Dave's Sonoma County Real Estate Blog

Free SEO Advice - Blogging 101 - Real Estate Keywords

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:23:06 -0600

Here's a keyword phrase that should be used multiple times in every post you write:

Real Estate

Along with "real estate" you need to include a location if you are writing about real estate you are trying to sell or buyers you are trying to attract. Otherwise your post will be lost in the 86,000,000 items that turn up under a search for "real estate" in Google. A search for something as simple as "Real Estate San Francisco" is down to only 242,000 pages. Updating that to "Real Estate San Francisco Mission District" get us down to just 7 results for that exact string of words.

A string is just words in sequence.
An exact string is words put together into a phrase or "string".

The central idea for your writing should be to have "exact strings of words" that represent what someone might type into their search engine. For the search above here are some variations:

String Number of Google Results

"San Francisco Mission District Real Estate" 8 pages (221,000 without the quotation mark search)

"Mission District Real Estate San Francisco" 4 pages

"Real Estate in San Francisco Mission District" 2 pages

Most people today don't search using quotation markets to look for specific phrases, but it is increasingly common as searchers try to get more acccurate results. Your job as a keyword-focused writer is to think about a real estate searcher as you are writing your copy. Try to use the words that are most likely to be put into the search bar in Google. Those words that you are choosing because you think they are the most common search terms are called "keywords".

For the search I am talking about here, using all three variations on the San Francisco Mission District makes sense. You would also drop in references to home, house, single family residence, condo, apartment, etc. that help keep your writing interesting and let you vary your keyword combinations. Here's a completed sentence that might start a post about a new listing:

San Francisco Mission District real estate today is driven by young people looking for homes for sale in the trendy neighborhoods of the Mission District in San Francisco.

I got Mission District and San Francisco both in there twice. I got a "homes for sale" and added some descriptive text about trendy and young people. That's a good keyword-driven sentence that you can adapt to your own use for your own area.

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We are Blessed

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:12:16 -0600

Thanksgiving is for feasting, family, and friends...and for many, football. There are few curmudgeons who would be bold enough to speak out against giving thanks, so we are allowed to have this one day in which all of us can feel united in spirit whatever our different beliefs.

Our family, like many, has a tradition around the dinner table of talking about what we are thankful for. I wanted to take a minute with this post to share my thankful thoughts about our industry and the people that make it special.

Buyers are at the heart of our business. If we are lucky, we are privileged to meet new buyers all year. Each brings a unique story of their life and their dreams. This year I was lucky to meet adult children shopping for a house closer to home for their parents living hundreds of miles away. Their support and demonstrated love for their ailing and often grouchy elders encouraged me to work extra hard to find them something quickly in a hot, multiple offer environment. The parents are relocated and still adjusting, but they're close to children, grandchildren, and a loving support system they lacked in their previous location.

I was able to work throughout the year with a disabled, single woman searching for a home and shop where she can continue her woodworking and have access to a bike path. She's challenged, as many buyers are, by shifting economic circumstances and uncertainty about the future. We've seen every fixer from Cotati to Sebastopol and are still looking. There have been a few near things, and more disappointments. She still manages to fight her infirmities and get out of bed to search the internet for her dream property. It's the least I can do to unlock doors and do some legwork to find her a home.

A group of young families are looking for a place to start a farm and put down shared roots. We've seen flood plains, steep hills, and rocky soil reminiscent of New Hampshire more than California. We've also seen green meadows, still ponds, and beautiful old barns. Their bouncing babies and smiling faces remind me of my earlier days and the power of big dreams. I really want to find them something great.

I could go on, but I'm sure you all have your favorite memories of the people you have helped and the lives you have touched. We're lucky to work in an industry where we can make new friends and help people during the course of our daily work. I'm especially thankful that ActiveRain provides such a fantastic community of people who share their stories and ideas with the rest of us. We are all part of the huge AR family in which caring is a central part of what I read about every day.

It wouldn't be fair to talk about the thanks I give for the people I meet without acknowledging that there is also much pain in the world of real estate. I want to warmly embrace and offer hope to everyone losing their home, underwater on their loan, or homeless today. There is always darkness before the dawn and sometimes it seems like things will never get better. They will. My hope is that your next Thanksgiving will have more reasons to be thankful.

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Speechless Sunday - Purple Princess

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 13:37:10 -0600

Purple princess blue hues.

Santa Rosa, CA November 2009

Taken with iPhone3Gs

I'm a transplanted Minnesotan who loves gardening more than shoveling snow. I also prefer short sleeves to parkas and swimming to ice-fishing. Come visit Sonoma County in the winter and you'll see what I mean. Our Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty office gets traffic from visitors from all the lovely snow-covered parts of the country. Last year was great for Illinois residents visiting Sonoma County. Chicago attorneys really seem to love Healdsburg.

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Being Smart about Land Previews

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 13:19:08 -0600

I'm working with a young family looking for a small farm property to call their own. Farms in the wine country of northern California are different than a farm in the Central Valley or one in Minnesota. We can't count on beautiful flat acreage perfectly suited to tractors. Our vineyards often wind up and down hillsides and they add a scenic quality that visitors love...and farmers cuss as they work around the slopes.

