Dave's Sonoma County Real Estate Blog

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.

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

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

Sonoma County REO Listings by City in 2009

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 10:27:14 -0500

If you have been trying to buy a bank owned home in Sonoma County, it may seem like there aren't as many foreclosed homes on the market as there were in January. As I have written about before, REO houses in Sonoma County at affordable prices are selling fast and the inventory is being drawn down faster than it is being replenished.

The chart on the right illustrates how true that statement is. So far this year, February was the month with the most new REO listings coming on the market, but since then we have averaged less than 60 new bank owned homes per month. May provided us with less than 50 Sonoma County bank owned homes for sale.

This has the inevitable effect of driving up prices for the homes that do make it into the market. For regular homeowners trying to sell their property and banks trying to upgrade the value of properties that may be in foreclosure in the future this price increase is a good thing. For homebuyers struggling to get into their first home, this tight market with rising prices is a nightmare.

There are continuing reports of a vast pipeline of foreclosed properties ready to hit the market. Only time will tell if that new surge in properties materializes. For now, this chart shows the modest and relatively small flow of Sonoma County bank owned homes into the marketplace.

Rediscovering Walking

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:02:55 -0500

If you can't walk to the corner market for a few groceries, you might be suburban.

If you have never walked to the library, you might live too far from town.

If you can't walk to a nice restaurant and stroll home with your sweetie under a full moon, you might be missing something special.

Healdsburg, my work-base in the wine country, still retains it's original small town charm. We have a plaza where people can congregate for weekly outdoor concerts. There are markets at both ends of town and more shopping in the middle, so people can walk north or south and shop within walking distance of home. There is a real downtown area that's often thronged with people sightseeing, hanging out, or grabbing a meal. It just feels right to be here.

Our real estate office is only a block from the plaza and judging by the number of people who want to grab real estate flyers and brochures, almost everyone is intrigued by the idea of living here as well, Towns and neighborhoods built on a human walking scale are just plain comfortable..

100

This graphic is from the great website, Walkscore.com. Walkscore rates towns based on how many amenities are within walking distance of your location. The link above shows that Healdsburg scored 100 which is a great walkability result. You should visit the WalkScore site and put in your address to see how your town is doing for walkability.

In addition to simple scoring, the site has lots of useful information about walking, quality of life, and the existence of great walkable areas even in cities that aren't known for being friendly to walkers. If you feel at all civically inclined, their front page currently has a walkability link to encourage politicians to support walking, biking, and transit in the 2009 Transportation Bill.

Whether you are rural, subarban, or a city dweller, walking more is good for your health, good for the planet if you're cutting down on driving, and good for your spirit. A brisk walk on a crisp summer morning with the dew still on the grass is refreshing no matter where you are. Even if you just take one fewer driving trip per week, you are doing yourself and the planet a favor.

Sonoma County REO Prices

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 13:34:27 -0500

The famous bank robber, Willie Sutton, when asked why he robbed banks answered simply, "That's where the money is." First time home buyers in Sonoma County and elsewhere need to start the process with the same simple approach. If the questions is "Where should you be looking for a house.", the answer has to be "Where you can afford it."

The first time home buyer faces daunting task

Wading thorugh vast amounts of unfamiliar paperwork in the purchase process
Understanding the arcane jargon everybody in the business tosses around casually
Answering detailed and personal financial questions
Scraping together a down payment

That's without even talking about locating and inspecting what will be your most valuable asset...and most expensive handcuffs.

I like using map based search tools on my sites since locations to schools, parks, roads, and other amenities are much clearer with maps. There's still something to be said for other ways of presenting information. I produced this recent chart of average Sonoma County REO prices by city as a guide for first time buyers thinking about purchasing an REO property in Santa Rosa, Windsor, Rohnert Park or any of the other cities where REO properties represent good values.

This is very useful for helping buyers of foreclosed homes in Sonoma County understand the cities where they are likely to be able to afford a home. When you are ready to start looking at some active listings that reflect this type of value, my REO.Sonoma.net site is always updated with real time REO listings and lists of Sonoma County foreclosed homes by city.

