bay.

9 price reductions - there are some good values here; one of the best is 414 Sevilla in Lower El Granada

7 pending (continue to show or no show)

5 contingent (meaning Pending Release; another offer may be able to obtain first position over the first offer).   It won’t show as “active” because an offer has been accepted but worth looking into if it turns out to be a desirable property for you.

3 transactions fell through (TFT) - not unusual in this lending environment.  All 3 are in Pacifica.

About half are under $600K and have are over $600K (the over $600K group is between asking prices of $799K and $1,099K).  This is a good sign.

It’s a beautiful day to cruise open houses….it’s sunny and clear.  I’ll be holding 365 Coronado, Half Moon Bay CA open today from 2pm to 4 pm.  This one is a short sale listing, listed by Margot Lockwood, Coldwell Banker Woodside.

No time for chocolate (my market morsel picture) today, but there will be fresh made oatmeal-butterscotch cookies at 365 Coronado that I made this morning.  Stop by to say hi and bring a cookie home to someone special.

Thanks to my colleague Jan Gray for sending this email to all of us at our Coldwell Banker offices yesterday -

“There was a house fire last night on 6th Street - everything is gone.  There is an urgent need for some clothes and shoes.  Her size is small; shoe size 7 or 7-1/2.  Husband is about a 34 x 32 (est) and we don’t know his shoe size yet.  They will also need some bedding and towels, and anything else you can donate that you think will get them through this.”

The family is staying in temporary housing right now.  Please drop off towels, bedding, and call about clothes sizes to 1415 Main Street, Montara, or 248 Main Street, Half Moon Bay between the hours of 8:30 and 5 Mon-Fri.

Thank you.

Thanks to my dear friend Sheila for sending me a link to these photos - I was not aware of Clark Little photos before.  I very much appreciate the power and natural beauty of the surf.

http://www.clarklittlephotography.com/

I got up close and personal with one short sale transaction this past year.  The lack of standard procedures can be unsettling and challenging in preparing your clients for what to expect.

Here’s the story…My extremely well qualified and patient buyers submitted an “at market” offer on a short sale listing last Spring.  The sellers had two liens on the property – both with the same bank.  There were 5 other offers, we were told at the time.  After a month, we were informed that our offer was selected and that the bank approval should occur in about a week.  One, two, three weeks…nothing in writing.  The agent told me they would inform me of updates, but they weren’t coming very regularly.  Every week or so, I check in with the listing agent to obtain a status – so I could document my file with something…anything.  I believe they were doing the best they could.  We then get an Addendum signed by the bank, but the approval was yet to come.  My buyers still hang in there. 

I learn they have offered the 2nd lien holder a few thousand dollars.   Another couple of weeks pass by. We then learn that the first lien would be 100% covered, so it did not need to participate in the short sale.   The listing agent would need to now work with the 2nd lien holder to accept a short sale without the first loan involved.  While the listing agent and loss mitigators at the bank were negotiating, at least that’s what I think is going on, (maybe the file is just sitting on someone’s desk, I don’t know), my clients change their mind.

By this time, my clients decide that it is not making any sense that an over asking, market value, cash offer is not good enough, on top of the minimal and sometimes conflicting communications that we were receiving.  I could not give them any real reason for the delays from the information I was getting.  They asked me to cancel the contract in the Fall; they received their small initial deposit back and found another property, where they are currently very happy.  As for this short sale property, it appears to have closed as a private sale in November 2009.

The national average of short sales in 2009 was 12% according to the National Association of Realtors.  Here on the Coastside we were at approximately 6% of all 2009 sales according to MLS Listings - half the national average.  We’re learning from distressed property specialists in other parts of the Bay Area and California who have been in the distressed property trenches for over a year that there may be more coming.  Time will tell - a recurring theme.  More important, stories of short sale fraud are finally being reported.

A recent CNBC article exposed that second lien holders - when there is one - (not the first mortgage, but the 2nd or subordinate loan) are asking for additional money “under the table” in order to agree to the short sale.  According to the article:  “…But here’s what’s not legal and what’s apparently happening quite often recently.  Since many second lien holders are getting very little, they are now allegedly requesting money on the side from either real estate agents or the buyers in the short sale.  When I say “on the side,” I mean in cash, off the HUD settlement statements, so the first lien holder doesn’t see it.”