Great farm land in Sonoma County is selling from $50,000 to $75,000 an acre, so even a small farm is a challenge to the pocketbook. Making money from a farm demands a lot of hard work, smart marketing, and a dedication to the land. This is true whether you are a new organic grower, a third generation truck farmer in Salinas, or a traditional corn and soybean farmer in southern Minnesota. Farming is really hard work and I admire anyone who does it for a living. So, with dreams of a new CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) operation running through our heads, we have been looking for months.

In the past few weeks we have shifted our vision to the Potter Valley, a beautiful area north and east of Ukiah in Mendocino County. Land is more affordable there, and farms are more feasible in terms of expected yields relative to the cost of the land. It's actually possible to see a scenario where a farm purchase can pay for itself with crops rather than be subsidized by a day job. We're having fun and have looked at a few interesting possibilities, so overall we're feeling positive about the area.

Yesterday we decided to go up and look at a piece that has been off the market, but which has 11 acres in an irrigation district with low cost water. Normally I preview these properties via Google Earth to get a sense for terrain, but we didn't plan ahead far enough for me to generate the topo maps OR the Google Earth files. The property is listed by a real estate broker I trust who is the most productive lister of good farm land in the area. He's had pear orchards, vineyards, raw land, and other properties on the market in the last year, so he's a very good resource.

Unfortunately, his idea of level and mine didn't match on this property. We pulled up in front of the accurately described old barn and looked up at the hilliest, rockiest, most unsuitable land I could imagine for row cropping. The agent's description in the MLS of "level, gently sloped" must have been written in the dark standing on the level road in front of the property. His further description of "agricultural" is technically correct, but coupled with the "lower 11 acres in irrigation district" implied to me and my buyers a tractorable, farmable piece of land. Instead, agricultural must mean goats or sheep, not lettuce, carrots, and sweet corn.

The real culprit here isn't the listing agent who was using his most positive spin on the property. We're all supposed to paint our listings in the best light. No, the problem was my willingness to spend a half day road trip without a thorough preview. I could have seen the slope and terrain issues from the comfort of my office rather than standing, disappointed, in front of the barn. The trip wasn't a total bust. We got to take a second look at the property I think will end up being a good fit for them, but otherwise we spent a long tine in the car with their baby because I didn't take time to vet the property. My bad.

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Rincon Valley in Santa Rosa

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:34:31 -0600

Family friendly and conveniently located, Rincon Valley has long been one of the preferred residential areas in Santa Rosa. The schools are excellent and homes are still affordable here.

I have assembled a custom search already centered on Rincon Valley that will let you jump right into your map-based home search. Whether you want an entry level home or a more elaborate, larger move-up residence, Santa Rosa's Rincon Valley is a great place to search.

Once you are on the site you can choose whatever price range you are looking for or simply view all the properties.

I also want to repeat the news that there is a great new iPhone App that supports active MLS listings and has great built in support for the mapping features. As you drive around Rincon Valley or any other area in the BAREIS MLS territory, you can use your iPhone to see the listings nearby. It's a great tool.

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REO Listings in Rincon Valley

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:54:47 -0600

Rincon Valley is a lousy spot to look for REO property in Sonoma County. Strong neighborhoods and a continued demand for housing have kept bank-owned single family homes to a minimum. Still, there are the occasional listings and the map below will show REO properties in and around Rincon Valley. If you want to look around other parts of Santa Rosa, you can either navigate on the map or visit my reo.sonoma.net site for more maps and information on the foreclosed homes market in Sonoma County.

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GIS in Real Estate

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:36:13 -0600

If you have used Zillow.com or Google Maps you have used a GIS sytstem. (GIS stands for Geographic Information Systems) In GIS, it's all about the maps and the data that can be displayed or linked to the map. Your local government might use GIS to track everything from where the water mains run to which traffic lights need replacement with the new LED lights. In the private world, sites like Sonoma County Foreclosed Homes are driven by combining map data with real time real estate information.

Our use of GIS at Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty and our sister company, Artisan Sotheby's International Realty is due to our extensive work with rural, vineyard, and estate properties. Finding a country property when you are a long term local real estate veteran is one thing. Your brain is a part of the world's greatest walking GIS system. For everyone else including agents new to the area and industry, a GIS system is a great way to start learning about different properties and to find the remote parcels that are miles from paved roads.

Our local GIS Chapter is hosting its annual GIS Day (Geographic Information System) today and asked me to speak on a panel about private industry's use of GIS tools. The theme for the day is Do More with Less. As a real estate professioal it's easy to find ways in which GIS lets me do more with less, but one example should ring true for anybody in the audience.

In the good old days, when the MLS consisted of a phone book sized quarterly book with crappy black and white photos, you had to visit any property that you were curious about. There was no way to preview online. There weren't portfolios of color photos available, and it was rare to get enough information in a printed listing to know if the property would be suitable for grapes or horses or logging. You would get written clues, but to know, really know, about a property, you had to visit. Today, thanks to GIS tools, the internet, and high quality digital photography, it's possible to do an online preview of dozens of properties in the time it might take to drive to one.

I don't know how much gas I save by previewing online, but I know that actual in person and on the road search time with my real estate clients is very efficiently used these days. We rarely look at a property that we haven't thoroughly checked out before hand. If I was going to pick just one "Do More with Less" feature of our GIS tools, this would be the one I would highlight.