California Foreclosure Prevention Act

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:00:00 -0500

Yesterday, June 15, 2009, was the start of a new program in California called the California Foreclosure Prevention Act. The main goal of this legislation was to encourage mortgage loan servicers to be more aggressive with their loan modification efforts to try to keep people in their homes. There is an additinoal 90 day period between the Notice of Default and the Notice of Sale in which the lender and homeowner can work out a loan modification. The law was passed in February but is just going into effect now.

There's a lot of confusion in the public about the full scope of what this law really does. I found a great article by David Gibbs, an attorney in San Clemente, California explaining this bill in detail and laying out a great timetable explaining the new process. I'm reproducing his timetable here, but encourage you to visit the original article and get all the details about this new law.

Buckeyes in California

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 18:53:38 -0500

Most of my plant posts are on my sonoma blog site, but the buckeye is interesting and prevalent enough that I wanted to share this with the AR audience. Ohio is the Buckeye state, of course, but buckeyes occur over much of North America. In California we have Aesculus californica, the only native buckeye to the state. It's also called a horse chestnut by many people.

This is a shrub or small tree for the most part, although it can grow to almost 35 feet tall. From my point of view as a frequent driver of backroads the spectacular impression the blooming buckeye makes is its most important characteristic. The flowers are big, abundant, fragrant, and striking against the green foliage of the tree. It's hard to miss these, and most people driving around California this time of year are presented with great displays from these broadly dispersed trees.

The other claim to fame for the buckeye comes from the adaptation to the California climate, More natives can handle the dry weather with their foliage intact, but the buckeye blooms early and loses its leaves before any other trees in the natural landscape. There are whole hillsides that look dead by the end of the summer, but it's just the buckeyes biding their time until they can put on another spectacular display near the end of May and beginning of June.

There's more information about the fish stunning power of the poisonous fruit and the ways the native Americans processed these for food, but you can google that. I just wanted to introduce you to this wonderful tree you may have passed many times, but never known about.

Is Cash Crushing First Time Buyers?

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 21:10:04 -0500

I've had reports on my reo.sonoma.net blog that many first time buyers just can't get in the door. They are prequalified with good emplyment and credit history, but they are running into a brick wall when they offer on homes.

"...we have been looking to buy are first house for under 205k - we have had 10 offers in and they we mostly all 25k over asking - and still we are being beat out by all cash offers and investers! it is not as easy as some would think to get a home - i wish that there was away to help eveyone like us from being beat out ..."

There has to be a better way for those of us in the industry to manage the selling cycle so it isn't so frustrating for buyers and sellers alike. I heard from Melanie Ross, an agent I respect in Vallejo, about this topic as a comment on another post I made. Melanie had this to say,

"it is a sellers market out there for REO properties. I used to be proud to say I wrote an offer, now one writes many offers before you can get one accepted. and as a REO agent, I feel for the agents bringing me multiple offers on my listings."

I have been fortunate enough to have offers accepted that weren't the high bid. I've also had dozens of offers turned down this year just like the potential buyer in the first quote. There may be no easy answer to this, but I'd love to hear the professionals here comment about their experiences with getting first time buyers into a home. We succeed best as an industry when we can keep everyone satisfied that the market is fair and open to all. When too many well-qualified people start to get shut out we need to think about ways to make our process easier to understand. Even if we are being scrupulously fair, if people are feeling upset, we have to listen to their concerns.

Sonoma County REO Sales Status - June 2009

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:06:47 -0500

I Want My REO- Updated

I wrote in April (I Want My REO)about the shortage of REO properties for sale in Sonoma County, CA. Many other writers in different parts of the country have noticed the same thing where they work. I just compiled the stats for May and the situation is even worse now that it was in April.

Good News First

Sales are great! At the bleakest moments last year it looked like nobody would ever buy a house again. Those dismal times seem to be past. There are clearly weak segments of the market where I work, and some parts of the country are still waiting for any "green shoots", but I want to be the bearer of glad tidings. Sonoma County residential sales at the entry level segment of the market are very strong.

The chart accompanying this post shows the news in ways that may be clear to other real estate professionals, but are not at all clear to first time buyers. So let me spend a minute explaining the chart. Bear with me or skip ahead if you don't need help with charts.

The top line represents REO properties, both single family homes and condos, that sold in May. 187 is the actual number It represents roughly six homes absorbed per day for the month. That compares to 134 REO sales last year for the same time period, so the volume is up almost 50% compared to a year ago.