And here’s the facts:  The New RESPA Rules FAQ 12/30/2009 on the HUD website as it relates to the current activity being discussed in the media right now:

Q: Can items be listed as “Paid Outside of Closing” (POC) on the Good Faith Estimate (GFE)?

A: No, the totals included in the column on page 2 of the GFE must be the sums of the prices or fees, by category, for all settlement services that are required to be shown on the GFE.  Where individual components of these totals are required to be itemized, each third party settlement service must be identified and the estimated total price or fee to be paid for that service must be stated to the left of the column.  The standardized GFE form does not allow information to be included on any part of those totals that would be paid outside of closing.  Such information would not help borrowers to shop for loans and would not facilitate comparison of the charges on the GFE with the charges on the HUD-1.

Tomorrow I’ll post my first-hand short sale experience from a few months ago.

On the Coastside, buyers and sellers are still holding back with the big question marks being jobs and foreclosures.  Here’s a brief overview on the jobs front.  Even though national unemployment rate is being published today at approximately 10%, just like housing, employment figures are local too.  The western US is approximately 10.6%  This graph shows the big picture for California’s trend over the last 10 years.  California is approximately 12.3%, however Fresno County could get to 17% this year, I just read.  I believe these are seasonally adjusted numbers, but not 100% sure.  And here in San Mateo County, we are at approximately 9%. Other graphs can be seen at the Bureau of Labor Statistics site by clicking this highlighted link.

This shows San Mateo County Preliminary figures as of November 2009, not seasonally adjusted.  For the Coastside areas, look at Half Moon Bay, El Granada and Pacifica.  I don’t know why Moss Beach and Montara are not included…research for another day - probably their small size, but not sure.  You will see Hillsborough with the lowest % and East Palo Alto at the highest.  Half Moon Bay, Pacifica and South San Francisco are on par with each other at around 10%.

“CDP” means Census Designated Place, a recognized community that was unincorporated at the time of the 2000 Census.

The next release date for California’s regional unemployment numbers for December 2009 is January 22,1020.

Contact the appropriate services for more comprehensive analysis of the data.

Related Article from the Half Moon Bay Review regarding the downtown Main Street business environment in 2009.

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There were 9 transactions in Nov 2009 - the month with the most transactions during this period.

There were 7 transactions in Nov 2008.

The month with the lowest # of transactions was Dec 2008 (1).  Dec 08 and Jan 08 were REALLY slow.  I’ll share what this year looked like soon.

The month with the highest median sale price was December 2008 - $1,150,000.  Well, it was just one sale!  The month with the lowest median sale price was January 2009 - $432,000 (3 sales).  Not a lot to go on, but this is what it was.

The median price for listed properties is down 6% - from $1,084,000 to $1,017,000.

The median price of sold properties is down 32% - from $1,025,000 to $699,000.

The number of properties going into contract is trending up over the last 12 months –

• 0 in November 08
• 5 in December 08
• 2 in January 09
• 2 in February 09
• 5 in March 09
• 7 in April 09
• 5 in May 09
• 5 in June 09
• 8 in July 09
• 9 in August 09
• 9 in September 09
• 9 in October 09
• 8 in November 09

The number of NEW PROPERTIES LISTED by month trended up until July 2009 and then began trending down.  The month with the largest inventory was July 09.  Eight new listings came on the market 11/09 compared to 2 new listings on the market in 11/08.

Months Supply of Inventory peaked in the first quarter of 2009 with about 41 months of inventory!  Tons of inventory but not a lot of buying going on (why?  financial meltdown).  It’s been trending down ever since with November 2009 at 7 months.  This is still not a balanced market, which for our area is more in the 4-5 month range, but definitely improving!  Also, Half Moon Bay sales prices from November 2008 to November 2009 were down about 35% - that is for all price points/neighborhoods and single family homes only (not including lots, condo/townhouses or multi-family properties).