If you are interested in GIS tools for your office, start by checking out the folks at ESRI who are pioneers and leaders in the field. I'll warn you upfront that getting involved with this software requires technical curiousity and a boss who will be a champion for change. Our broker, Eric Drew, has always been an enthusiast for maps, history, and technology in real estate. His support and encouragement (and check writing) have been the key to implementing GIS in our office.

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California Gold is Greening

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:17:23 -0600

California has always been the golden state. Your first close look at a dew dappled California Poppy at sunrise will show you the gold.

First time visitors arriving in the summer may think it more brown than gold, but that's a fleeting impression that a stay into the fall and winter will correct. The slopes of our oak studded hills are beginning to wake from their summer sun slumber. Meadows still shaggy with last year's golden grasses are gleaming green with new growth in the first inch above the soil. The battle for sun favored status is taking place in every random patch of dirt as weeds, wildflowers, grasses, and bird-planted seeds from every garden flower compete for water and sunlight.

It's a foreign time for mid westerners and others accustomed to four seasons. Our Sonoma County vineyards feature a beautiful and familiar fall display along with the liquidambers, Chinese pistachios and other showy queens of color. Underneath the traditional golden autumn hues, however, the awakening greens tell a story not of a season ending, but of life beginning anew. We are spared the dormant emptiness of winter. It may be why we're an optimistic place. While the northern tier of the country battens down for a long, cold winter, we are hitting the nurseries for seedlings and garden supplies. While others prepare with snow tires and chains, we're swapping our marigolds for violas and watching the first of the spring bulbs break the surface.

It's easy for me to understand love of place. Familiar scenes, landscape, flowers and trees, and the sound of a voice like home call to people everywhere. For me, as a 40 year transplant to California, this is the home my wandering feet and eyes had sought. For Arnold, the governator, the same story holds. It may not be for everyone, but California's optimistic people and climate have an irresistible draw for those of us who love beginnings and growth.

My Sonoma County Blog features more information on seasons and the other things that make Northern California and Sonoma County in particular a special place.

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IPhone Real Estate Search Tool for Sonoma County

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 11:34:21 -0600

Searching with an iPhone for real estate listings in Sonoma County just got personal for me. My IDX vendor, IDXBroker, has released an iPhone app that lets me have my own self-branded iPhone app to search Sonoma real estate listings.

I've always been happy with my IDX vendor's great service but now they have provided me the bragging rights to share my own iPhone app with my clients. According to some of the reviews of this application, clients are happy that the listings are live and local. They compared this very favorably to the Trulia and Zillow applications which don't always have the most current data.

According to market statistics nearly half of all Internet mobile real estate searching is on the iPhone, so whether you have one or not, a lot of your clients might.

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Sell it Fast or Sell it Cheaper

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:14:25 -0600

Sell it fast or sell it cheaper. Most real estate professionals understand the direct link between "Days on Market" and selling price. Homes that linger on the market for months normally drop their price to attract buyers or else accept a much reduced selling price. This is true in all regions of the country and all price brackets. Homes that have been on the market for more than 90 days rarely sell for full price.

I'm working with some out-of-state buyers who are new to Marin County and the North Bay and wanted to help them calibrate their pricing mindset. I produced this chart of all the single family homes in San Anselmo that have sold this year. The height of the bars indicates how close the sales price is to the original listing price. Most of the bars on the left side of the chart are near the 100% mark. Each bar represents one or more sales. As you read towards the middle (checking the bottom of the chart for the Days on Market) you start to see that many fewer homes are near the 100% mark. After Day 90, the highest value for selling price is only 90% of the original listing price. As you move to the far right of the chart near the six month DOM range, many homes are selling for less than 80% of their original listing price.

Armed with this type of information, my buyers are able to make informed offers that are backed by real market data.

REO Sales in Marin

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Careful Clients Catch a Clause

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:12:17 -0600

I've been working through details of a complex property purchase with a couple who are taking a big step into a larger scale transaction than they are used to. They are both careful about paperwork and details, but the husband is particularly steadfast about reading everything put in front of him. He credits the wife's advice, but it's clear that he likes to know what he is going to sign. Over the last week he has found at least three discrepancies in the documentation of title and related documents. I don't think any of them would have changed the essence of the understanding among the parties, but it was great that he was reading carefully enough to find the problems before they became bigger.

The lessons I draw from this are simple. First, I have to slow down enough to find problems before my clients. Even minor issues are my responsibility to find. The second lesson is to never rush a client when they are reading the paperwork. Never. The hassles you save by avoiding errors are worth an extra hour or two to make sure the paperwork is clear.

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Bad Behavior - Blown Schedules

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:37:51 -0600

I was embarked on an ambitious schedule touring homes with clients this weekend. They wanted to see a wide range of different neighborhoods in central and northern Marin County. I put together a list with as many vacant homes as I could find in their price range, but we also had half a dozen occupied homes to visit. I left messages and tentative timing for the occupants, but with a long list of homes, uncertain traffic, and occasional pausing for more thorough inspections, by the middle of the day our schedule was blown.

