drew christine morgan: Buyer Incentive Programs - about to phase out (part 1 of 3)
- 01/13/10 10:16 AM
With the real estate landscape changing almost daily it’s admittedly hard for Real Estate Agents and Lenders to keep up with all of the new programs and limitations. Recently, you may have heard on the news or read in the media about the $8,000 tax credit extension for first-time homebuyers. But are you aware you may easily qualify for it and not even know? Our guess is probably not. That’s because there hasn’t been a great deal of quality reporting on what the income threshold is to qualify; and even if you knew that, what does that translate to in terms of purchase … (0 comments)
drew christine morgan: Peninsula Home Vales - then and now...
- 01/10/10 09:12 AM
What happened in 2009 and what might be in store for 2010? THE PAST The median price in San Mateo County ended the year at $678,750 which is a dramatic drop from 2008’s year-end median price of $795,000. It continued to drop precipitously throughout the beginning of 2009, though it appears that January of 2009 was its lowest level when the median price reached $553,750—the median price has not been that low since 2000. It wasn’t until April of 2009 that the median price reached the $600,000’s and the last four month have seen small but steady increases culminating in … (0 comments)
drew christine morgan: July Belmont Stats (per Request)
- 01/10/10 09:07 AM
We’re posting the sales for Belmont from back in July at the insistence of one of our readers (thanks for being so patient). We skipped that month since we were so busy ourselves. Quite a few buyers came out of the woodwork in July and we noticed it on one of our listings in San Carlos that had multiple offers. In our estimation, the Peninsula real estate market has not recovered significantly enough to warrant such activity but the low interest rates probably spurred people into action—all at once.
At 24, July had the most sales and of any month … (0 comments)
(Click on the graphic fo a full size view) MEDIAN HOME PRICE Looking at the raw numbers, the median home value in Belmont dropped from $912,500 last November to $784,000 this year. That's a whopping 14% decrease but wait-let's look at what really happened. This November Belmont had three short sales which greatly impacted the results. More importantly was that the majority of the homes sold were much smaller than they were last year. Larger homes … (0 comments)
drew christine morgan: Belmont Home Sales for May 2009
- 06/28/09 11:47 AM
What's happening in our local market is the number one question we receive so here's the good the bad and the ugly for May 2009 in Belmont. The Good The number of homes sold in creased in May to 15 from April's paltry 12. Still, compared to 2004 when 32 homes sold there's not a lot of activity. The number of days it took to sell a home in Belmont went from 48 in April down to only 37 in May. Of the 15 sales in May, 5 sold over the asking price, none sold at asking, and 10 sold under … (0 comments)
drew christine morgan: April 2009 Home Sales Report for Belmont
- 05/10/09 10:34 AM
The homes sale report for April shows a continuing slide in both sales and median price for the Peninsula cities, though we appear to have a lull in the action. Take the median price of single family homes in San Mateo County for example. In April of 2008 it stood at $925,000. This April that number came in at $610,000-a whopping 34% decrease. Sales have dropped 15% over last year at the same time and 40% off the peak of the market in 2005. Yet every month so far this year the median price has been creeping back up-ever so slightly. … (0 comments)
With 40 homes on the market, inventory is showing signs of creeping up. Looking back on past January inventory levels, they usually hover in the low 20 range. Higher inventory levels typically means sellers will get less than their asking price as the supply and demand is in imbalance. It's always interesting for us to look and see why inventory is up. There can be several factors but they almost all have a common thread and that's the market … (0 comments)
drew christine morgan: Revitalizing a home in Belmont (with background music)
- 12/10/08 09:41 AM
Many of you saw this home on our web page and at the open house. Several homes in the Hallmark area of Belmont have languished on the market for months without selling and everyone has been asking us how we sold our listing so fast. Well, here's the answer in video form. Obviously we had to price the home attractively but we also had to add value. Preparing a home for sale takes a lot more than staging. Thanks to a cooperative seller, we transformed this home in only a few weeks and the transition was phenomenal--then we listed and sold the home … (0 comments)
drew christine morgan: Are you a Bidder's Fool?
