The Mountain View Whisman School district receives the core of its financing based on the average daily attendance of it's students. In short, it is a Revenue Limit funded district.
Revenue limit income is a combination of local property taxes and state money. As property taxes increase, they are offset by a reduction in state money. A district that relies solely on local taxes becomes a basic aid funded school district (ie. Palo Alto Unified). For further information, read the Guide to California's School Finance System and/or California's school finance system.
In the video below, Dr. Maurice Ghysels, the Superintendent of the Mountain View Whisman School District, discusses the district's finances, parcel taxes and foundation monies.
Joe Brown, a 28-year real estate veteran and President of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage's Silicon Valley, Monterey Bay and East Bay regions has started a real estate blog called Weekly Market Watch. It's good to see Coldwell Banker's leadership adopting some of the technologies that have proven effective for their agents as well as in other industries.
Joe is a fairly straight shooter and I hope the content is one of transparency and not just corporate spin. Check out Joe's weekly market updates and decide for yourself. This week's topic is "It May Be Time To Get Off The Fence."
On another Coldwell Banker/technology front, CB has started a technology advisory group and I am one of the 20 or so members chosen to check out technologies that have uses in real estate. If you have any suggestions or know of technologies that might be useful to consumer's real estate research/search/purchase or selling experience shoot me an e-mail at dblockhus@cbnorcal.com and I will try to check them out. Thanks.
The economy is soft and money is tight yet there continues to be a lot of construction occurring in Los Altos and it's surrounding communities. On my street alone, there are five homes under construction. Check out the short video below and see the demolition of one of my neighbor's home.
It probably took a year to build, was lived in for over a half century, yet took just 75 minutes to tear down. If you enjoy watching a large excavator smash into a wooden framed house, you'll love the video.
Los Altos single family home sales were down in January 2009. However, given the state of home financing and consumer confidence, I expected the numbers to be even worse. Below is an 11 year history of Los Altos single family homes that have sold in the month of January.
A quick calculation shows that the eleven year average for home sales in January is 18, new listings is 35 and inventory is 52. In January 2009, we were at 7 sales, 41 new listings and 76 homes in inventory. The trend of fewer sales and more inventory continues...
The chart below shows the average and median sales prices for homes sold in Los Altos in the month of January. It appears that sales prices for homes sold in January peaked in 2008. 2009 prices are falling. I wouldn't use these numbers as gospel because the sample size for the number of sales is pretty small. However, there is a strong inferance that both average and median sales prices are falling.
The chart below shows the list price to sales price ratio of homes that have closed escrow in January 2009. A point to remember is most of the sales (closed escrows) went into contract in the prior month (December). January 2009 was the lowest list price to sales price ratio at 93.9% (for a January) in the last 11 years.
Lastly, the chart below shows the MLS data from the seven homes that closed escrow in January 2009. An interesting footnote is that the three homes that sold above the $2.4 million price point were sold at an *18%+ discount off of their original list prices. The three lowest sales were sold at an *8%+ discount off of their original list prices. So it does appear that higher priced homes are being sold for a higher percentage discount than their lower price counterparts. Could this be a good buying opportunity for a move up buyer in Los Altos? Could there be opportunities for investors to exchange into Los Altos real estate?
Why are home prices dropping? Besides the obvious, "It's the economy stupid" there are three reasons: (1) listing agents are taking listings too high (over promise and under deliver), OR (2) homeowner's want too much money for their home ("my house is the best in the neighborhood...."), OR (3) if the property is correctly priced and marketed, prices for homes in Los Altos are falling (ding, ding, ding you hit it on the head!). In reality, it is a combination of all three.
*statistics are from initial listing period through COE (includes properties listed, expired/cancelled and then re-listed again with same brokerage).
Thanks for reading and feel free to contact me for statistics on your neighborhood.
Note: all statistics/charts are taking from MLSListings, Inc. data, our local MLS provider and are deemed accurate but not guaranteed.
In part two of the Magical Mystery (bus) Tour of the Mountain View Whisman School District (MVWSD), Dr. Maurice Ghysels, the Superintendent of the Mountain View Whisman School District, shares his thoughts about the district's core values. It's these core values of (1) academic excellence, (2) a strong collaborative community and (3) a broad world view that make the MVWSD so successful!
Note: I took this video a few months ago (fall 2008). The Mountain View Whisman School District was hosting a morning event designed to inform local Realtors about the benefits of the MVWSD and the Mountain View Educational Foundation (MVEF).
According to the MVEF web site, "the MVEF provides financial support for essential enrichment programs and educational materials district wide, for which not other funding source exists." MVEF is a non profit charity run by parents and community volunteers in an effort to raise money for the Arts, Science, Physical Education and other programs that don't receive funding. Their revised goal for 2008-2009 is $300,000 or approximately $360. per student. Please see their website for further information and/or to donate.
The Multiple Listing Service is the most reliable source of local real estate market information. The following information was take from our local MLS provider (ProMLSlistings.com) and is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
There are currently are 91 single family homes for sale in Mountain View. Of these, 14 are under contract. Therefore, 77 homes don't have buyers. At the current rate of absorption, we have over 6 months of inventory.
Below is the annual listing and sales activity for single family homes in Mountain View for each year since 1998.
As one can tell, sales numbers are down substantially from the 11 year average of 340 by 105 homes or 30%. The number of homes listed is also down but not as drastically. They are down slightly from the 11 year average (452) by 35 homes or 8%.