I got in touch with several of the occupants to reschedule, but a few others had already left their homes for our visit and couldn't be reached. I feel like a jerk for inconveniencing them and making them leave their house when it wasn't necessary.

I'd appreciate feedback from other agents on what's the proper protocol for handling a busy day when schedules fall apart. Is there a recommended "I blew it" Hallmark Card?

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February Bottom Call Revisited

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 03:41:06 -0500

I went out on a limb in April and said our local Sonoma County markets had bottomed out in late February. I don't get paid to write these predictions, so I don't have an editor to fire me. On the other hand, anyone who reads my work or listens to my advice should know whether my crystal ball (and spread sheet work) is clear.

I printed this chart and pointed out where the trend lines were bending upwards.

I have this more recent live chart below showing that as of late October of 2009 my earlier prediction about a late February housing bottom in Sonoma County is still showing up as a good predictor of price changes. Still, prognostication success aside, I'm not going to tempt fate and promise continuing improvement going into the slower selling season on both sides of the holidays.

I will mention that prices have moved up between $50K and $100K in this Santa Rosa zicpcode depending on the price range. We're nowhere near the peaks of the market and may not regain those for a very long time, but the smart buyers ( Dick Miller you know who you are) were able to act on my advice and purchase homes for very good values in the spring.

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Is Rohnert Park a Hotter Market than Windsor

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:59:55 -0500

Families looking for good schools and friendly neighborhoods often look at Rohnert Park and Windsor, the two cities that bracket Santa Rosa on the south and north. Both are reasonably recent towns built during the last half of the last century. Windsor is slightly newer, but Rohnert Park has Sonoma State University and better proximity to Marin and San Francisco.

They have each struggled with the crash of the housing bubble and I wanted to look at the numbers to see the state of the market. I pulled all the sold listings from July through September of 2009 for single family homes selling for less than $300,000.

I was surprised most of all by the vitality of Rohnert Park. The transactions at the entry level of the market continue on a torrid pace of overbidding that makes it hard for first time buyers to compete. At the same time, however, it shows a very healthy interest in home ownership and investment.

What you see in this chart is an average overbid of about $13,000 in Rohnert Park, and an average underbid in Windsor of about -$4,000. Even though Windos starts off with a higher average listing price (in the less than $300,000 price range), the average selling price ends up higher in Rohnert Park. I don't think you can draw a lot of conclusions from this. If I were advising first time buyers on a limited budget where they should be looking at property, I might steer them to Windsor just to avoid getting into as many bidding wars.

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REO Market Turning to a Real Real Estate Market

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 17:31:30 -0500

What's Real in Real Estate?

REO transactions are real. It's just that for home owners and investors trying to sell their homes, the REO market has been the 800 pound gorilla squashing average sellers. Normal transactions have almost vanished from the market as buyers chase the bank owned home bargains they read about. We've been living with this in most markets for at least 18 months.

I'm happy to announce that in Sonoma County, CA, at least for now, the foreclosure properties that dominated the market for most of 2008 and 2009 are finally becoming a minority of transactions. In fact the new listings in the last thirty days in Sonoma County break out as:

Normal Market Listings: 345 homes
Short Sale Listings: 143 homes
REO Listings: 133 homes

It's a welcome change for the 345 people who were able to list their property for sale in a market where REO listings now have less than 20% market share of new listings. Owners still have to price their homes properly, but they're not competing with the banks' asset managers nearly as often.

The chart shows the trend month by month since the start of 2008. REO reporting was sketchy in our MLS, so I don't think we captured much data for the first few months, but it was clear by July of last year that REO transactions were beginning to outnumber traditional sales. The trend accelerated from there, and by the end of 2008 and beginning of 2009, sales of bank owned properties outnumbered traditional sales by more than 2 to 1. The number of normal owner-to-buyer transactions was fewer than 100 per month in January and February of 2009.

By May of this year the ratio was back to 1 to 1 for REO sales vs. open market transactions. During the summer the trend away from REO domination of the market has continued and we now (early October) are looking at REO sales falling towards the 100 per month level. My headline about the "real" real estate market returning after long domination by REO properties is proven by the numbers.

Of course, all this can change. We have rumors of waves of foreclosed properties coming from Option ARMs and other financial instruments due for reset soon. We hear tales of ghost inventory of REO properties just waiting to be dumped on the market. We all know people who are defaulting month after month on their mortgages without bank action. It's nearly impossible to get a clear understanding of the REO market and why banks are not acting more aggressively. What I can say is that if I were a banker with a lot of potential REO properties on my hands, I would have been putting them on the market starting in late spring when buying interest intensified and the REO inventory was dropping.

Keep watching my reo sites to check for active listings of foreclosed property in Northern California areas you are interested in.

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Trees, Views, and Happy Mediums

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:53:23 -0500

I showed a great piece of property today.

I know it's great, but the client and his agent just know it's got a lot of trees on it.

The seller has already done a little bit of clearing on the six acres, but has resisted our urging to do additional opening up of the forest canopy. My broker and I are both fans of filtered views, so we would encourage any buyer to be cautious about removing too many trees, but this land is still in the heavily forested stage, so we aren't worried about taking out too many trees.

