Coastside Real Estate & Lifestyles

Half Moon Bay is in a Buyer's Market

Marian S. Bennett, Realtor, E-Pro (Coldwell Banker, Half Moon Bay-Coastside, CA) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 22:46:05 -0500

Here's what this week's Altos Report Market Update for Half Moon Bay single family homes shows:

Half Moon Bay (as a whole, not specific neighborhoods) list prices have been coming down from the peak of 2005 - now the median list price is $1,099,000; average list price is $ 1,322,108.
The quartile with the lowest days-on-market is the lower-middle 25% of homes with a median price of $877,000. . . at 70 DOM. The other three quartiles of homes currently for sale all average over 100 days on the market.
55% of listings have reset their days-on-market.
30% of properties on the market this week have price reductions.
Average price per square foot for listings is $475.00

It is important to note that this information is for Half Moon Bay only, not the entire coastside, and not for specific neighborhoods in our communities. Given the many micro-markets around the San Mateo Coastside, it is important to speak with a Realtor about your specific neighborhood if you are thinking of selling your home. I can email the entire Report for this week if you contact me.

The complete post can be found at Coastside Real estate and Lifestyles.

Thank you Altos Research for your great products!

A Local Perspective on First Half of '08

Marian S. Bennett, Realtor, E-Pro (Coldwell Banker, Half Moon Bay-Coastside, CA) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 12:35:10 -0500

We are fortunate to live in one of the most desirable areas in the country, visited by many and home to a lucky few - a tiny corner of San Mateo County that is limited in its development because of the natural barriers of the Pacific Ocean, mountains, and local growth initiatives. We are Half Moon Bay Coastside! What does our market look like now?

Year 2008 is starting to take shape. Are some waiting for the other shoe to drop? Certainly a market peak occurred between 2004 and early 2006. In fact, the correction began here in Fall 2006; it was not to be noted until early in 2007.

Here's today's look at some single family home numbers for Half Moon Bay, El Granada, Moss Beach and Montara combined for 2008 so far. A more detailed analysis comparing the 2006, 2007 and 2008 from the raw monthly data between January 2006 and May 2008 is provided via the link below.

Median Price 2008 Jan- May - $855,666 ( - 5%)
Coastside Inventory 2008 Jan-May -118 (+30%)
Closed Sales 2008 Jan-May - 13 ( - 50%)

This report is a general look at the local market landscape. Our sale prices have not been diving, however there are individual cases to be considered. There have been a few properties with significant price drops; we will have to keep watching to see if this continues.

Overall, Median prices for single family homes in the four contiguous communities have dropped approximately 5% or roughly $50,000. Inventory has increased about 30% from the same period, first half of 2007. Inventory is beginning to come down now, dropping 10% from the first 6 months in 2007 to the last six months of 2007; again, still higher than last year overall.

One significant change locally has been the number of closed transactions. The possible home buyers are different than those of a few years ago. What buyers there are have the funds to complete their purchase. As financing continues to gain quality control (again) and buyers come to the table with some down-payment, I am seeing fewer wishful buyers and more prepared buyers - a significantly smaller group.

Our 2008 real estate activity shows that the correction is continuing. Overall it is more like a ripple than a tidal wave (sorry, just had to use the surf analogy). That being said, there are certainly some excellent buying opportunities here now for those with their finances in order. (Note: Look for your Half Moon Bay Coastside Limo Tour Invitation for Inman Connect participants happening Friday 7/25 following the conference. Details in a separate post to come.)

More analysis and graphs on Coastside Real Estate and Lifestyles' post titled: "Coastside Real Estate: Highlights, Numbers, Summary" dated July 3, 2008.

(p.s. I wanted to add some pictures but my post kept getting deleted when I tried to link the photos, so I guess I have to go back to the instructions!)

Awesome Service for Agents, Clients, Family

Marian S. Bennett, Realtor, E-Pro (Coldwell Banker, Half Moon Bay-Coastside, CA) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 01:58:32 -0500

Just learned about this very handy tool yesterday from our Advertising Coordinator, Gene Wilkins. She was the first to broadcast that Highway 92 had been closed yesterday afternoon within seconds of its happening. She had gotten a notice from SMCAlert, a system that broadcasts road, earthquake, weather, and other emergency situations. Here's a snippet from the FAQ...

Emergency Situations:

Notify employees, and/or citizens of the location of the nearest emergency shelter, available bed space, hours of operation during a crisis;
Notify employees/citizens of available evacuation routes during an emergency;
Activate special teams within the community, based upon an event

Precautionary Warnings:

Severe weather warnings;
Change in the Homeland Security Advisory System terror alert level
Pre-cautionary evacuation order if on high alert

So I signed up too. You can activate your notices on up to two cell phones and two email addresses. It's free, however, standard text messaging rates apply here.

This can be a huge time saver for those of us who travel Highways 92 & 1 on a regular basis - especially in our line of work! Up until now I would turn on KCBS AM radio to wait for the traffic report "on the eights". You can configure how you receive these notices, but I set it up so that I received them on my Treo since I'm in the car so much.