- 11/30/08 09:00 AM
As part of our Real Estate REVEALED series we answer another Frequently Unasked Question in our latest Podcast—how do you know when a home is priced right? In addition to this latest Podcast, we’ve added a web page that makes finding the entire series of archive issues in one place. … (0 comments)
drew christine morgan: Belmont--Week in Review, November 1, 2008
- 11/01/08 02:03 PM
This is an abbreviated version of our recap for the last week's activity in Belmont because it's been a busy week and I'm beat. That and not much transpired in Belmont real estate. 30 year mortgage rates on jumbo loans underwent a huge increase as money previously available to Fanny and Freddie Mac became more expensive. And if you're shopping for a home right now don't forget, lender are not taking applications for loans qualifying for the $729,750 conforming rate cap after December 1, 2008 of THIS year. Better lock down a home if you want favorable rates before then. … (0 comments)
This Podcast delves into the Frequently Unasked Question, "What's the difference between large brokerage firms and smaller independent firms?" We discuss several important differences that most people would never know to ask. If you are considering selling your home you’ve no doubt driven around to see what real estate signs are in your area. Big corporate broker signs are everywhere due to the large volume of agents they employ, but what are you getting when you hire an agent from a big branded firm, substance or brand image? More importantly, what might you be missing?
Listen to … (1 comments)
drew christine morgan: Belmont Housing Week in Review--Sept. 12th 2008
- 09/17/08 07:51 AM
It was a busy week for Belmont real estate which was expected now that summer vacations are over and agents get back to work like everybody else. Out of the gate there were seven new listings, two re-lists, seven pending sales and three homes closed escrow bringing the inventory of single family homes for sale to 47-just like last week. NEW LISTINGS 1132 Tahoe 3 Bed 2 Bath 1,610 Sq Ft. listed for $899,000. This home was purchased in June of 2006 for $900,000 and it was a major dump back then. The new owner has done a lot to the … (0 comments)
drew christine morgan: Belmont--The Streets Around Us
- 09/17/08 07:46 AM
In our last "Streets Around Us" blog we included a teaser about Belmont's first and only golf course. Unfortunately for fans of the sport, the course is not some well kept secret-in fact it has been gone for years.
(Historic registery home in Belmont on what was once the golf course perimeter). Around 1925 the team of Lyon, Monroe and Miller had a grand scheme to create an 18 hole golf course adjacent a tony clubhouse complete with swimming "tank", tennis and handball courts and a children's wading pool that would be the envy of the Peninsula. The clubhouse would be called … (0 comments)
drew christine morgan: As the Cookie Crumbles, or not...
- 08/04/08 11:03 AM
Since the mortgage catastrophe one year ago came to light the media has been reporting month over month data revealing falling prices and sales. Seasonal adjustments were impossible since that would necessitate comparing data to the same period a year prior—hardly comparing apples to apples since July of 2007 we’ve been in a downward housing cycle. Obviously the housing market for sellers is not as good as it was before the housing woes were revealed in July of 2007, but what since then? How far has the market dropped?
Finally we can compare this July’s housing performance … (0 comments)
drew christine morgan: Belmont April Home Sales Defy the Odds
- 05/01/08 01:23 PM
↑With Belmont's April home sales behind us we are able to compute the data and there's a silver lining to the news. For the first time this year homes sales are up over the same period a year earlier. Admittedly, at 21 sales this month compared to 20 last year in April it's not a huge increase, but any increase is a welcome event given the current state of the market. ↔The days it took to sell a home was essentially unchanged at 13. ↘Last month, nine homes sold over asking, two sold at asking and 10 homes sold under the asking price-on … (1 comments)
drew christine morgan: The Numbers Just Don't Jive with Many Buyers' Sentiments...
- 04/17/08 11:29 AM
Buyers have bought one thing--that's the media's pounding that home value are falling. Indeed they are in a lot of areas, but if you want to live in San Carlos, CA and are waiting for prices to drop, don't hold your breath too long. I recenly did this anaylsis for a client who wondered if their home values have dropped. They bought in an excellent area of San Carlos four years ago and paid the then prevailing purchase price in multiple offers of $885,000 for a three bedroom, two bath home which is approximately 1650 square feet. The follwoing is my brief analysis for … (0 comments)
With the real estate landscape changing almost daily it’s admittedly hard for Real Estate Agents and Lenders to keep up with all of the new programs and limitations. 
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