Some big bay trees have been removed and some of the smaller redwoods and Douglas fir have been removed. Still, unless you are familiar with how trees can overwhelm a property, you could almost look at this land and wonder if anything had ever been cut. The picture gives a pretty clear representation of what this property looks like to a buyer. The trees in the picture are primarily Douglas fir with a few redwoods scattered around the acreage. These are big trees, especially compared to the immediate neighbor who has clearly logged more recently. This is the start of a great private park, but the trees are masking some amazing sights.

What I couldn't show today.

What the first picture doesn't show is the other side of the trees. This pretty six acre parcel is on the west side of Dry Creek Valley, one of the finest grape growing regions in Northern California's wine country. By taking out a few trees, the view is going to be vineyards in the foreground and middle ground with various mountains and hills in the background.

There may be better views on some properties, but this ranks pretty high on my "sit on the porch and stare all day." view-o-meter.

The dilemma for me or other agents in this situation is that the proper mix of show-and-tell and imagination are rarely present in buyers. If you leave issues like the view to the imagination, most people will fail to understand what they can't see. It's normal. On the other hand, the proper way to choose which trees to remove or prune really depends on where the new buyer would build a house and how they would locate their windows and decks. So, we're stuck in the middle between buyers who can't visualize the view and owners who are reluctant to choose views on behalf of clients they can't visualize either.

I'm pretty certain we can eventually persuade the seller to find the happy medium and remove a few trees and some low-hanging branches. Today, however, I showed a beautiful view...that the clients can't see.

Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty has great listings in Dry Creek Valley.

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Sellers' Market Demolishes First Time Home Buyer Credit

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 14:16:25 -0500

We're all seeing the return of a sellers' market for entry level homes. I've posted about it earlier and many of you commented that your areas are also affected. The saddest situations I see are for the first time home buyers struggling to finance a low priced home who are repeatedly losing out to cash investors. It's easy to say it's the market in action. It's harder when you are working with young couples with children trying to get started as home owners and get their kids enrolled in a good school.

I analysed recent sales data to try to show what has happened in Sonoma County. I listed just single family residences that sold since July 1, 2009 for less than $250,000, a level that is definitely entry level in this coastal California area. These are the homes for service workers, recent graduates, young couples, etc. Earlier this year there were hundred of these properties available and most people with good credit could qualify to buy...and the homes sold quickly. The newer data tells a different story.

The chart includes a data point for each sale. The far left side of the chart includes lingering listings from late in 2008 and early in 2009. Intuitively, you will guess that these long time on the market homes are not going to sell for a premium. That's borne out by the fact that the data points are all near or beneath the zero line on the chart. As you read to the right, there are data points above and below zero reflecting overbids above the line and underbids beneath it. There's a strong mix of sales prices. The middle of the chart are primarily short sales that went into contract between February and May and they reflect a slight trend towards overbids, but still a good deal of balance.

The right side of the chart tells today's story. The large majority of sale data points are now above the line. I have made a greenish color bar from the zero line to the $8,000 range that reflects the first time home buyer's tax credit. Most of the data points are at or above that green bar. The positive effects of the tax credit are being eaten away by the higher demand for housing that has created the overbid situation. Every data point in the upper orange area has effectively had their tax credit consumed by the higher price they had to pay for the house.

The blue area under the zero line contains the data points for peope who were able to purchase their Sonoma County home for less than the listing price. These buyers are the ones who benefit the most form the first time homebuyer's credit. For everyone else, the tax credit may have had the unintended consequence of spurring the market to rise higher and faster than it would have otherwise. I think we can all be glad for a return of a real housing market that supports regular homeowners being able to sell their homes. On the other hand, I think I'm going to miss the days when I could find affordable homes for everyone with a job, decent credit, and a pulse.

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No Foreclosed Home Surge in Sonoma

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 11:26:57 -0500

The big surge in foreclosed homes we have been told is coming has been a big yawn so far in Sonoma County. Buyers are aggressively bidding for decently priced homes on the market and sales are brisk. As an example of the drying up of REO inventory, there are less than 100 bank owned single family homes for sale in Sonoma County. That's down from 160 in April and 300 or more in January. That translates to a couple dozen foreclosed homes for sale in Rohnert Park or Windsor. When your home buying universe shrinks to that few to choose from, you can get frustrated easily. The reports of a surge of new foreclosure default filings in Sonoma County is welcome news to buyers (if not delinquent owners), but the homes in question are a long way from hitting the market.

The reality is that if you're looking for a great value REO home you are going to be fighting other smart buyers, both investors and first time buyers, who are looking for the same thing. On the street that means that the first days a new REO listing has been posted is going to be a scramble as real estate agents stack up with their buyers to get a look and figure out not just if they want to make a bid, but how much of an overbid they may have to make. It's clear there is a lot of pent up demand for affordable housing.

I'm curious about other parts of the country. Are you seeing a new wave of foreclosures? Are you still dealing with multiple offers and overbids?

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Mayacama - Sonoma County's Most Exclusive Gated Community

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:45:23 -0500

Mayacama is Sonoma County's premier luxury neighborhood. This very exclusive community of less than twenty fabulous homes surrounds a Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course that is ranked #4 on Travel & Leisure Golf’s “Top 100 Community Courses” . In addition to the golf, residents enjoy a wine club with vintner members that need 90 points or higher in Wine Spectator scores to join. Great golf, great wine, and great food combine with a spa, heated pools, tennis courts, and other amenities to support a luxurious, wine country lifestyle that is unrivaled anywhere.

