This quarter, I've closed all my transactions (it's not uncommon for deals to fall through these days!),  assembled market info for clients trying to decide how best to meet their real estate goals (should we sell now or later?  Buy first and sell second?), wrote ''green real estate'' stories and the quarterly market update for the Piedmont Post, pulled together comparative market analyses for clients seeing reductions in home equity lines, advised clients thinking about large or small renovations, provided on-the-ground insight to national housing advocates regarding how efforts to moderate the financial crisis were really working, was a guest speaker on a national ''webinar'' on upscale marketing strategies for the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing, helped the friend of a friend buy a home, notarized documents for clients, brought coffee to the monthly Piedmont High School Parents Club meetings, gave neighbors my list of five excellent mortgage professionals, and provided the champagne for the PAINTS Birdhouse Gala. 

The job of a realtor has changed dramatically in the last year.  We need to be up on new regs from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA; we need to keep a calm head, comfort our clients, and work well with our seller side-colleague when the lender asks for another appraisal the day we're supposed to remove our contingency; we need to cajole homeowner association managers to fill out forms they've never been asked to fill out before, and probably research title records for the answers so the transaction will continue forward; and we need to help our clients get beyond the emotion of the moment and agree to make one more counter offer hoping to get an agreement.

So don't be shocked if your broker's jaw drops if you ask about reducing a brokerage fee down to 4%, arguing that there are so many licensed agents out there and so few sales to be had.

The workload is heavier, the requests for ''free'' help are more numerous, and solicitations for community donations more important than ever. 

(But remember that for the last several years at our price point, the vast majority of sales involved a 5% brokerage fee, rather than 6%, unless your representative pays for staging.)

I missed the great article in Bay Nature magazine recently about area plant sales.  They have a great web resource with links to the non-profit organizers, however, and most organize several sales per year.  So click through and see who's got a sale this weekend!

Click here for the cool graphic I've been including in the last few updates of home price trends in 20 metro areas, based on the Case-Shiller Index.  Those curves are pretty consistently trending up--roughly what I'm seeing on the ground in this market.  And these figures are through the end of April.  They buttress a piece on price trends in yesterday's New York Times.

We repainted our trim in Piedmont not long ago (now have a Warm Brick thing going rather than Forest Service Green).  The brown paint for some trim and the gate has a touch of red in there, which feels like Mexican mole sauce if you stare at it long enough.  Yum!!

If a paint job is in your future, read this story from HGTV, and think about calling Angelisse Karol for consulting (ask me for her contact info) or maybe stop by Scout Hardware in Temescal near Donya Tomas.  Scott Silvera held an evening info session a few months ago on the topic, and sells zero VOC paints for exterior applications.

That's the deadline for submitting an application for a downward adjustment in your property assessment (resulting in a reduction in property taxes).  Two great resources are:

--the county assessor's site, which includes all the forms and deadlines, and

--this video</a> from the state Board of Equalization, which walks through the process piece by piece.

Remember that only your ''Prop 13'' property tax will be affected by a reassessment; the other charges on your bill (for instance, city and school parcel taxes; and 911, East Bay parks, library bond payments) won't decline.  And if you, like we, bought your home a dozen years ago, your assessment is unlikely to have increased in the intervening years to current market value, much less to higher-than-current value. 

I'm happy to run comparables for you to build your case, or to see if an appeal is worth it; just ask.

This is likely to be the first year that Piedmonters have a prayer of arguing for a tax reduction, given that prices had not yet dipped by January 2008 (this year's assessment is based on Jan. '09 value). Let me know if you were successful last year!

2Q09 Market Update

After several years of steady prices (sales prices had been quite flat at around $600/sf since our market peak in November of 2005), and a winter and spring of very few sales and prices all over the place, this spring market makes the market direction clear:  Prices are down as much as 16-18 percent compared to a year ago (see detailed spreadsheet at the bottom of the page).

I think our market has been affected by several factors unique to our high-end market.  First, market distress has been focused below our price range, but those sellers are our move-up buyers.  If they are having trouble selling, they have trouble turning around and buying.  This pattern applies to less-expensive homes in Piedmont as well--their owners were very frequently the buyers of more-expensive homes in town.

Second, Piedmont buyers are often in law, finance, and corporate management, and each of these sectors is under great stress in today's economy.  If high-income colleagues are being laid off, is now the time to commit to a Piedmont home and a hefty mortgage?

And third, Piedmont homes typically involve large mortgages, which are much more difficult to secure these days.  Even if a buyer had a 50% downpayment for a $2 million home, securing that million dollar mortgage is not a piece of cake (but definitely can be done!).