Annual and other stat reports to come, this is just to give you an idea of the kind of numbers we’re talking about in Half Moon Bay over “roughly” the last year (11/08-11/09).  As you will see from my past stat posts if you read them, I will discuss specific towns, or the Coastside as a whole, or compare it to other areas or time periods.  To look for Statistic posts specifically, go to the Quick Search button on the right sidebar and put in “stats or statistics”.  Or if you want the full 21 page report from which these numbers were generated (the San Mateo County Multiple Listing Service - MLS - MarketMetrics), just email me at mb@mariansbennett.com.

Hope you enjoy the mocha, my favorite drink :)  Happy New Year.

This has been an good year for these two Pacifica neighborhoods.  This chart shows two things 1) Average and Median sales prices on the left axis.  I wanted to show you both so you can see that they’re pretty consistent.  Note there are 2 lines for these unless they overlap.  This means there probably weren’t any properties that sold out of range (an outlier) for the area, which is one possible reason for differing numbers.  2)  Inventory (the number of properties for sale) on the right axis.  Note how different the numbers were a year ago compared to now.  Those of us working in the Park Pacifica and Sun Valley neighborhoods have been aware of this for months.  Below the graph are some key points.

This is a different market from a year ago.  I wrote about these neighborhoods in April 2009, titled Pacifica Buyers Find Value.    “Except for 2 sales in February 2009, there have been no closed sales since September 2008.”

The dip in January 2009 means that there were no closed sales that month.

Inventory peaked in late Winter and again in late Summer, a little earlier than more typical Spring and Fall inventory bumps.  In Nov 2008 there were 13 single family homes for sale and 1 sale (13 months of inventory); last month there were 4 homes for sale and 2 sales (2 months of inventory.  In the last 3 months, the absorption rate has been between 2-3 months!

The Median Sale Price broke the $600K mark in the Spring of 2009 and has sustained.  The Median  Sales Price in Nov 08 was $475,000; Median Sales Price in Nov 09 was $663,000.  Who knows if this approximately 28% increase will last in 2010 but it’s a welcome upturn for sellers who have seen a downturn since the peak in Quarter 1 of 2005 when the average sale price in these neighborhoods was $1,033,838.  At that time the Median sale price was $812,500, which is probably the more accurate range if we look at the trends.

Average Days on Market at the peak was 34; average days on market over 6 months is 58; average days on market over the last 3 months is 35.  This is with only one bank-owned (REO) property in the mix (1166 Fassler, originally listed for $513K, reduced to $498K 30 days later, accepted offer 10 days later, closed on 12/20/09 for $523K.)  I mention this because distressed properties can wreak havoc with days on market averages, but not for this market right now.

Potential sellers in Park Pacifica and Sun Valley - get a Comparative Market Analysis if you’re thinking about selling but wanted to wait for the market to stabilize.  There have been enough sales to satisfy appraisal concerns and price intelligently.

Potential buyers considering Park Pacifica and/or Sun Valley - have your financing in place BEFORE you make your offer.  Listing Agents may contact your mortgage broker or lender if there will be some financing.   Also, there are still cash buyers in the market.  Work with a Realtor who can guide you through a strategy that will insure you end up with the right house for you.

Search Pacifica properties or get listing alerts.

Search Pacifica properties in the $400K-$700K range or get listing alerts.

Related Article:Comparing Sun Valley and Park Pacifica - 3/31/2009

Premier Termite and Cameron’s Inn have come together (well, they’re related anyway - brothers) to offer a couple of Holiday Specials you should know about.

$50 off your next Structural Pest Inspection with Inspectors Kevin Palmer or Gabe Pack (650-726-7756)

AND

Buy ONE get ONE free at Cameron’s Inn - either a Burger or Fish & Chips Plate (650-726-5705)

Offer good through January 31, 2010

If you’re planning to list your property for sale in February, a January inspection is good timing.  This gives you time to decide if you want to take care of any of the necessary repairs yourself as part of your pricing strategy.  Or if you’re not planning on selling and it’s been five or more years since you’ve had an inspection, the winter is a good time and having a little discount is nice too.  Premier Termite is one of the local inspection companies that is well respected because they know the ins and outs of local pest, dry rot and construction issues, as well as being professional and timely.  (And no, we get no special favors…Realtors use the companies who provide the best service to our clients, period.)

Related article:

Bugs as Guests:  Orange Oil an Option - Fumigation may still be needed