Mayacama is located within ten minutes of the Santa Rosa airport and is only 59 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge, so access isn't complicated. The Santa Rosa Airport is serviced by Horizon Air flights from Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Seattle. Many of the owners here have their own aircraft, and the Santa Rosa Airport has sufficient capability to handle private aircraft.

Mayacama consists of 32 lots spread across 675 acres. The homes are primarily Tuscan inspired and by design are around 3,600 square feet each. The homes are spread throughout the property to provide privacy to each residence. Gary Scenti is one of my fellow agents at Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty. He's intimately familiar with the Mayacama homes and golf course. In fact, he blogs about golfing at Mayacama on his mayacamahomes.com blog. He has the listing for what may be the nicest site and home on the property. You can see the rear of the home and the pool deck in the top picture. See a Slideshow or an aerial tour.

Listing Details

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Sebastopol Country

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:23:11 -0500

Sonoma County is agricultural heaven. Famed horticulturist Luther Burbank went so far as to say about Sonoma County, "This is the chosen spot of all this earth as far as Nature is concerned. I won't disagree. For those who are looking for an acre or two of this gardening paradise, Sebastopol stands out among all the others. For a host of reasons, including the failure of apple growers to make enough profit from their work, many Sebastopol country properties were broken into smaller parcels before zoning laws were enacted to preserve large farms. Other agricultural towns, like Healdsburg, simply don't have a lot of small parcels available.

Sebastopol country property surrounds the town of Sebastopol, but is more sparse in the direction of Santa Rosa. The Laguna de Santa Rosa occupies a vast tract of land between those cities, so your best searching will be on Highway 116 leading into Sebastopol, Highway 12 heading towards the coast, or Highway 116 on the way to Graton and Forestville. There are a multitude of smaller roads between these major arteries, each with a feel and character of its own.

To really understand this area and get a feel for the microclimates and neighborhoods, a bike ride is ideal for exploring the back roads. The major roads are a little busy with regular traffic for me to recommend bicycling, but the smaller roads have an easier pace. Still, ride carefully. If you can't take a bike ride, an old fashioned Sunday drive crisscrossing the countryside between Graton, Occidental, Freestone, Bloomfield, and Hessell will give you a strong flavor of the different neighborhoods. You may even run into some friendly live stock along the way.

Property isn't cheap here. The schools are top notch, which always spurs demand for property from active parents. Politically, the local citizenry is involved with their town and national events.There's a great shopping variety in town including several locally owned markets, national grocery chains, and a Whole Foods. Local businesses include O'Reilly Media, the source of more Hello World programming beginnings than any other entity in the world.

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Healdsburg's Dry Creek Valley

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:14:24 -0500

Healdsburg's Dry Creek Valley is home to great wineries, great scenery, and some truly great vineyard estate homes. It's also home to more modest farmhouses for the grape growers and other residents who work in the wine industry. Make no mistake, wine and grapes are the heart and soul of this area. If you're not growing, processing, tasting, or selling wine, you might as well look somewhere else for a home. This map based search for Dry Creek Valley homes for sale will help you see what is on the market today.

Dry Creek Valley is a very discrete, geographically limited region. At the south-east end is the city of Healdsburg (shown on the aerial photo). At the north-west end is Warm Springs Dam, the blocking force that created Lake Sonoma, a wonderful source of recreation, water, and flood control for the area. The hills rising up on each side of Dry Creek Valley are the other boundaries that define this appellation and the neighborhood. Dry Creek Road on the north and W Dry Creek Road on the south west side of the valley are the two country roads that service this area.

The agricultural nature of this valley has always meant large parcel sizes. You can see this clearly on the aerial photo of the valley. That continues to be the case today, so most residential real estate comes with either vineyards or forests. There are a few smaller parcels with an acre or less, but for the most part, a big component of the price you pay for property is going to be in the land.

The top estates in this area are truly spectacular. Our Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty office has two magnificent vineyard estates in different parts of the valley.The Jones Ranch on 25 acres contains a main house of 3500 square feet, an additional house with ,700 square feet, and a guest unit over a 3 car garage. Details.

The property has more than 20 acres planted to premium, award winning Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc vines. There is a wine making barn with the potential to convert this property from a vineyard to a 5,000 case per year wine-making operation for buyers who are serious about the wine business.

The other end of the valley, close-in to Healdsburg along W. Dry Creek Rd, is another wonderful wine-centric property. This estate was built on the aesthetics of lodges like the Ahwanee Hotel in Yosemite.

Large scale rooms and ample use of wood and stone make this striking estate memorable. There are grapes here as well; more than 10 acres of Syrah in contract with the neighboring winery. This estate also has a guest house, orchards, and other outbuildings. Details

It's hard to find homes for sale in Dry Creek Valley. The neighborhood is reasonably large in area, but there are relatively few residences because of the large parcel sizes. If you are willing to take the time and energy to build your own home there are some great Dry Creek Valley land parcels waiting for your dream home.