There are plenty of reasons to buy in Piedmont, however, and these are arguments I lay out every time I market or hold open a Piedmont home: 

--Props B+E passed, securing funding for our great schools and insulating them to a large degree from the state's budget woes;

--our free public schools offer great alternatives to private schools and their perennial inflation increases;

--our 911 services are exclusive and just a few blocks away, so no need to worry how long an ambulance will take to respond to a heart attack;

--our ''it takes a village'' lifestyle is very comforting to many; and

--our Census-tracked demographic mix (everything from typical commute times, to proportion of working moms, to ethnic and racial diversity) is more attractive to many households than similarly high-end communities through the tunnel, for instance.

Clearly, these arguments have traction.  Our home prices have fared well by comparison (meaning in part, that if you purchased last summer, your investment here did better than your old home elsewhere would have).  Average prices for homes in Alamo and Blackhawk sit at $376/sf for 2Q09 (a 34% decline from 2Q06), compared to $509/sf for all of Piedmont's market this past quarter.  And the number of successful sales is down 55% in those towns, compared to our sales, which are down only 25% compared to 2Q06.

Looking only at Piedmont, the average home price was $1.401 million this past quarter, compared to $1.714 million for 2Q08 (based on data from the MLS).  On a per square foot basis, the average, as noted, is $509/sf for 2Q09, compared to $605/sf in 2Q08.  Homes are selling in an average 38 days, and a few more homes sold this last quarter, compared to the second quarter of last year.

Not too bad when placed in national context (see next post) and in light of the highest unemployment rate in a generation.  Looking regionally, prices in Oakland were up 14.1% in May compared to April (but down 63.6% compared to May '08 [we saw a sneak preview of May data recently at the Oakland Assoc. of Realtors]); those in Alameda County more broadly were up 6.1% in April over March (but down 25.1% compared to April '08); and those in San Francisco were up 7.7% in April over March (but again down 23.2% compared to April '08).

Overall homeowner affordability is up dramatically in California compared to the recent past--moving from a point where only 25% of homes were affordable to someone with a median income in the state, to very near the national average of 70% affordability.

For information about reassessments and property tax reductions, read on-----

Recall that we've installed a number of energy- and water-saving devices in the last year or so (I write as the floor refinishers are getting to work--the end is in sight!).

The tankless water heater went in a couple of years ago, and the attic insulation was installed almost exactly a year ago. But the low-flow shower heads and faucets, and two-flush toilets; the auto-on and auto-off light switches and the LED or flourescent lights; the gas fireplace replacing one of the wood-fired ones; the low-VOC paints and high recylcable-content tile--that's all in and the asbestos is out. The utility rebates are in the bank, or, in the case of EBMUD, sitting as a big credit in our account.

The bottom line on the water and energy bills: Since mid-January, our water consumption is down 25% compared to a year ago, and for the first three months of this year, our PG&E bill was $650 less. We're still working on unplugging those computers!

Call or email if you'd like referrals for great color and design advisors, woodwork strippers, cabinet refinishers, painters, countertop installers, floor refinishers, plumbers, tilers, dry rot repairers, window replacers, asbestos removers and heating installers.

The team, led by contractor Bruce Paoli, did really wonderful work. And because we used scrip to pay for much of the materials, the Piedmont schools benefited as well. Ask me how to do that!

If you haven't given to the Piedmont Annual Fund or the Piedmont Ed. Foundation, now's a great time to do it (and while you're on the Ed Foundation site, sign up for the Docter family special preview of Pixar's new film Up on May 2nd). If you want more info on Piedmont school funding, click here.

And if you want to help compensate for cuts in state funding in communities that don't have parcel tax funds and major donations to turn to, consider a donation to Think College Now.

TCN is a public elementary school in Oakland’s Fruitvale district with a focus on college prep. Both Pacific Union and I have been major donors for the last couple of years. Beginning in the kindergarten classroom, TCN is determined to give its students – 91 percent of whom are low-income – the same opportunities available to kids in communities like Piedmont. The school is succeeding – it was one of three Oakland schools to win a California Distinguished School Award in 2008 – but doing so against great odds. Faced with severe state cuts, TCN's already tight budget stands to take a $150,000 hit next year--for that single school alone. These cuts endanger the very things that distinguish this amazing school: dynamic after-school music and art programs, field trips, and small, personalized class sizes.

If you'd like to attend the auction/fundraiser this year, scheduled for Thursday May 7th at the Piedmont Community Center, email me.  If you'd like to make a donation, click here. The teaching team, and the kids, really need our support.

The Spouse saw this one--it tracks the rate of increase in housing prices over time on a national map in a red-for-hot and blue-for-cold fashion.  See it here.

 Here's the link--