According to the chart below, Mountain View home prices are also starting to recede.
In 2007, the average sales price for a home in Mountain View was almost slightly over $1,085,000. In 2008 that number dropped just slightly to $1,067,000.
Due to a lack of available financing (in the higher price points), a poor overall economy and low consumer confidence, the higher end has stalled somewhat. What once drove the market is now a burden on it. How long will the local real estate market be challenged is unknown, but the economics of our market today could create opportunities for someone interested in moving up (assuming one can get financing).
As always I would be happy to provide information/statistics for your neighborhood.
I was fortunate to attend the Magical Mystery (bus) Tour of the Mountain View Whisman School District. Below is one (of many) video clips taken during a morning tour of the district. Our tour guide was Dr. Maurice Ghysels, the Superintendent of the Mountain View Whisman School District. In this video, he shares some of his thoughts about Crittenden Middle School.
Note: I took this video a few months ago (fall 2008). The Mountain View Whisman School District was hosting a morning event designed to inform local Realtors about the benefits of the MVWSD and the Mountain View Educational Foundation (MVEF).
According to the MVEF web site, "the MVEF provides financial support for essential enrichment programs and educational materials district wide, for which not other funding source exists." MVEF is a non profit charity run by parents and community volunteers in an effort to raise money for the Arts, Science, Physical Education and other programs that don't receive funding. Their revised goal for 2008-2009 is $300,000 or approximately $360. per student. Please see their website for further information and/or to donate.
The Multiple Listing Service is our most efficient means to sell a home and the most reliable source of local market information. The following information was taken from our local MLS and is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
According to our local MLS provider (ProMLSlistings.com), there currently are 65 single family homes for sale in Los Altos. Of these, 10 are under contract. That leaves us with 55 homes that are actively being marketed for sale on the MLS. I anticipate many of last year's listings that did not sell will come back on the market within the next two weeks.
Above is the October through December (4th Quarter) sales statistics for Los Altos single family homes since 2004. As one can see, over the last five years, listings have averaged 72 and sales have averaged 73. However, there was a huge drop off in the number of sales in the fourth quarter of 2008. Although listings (during the 4th quarter) have remained fairly constant over the last 5 year, the number of sales was off by approximately 50% in 2008 over the five year average. How has the huge drop in sales numbers affected Los Altos real estate values?
During the 4th quarter in Los Altos, we have seen a profound drop in both the average sales price and median sales price. Take a look for yourself. The graph below depicts the year over year sales prices (for 4th quarter of each year) for single family homes in Los Altos since 2004. Are we back to 2005 prices?
The graph below indicates that there hasn't been a significant shift in the days on the amount of time that a listing sits on the market. Although December is the typical month when listings are taken off the market and then re-listed thereby restarting the "days on market (DOM)" clock.
Tip
If a listing is re-listed and off the market for 30 days or more, it will appear on the Multiple Listing Service as a new listing with DOM and CDOM reset at zero. Always have your agent research thoroughly any listing before you make a pricing decision on a property.
Sue McAllister had an interesting article in the San Jose Mercury News. The topic of the article focused on who is buying homes in our declining real estate market. Her conclusion; first time home buyers and investors made up the majority of today's home buyers.
Below is an example detailing one investor's reasoning for purchasing a single family home in Los Altos as an investment.
I represented the seller of a property in south Los Altos that closed escrow in December 2008. The buyer completed a 1031 exchange, selling two properties in southern California and "trading up" and purchasing a single family home as an investment property in Los Altos. Each of the properties in southern California had good cash flow and a reasonable rate of return (apparently, he owned them for quite some time).
One may ask why this investor took two properties that had good cash flow and a reasonable rate of return and traded up to a home in Los Altos that would (initially) have a much poorer rate of return and less cash flow? Usually, one doesn't buy a $1,350,000. home and rent it out for $4,500. per month and call it a good investment. The answer...
Two reasons:
(1) Short term: the ability to locally manage the investment property - it tends to be easier and less expensive.
(2) Long term: the Los Altos investment property will eventually be converted into a personal residence and the investor's current (personal) residence will be sold. This allows the investor to take the 500K capital gains exclusion on the sale of their personal residence yet maintain a residence in Los Altos.
This type of transaction has tax implications and the 1031 exchange has specific rules to follow, but with proper planning this type of investment can save an investor tens of thousands of dollars. This investor analyzed the real estate market in Los Altos and saw the potential to make a wise investment that made sense with his overall investment objectives. Smart guy!
Note:Should you be interesting in investing in real estate, make sure that you have a well qualified tax consultant to answer questions specific to your tax situation. Without one, you can get yourself into a lot of financial trouble.
I just received a price reduction for my listing at 1701 Penny Way in Los Altos.
For those of you who may have missed it, it's a 4 bedroom 3 full bath home located on the Cupertino School District side of Fremont Avenue in South Los Altos. At almost 2100 sf and on a lot of slightly over 9500 sf, it's a great value at $1,428,000.
The home was remodeled and expanded approximately 20 years ago and features a fabulous living room with vaulted ceiling and bay window. The kitchen is spacious with an abundance of counter space and storage. Each of the bedrooms are over-sized for the tract. There is a separate family room with fireplace. The garage has been extended and has extra storage via a pull down ladder to the attic area.
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
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