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Healdsburg's Downtown Historic Homes

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 12:22:43 -0500

Healdsburg's downtown area is blessed with great restaurants, wonderful wine tasting rooms, and an activity-filled plaza surrounded by great retail outlets. Just blocks away from this social and commercial activity are streets lined with beautiful examples of architecture from the last 150 years. Proximity to the Healdsburg Plaza is one of the key factors in determining value here, and reasaonable walking distance is often hotly debated. What's clear is that among all the streets, both Tucker and Matheson streets offer some great examples of authentic architecture close to the Plaza. There are other deserving historic areas in Healdsburg, but I'm going to focus on these two streets.

Matheson is the main drag running from downtown to Fitch Mountain. Many successful growers who had country properties built a "town house" so their kids could get to school more easily in the winter. Other homes in the area were built by merchants. This example of a beautiful Queen Anne was built around 1895. The lots here tended to the large size and many had additional structures added since then. The Healdsburg historic downtown listing featured in the top photo has two duplexes and a small cottage in the "back yard". The units are grandfathered into the zoning, but would never be allowed for someone who wanted to build something similar today. This Victorian is ready for a buyer who wants to put their imprint on the property. It's a reasonably sound structure, but needs to be updated.

Tucker and Haydon are architecturally similar to Matheson, but are much quieter streets since they aren't a through route to anywhere. They are an extra block or two from the plaza because of that, but the tradeoff for less traffic is clearly worth it for many buyers. This charming 1881 farmhouse at 527 Tucker St is a well preserved example of the California farm house tradition. It is currently set up as a multi-unit building, but could easily be turned back into a single family home. My colleague, Gail Ryan, has this listed for $895,000.

A few blocks closer to the Plaza, another one of my colleagues, Felicia Carlson, has a listing for a beautifully updated Edwardian with a complete guest cottage, pool, and full garage with alley access. This lovely home with nearly 3,000 square feet is completely move-in ready for the person who wants all the charm of Healdsburg without the trouble of fixing up an old place on their own.

This downtown gem represents the top of the heap as far as architecture, historic interest, modern conveniences, and access to all the amenities of the downtown area.

Healdsburg's historic downtown will retain the area's strongest residential values for reasons of location, charm, and historic authenticity. New subdivisions may have bigger, more modern homes, but it's impossible to recreate a 100 year old neighborhood close to downtown. The several hundred homes that are lucky enough to be within a few blocks of the Healdsburg Plaza are always going to be sought after.

Look for the Healdsburg Plaza. That is the cornerstone that everything in Healdsburg is measured from. "How many blocks to the plaza?" and "How long to get to the plaza?" are two of the most common questions we answer about real estate in Healdsburg. This map should help understand the main streets that I discussed in this post. For more information on all residential listings in Healdsburg, you can visit my site and do your own searching for historic homes in downtown Healdsburg. Happy hunting.

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Sonoma County's Kawana Springs and Santa Ana Area

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 12:27:24 -0500

Kawana Springs and the post-world war II subdivision just north of it represent two sides of the entry level home market in Santa Rosa. They are blocks apart physically, but miles apart in terms of amenities, style, price, and maintenance. Location unites them, but so does the attractiveness of both sets of homes as entry level housing in Santa Rosa.

The area that was named Stellar Gardens in the early 1950's includes Santa Ana, Santa Barbara, San Domingo, Elsinore, Moraga, and San Clemente Drives. These were very modest homes, even when they were new. On the other hand, their relatively small square footage (877 to 1177 square feet) and nice sized lots (.13 to .25 of an acre) promised an upgrade in the future to returning GI's as the second wave of the Boomer babies were being born. Progress passed them by, however, as new subdivisions drew the growing families into larger homes in Santa Rosa and newly built Rohnert Park. These homes became rentals, for the most part, but during the housing boom they escalated wildly in price and became over-priced, owner-occupied homes for people who didn't want to get left behind as housing appreciated in value. Sadly, the dream turned to nightmare for most of the buyers who paid in the $400,000-$450,000 range for homes that are now selling for $125,000-$150,000. This neighborhood is ground zero for the no-doc loans and 100% financing that helped fuel the bubble.

The bubble victims are mainly gone. Banks have either taken ownership or already sold these foreclosed properties to new buyers. The still modest homes often have illegal garage conversions, dilapidated facades, cracked concrete driveways and patios, and failing roofs. In spite of those common problems, these houses offer the bottom rung on the ladder to home ownership that many people are seeking. The first time home buyer tax credit of $8,000 represents as much as 5-6% of the homes value. Free.

A 10% down payment is only $12,500 for the low end of this market, and that's only about twice as much as the initial deposits to rent an apartment. If you qualify for the excellent rates available today, your house payment, including taxes and insurance, can be less than $1,000 per month. That's a good value in anybody's budget.

Kawana Springs represents a more modern version of the same story. The streets are named for semi-precious stones like Amethyst Way, Lapis Lane, and Malachite Way. These homes were built to capitalize on the housing boom in the early 2001-2003 time frame. They are also modest in scale with most of them being between 1240 and 1698 square feet sitting on small lots of .08 to .107 acres in size. A typical value progression for this subdivision was for a home to sell for $250,000 in 2000, for $550,000 during the bubble height, and to now be sold for $300,000. Current real estate prices reflect significant losses for the buyers who purchased during the bubble peak, but are in line with long term real estate appreciation in Sonoma County.