The second line down is for pending REO sales. These are pretty firm transactions since the buyers have removed their inspection contingencies. There are 87 in this category and if you add them to the sales number you have 274 transactions that are either closed or near closing in the last month.

The third line looks as firm as the others, but it's the most hard to pin down. These are contingent REO sales and they often move back into active status. Many statistical programs consider them to be active, but if you are an eager buyer you will find that trying to purchase a property that is already contingent is a mainly futile exercise. I don't have any firm numbers for how many of these sales progress to pending and then sold, but I think most of them do. For our purposes I am going to consider them mainly sold.

The final line, Active, is where all real estate buying takes place. Properties are listed, agents show them to buyers, offers get written, and if you're lucky, your offer gets accepted. Then it can move from Active to Contingent. All the upper lines represent frantic paperwork, inspection, and appraising activity, but that work is taking place for homes that are already off the market, so from a buyer's point of view the top three lines don't matter.

You can see that there are less than 140 REO properties available to purchase. Almost twice that many are in sold or pending status in the last thirty days, so that's less than half a month's supply at today's absorption rates.*

There are several key term to keep in mind for the active listings represented by the bottom bar:

*Absorption Rate - how long does it take to clear the homes off the market at the current buying pace.

Seller's market - when sellers get multiple offers for a property. Offers are frequently for more than the asking price.

Buyer's market - little competition for property. Buyers have their choice of properties and can dictate terms including lower prices, more repairs done by sellers, and other concessions from the sellers.

Inventory - What you can actually buy, i.e. there's a for sale sign on it.

What the chart tells us very clearly is that there is very little inventory, the absorption rate for REO listings is extremely high, and that we are strongly in a seller's market. What this chart doesn't tell you, but I will, is that the buyer's market from January and February of this year is gone.

I will write in future posts about a potential surge of new foreclosures coming to the market. There are clearly foreclosures happening again, but it's too soon to tell what the balance will be between buyers and sellers. For now, sellers rule. I have some additional information about Sonoma County REO Days on the Market and sales prices relative to listing prices on my reo.sonoma.net blog.

Which Location, Location, Location are we Talking About?

Dave Roberts (Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 21:31:33 -0500

May the "Find the Right Buyer Force" be with me.

I'm hoping that I can make a happy merger between two common sayings.

On one hand we have the real estate truism, "Location, Location, Location." If you have been in this business for any length of time, you know it's true.

On the other hand we have folk wisdom expressing the view that "It takes all kinds". That's also true as all of us who have worked the floor and the phones can verify. One person's honey is vinegar to someone else.

The reason I need to merge these sayings is that I've got some great listings for acreage that are both literally and figuratively "all over the map".

High Traffic Sites

I just know my Highway 101 frontage parcels require buyers with business interests that require public attention. For our wine country location in Healdsburg, Sonoma County, the most logical buyers would be wineries or vineyard operations. Another great possibility would be one of the many high quality vineyard management operations already working or just getting started here. It's no secret that farming grapes is a lot of work and a highly specialized task. A frontage location for a vineyard management operation would be a great way for a new entrant to get known or for a known busines to cement their reputation with a vintage location.

Another high visibility possibility is to look for someone from the equestrian community in Sonoma County. It's a diverse group with interest ranging from endurance events to showing, quarter horses to thoroughbreds (Sebastopol's great Cavonnier finished second in the 1996 Kentucky Derby). It's an active and numerous community. The current owner of the property has made horse-oriented improvements including a great barn and stable setup. There are plenty of professional horse trainers and serious amateurs who might like a visible operation with great access to the freeway and side roads.

Country Estate Sites

On the "it takes all kinds" conundrum, I've also got some wonderful acreage that's too rugged for farming or grazing, but perfect for residential estates. Great views, wonderful park like setting, and both fixer houses or tear down and start over dwellings. These are as quiet and private as the other ones are public. I know that no single client is going to be interested in both types of property, but my marketing as a whole can't leave one or the other out. So, I blog about them, post them on the internet where I can, and try to find the special buyers who will each love the one they want with their whole being.

If any of you out of area agents have buyers looking for a wine country life near Healdsburg, please refer them to me and I'll take good care of them