These are great first time buyer homes for people who can qualify for the higher payments on a house that is selling for around $300,000. These are almost new, and the maintenance costs should be lower than older homes for many years. The neighborhood itself reflects that all the homes were built in 2000 or more recently, so it's in generally excellent repair and appearance.

These two neighborhoods will appeal to buyers with different budgets, but they are both useful ways to get started in the housing market in Santa Rosa.

Homes for Sale in Kawana Springs

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Mark West Area of Sonoma County

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 00:01:54 -0500

Mark West is unincorporated Sonoma County that is north of Santa Rosa, south of Windsor, west of Calistoga and east of Fulton. It includes suburban neighborhoods like Wikiup Greens and Larkfield, rural properties with vineyards and horses, and forested hillsides in the foothills running up to the county line separating Napa from Sonoma.

Within Mark West are several distinct areas. In the south eastern portion is the area known as Mark West Springs. This is the name of a major artery that runs over the hills to Calistoga in Napa County. The same road when it crosses Highway 101 is known as River Road and it runs through Guerneville to the coast at Jenner. The section we care about for this post begins at 101 and heads east. It includes the Wells Fargo Center for the Performing Arts as a main anchor and becomes residential immediately after crossing Old Redwood Highway. The neighborhood bordered by Old Redwood Highway on the west and bisected by Mark West Springs is one of the older, leafier, and more desirable subdivisions in Sonoma County. The feel is rustic and spacious and the homes have been here long enough to have charming tree canopies. Some of the major streets have English names like Oxford, Dorchester, and Brighton south of Mark West Springs Rd and St. James, Londonberry, and Sussex north of the road. Overall it's a quite small neighborhood with perhaps several hundred homes.

Farther north is the area known as Larkfield-Wikup. It includes a modest golf course with Sonoma County's cheapest golf rates. There's a senior community at Wikiup Greens, several subdivisions of newer vintage than the Mark West neighborhoods, and hillside homes along Wikiup Drive with commanding views looking south and west over the Santa Rosa plains. There is one home marked on the accompanying graphic. It's the only REO listing in the area. I think that demonstrates high demand for homes in the area which has allowed homeowners in trouble with their loans to sell before the foreclosure process reaches a sad conclusion

The REO listing above is for sale as of July 25, 2009 for $299,900 for a 3 Bedrooms, 2 Bathroom home in 1532 square feet. That's probably a representative price for modest homes in this area. Hillside homes are selling for twice that price, and more, so this area does have a big diversity of housing opportunities.

Homes for Sale in Mark West and Larkfield-Wikiup

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Russian River Valley between Healdsburg and Guerneville

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:53:03 -0500

The Russian River Valley from Healdsburg to Guerneville is scenic, fertile,and wildly diverse. The region is famed for grapes, particularly Pinot Noir grown in the fog shrouded benchlands just above the valley floor. The same fog that produces cool summer temperatures favorable to the slow ripening of wine grapes is essential to the growth of the other well known crop of this area, redwood trees. The redwoods drink from the moisture laden air that defines their range along the coast.

This neighborhood is as diverse architecturally as it is agriculturally. For many residents, wine is as much a lifestyle as an agricultural commodity. Farming can be handled by specialists and the serious business of eating and drinking can take place in elaborate kitchens and patios. One man's Tuscan estate might butt up against a rustic, Ahwanee-like paean to wood. This architecturally rich stretch of the river extends as far south as the Wohler Bridge connecting Westside and Eastside Roads. Farther west, the architecture is more native California farmhouse, modest bungalow, and rustic cabin.

The Russian River Valley gets semi-urban at Forestville. The summer cabins built in the thirties and forties have been upgraded, for the most part, but many retain a built-quick aura and often lack the amenities like insulation and weather stripping that convert a cabin to a year round dwelling. Still, they are occupied and the tenants make due with the aid of wood burning stoves in the winter and wide open windows for the cooling breezes in the summer. The lowest lying stretches of these cabins are in danger of seasonal flooding. The stilts that have raised them above the 100 year flood plain create some architectural (and structural) awkwardness that is only made worse by the dozens of steps that must be navigated for thousands of days to prevent the five days of flooding per decade that might actually do some damage. For those who live here, however, "the river" is worth the trials and tribulations.

Sitting high above this river-centric community life are the big properties filled with redwoods, fir, bay, and madrones. An average parcel once you're a mile or two from River Road might be 160 acres or more. This bank of big parcels extends north past Sweetwater Springs for miles and miles towards Lake Sonoma and west for miles to the thousands of acres of Armstrong Woods State Park and the Austin Creek State Reserve.

Many of these large Russian River parcels are land only with no improvements. Some house estates of their own, and an estate in these hills can be a very private affair. Private roads, gates, and taciturn neighbors can make these properties true retreats from the everyday bustle of life. In fact, the famed Bohemian Encampment, a summer camp for people who attend in their private jets, takes place just a few miles farther down the river outside Monte Rio.

If you're looking for a scenic getaway about an hour and a half north of San Francisco, the Russian River Valley offers a wide range of options and life styles including vineyard estates, wineries, river front cabins, and forested mini-parks.

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