Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Watch Out For Probate Appraisal


If you are buying or listing a home that is being sold through the probate process my congratulations. It is a great niche to be involved with.  One of the first steps in the process is to have the estate appraised. A probate appraiser will come in and give an opinion about how much the home is worth. 

Most of these appraisers are honest,  hard working people, but occasionally you will run into a problem.  The appraiser may over inflate the worth of the property.  This can cause a potential problem down the line when the home is listed and sold.

 First of all the heirs are going to expect that if the appraiser comes in and says this home is worth $600,000 the probate court is going to have a hard time approving a sale at $500,000, and the heirs are not going to be too happy.



You are probably asking: why would this happen?  It may just be a mistake, but it may also be because the probate appraiser pay is tied to the value of the estate, so there is an incentive to over appraise the value.

If this happens, just be over prepared to justify what the true market value is.  A good realtor should be able to do this in his/her sleep, so if you are a buyer, use a good realtor. If you are a realtor, make sure your CMA is airtight.

If you have any questions about probate or trust sales, feel free to e-mail or call me.

And if you are interested in reading any of my other posts about probate sales, here's a link:

WHAT IS A PROBATE SALE?



Marcy Moyer
Keller Williams Realty
650-619-9285

Palo Alto CA Market Update, June 28th: With a Neighborhood Twist!




Active Listings: 110
Pending Sales: 49

There has been a jump in inventory this week ahead of the fourth of July holiday. Since there will not be a lot of new listings this week due to the holiday some of this inventory may be sold off, or maybe not. I will keep my eye on it.

I thought the neighborhood breakdown was interesting so I am going to do it again.  So here is the neighborhood breakdown:

Downtown:  5 Active  2 Pending                                      one less pending
Professorville:  3 Active  2 Pending                                 exactly the same
Community Center:  6 Active  3 Pending                       more listings
Crescent Park:  5 Active   4 Pending                               one more pending
Green Gables:  9 Active  8 Pending                                one more active one less pending
Old Palo Alto:  11 Active   3 Pending                             one more pending
College Terrace:  Active 8  Pending 4                           two less listings
Ventura:  6 Active  1 Pending                                       two more listings one less pending
Midtown:  15 Active  3 pending                                   six  more listings
South Palo Alto: 23 Active  14 Pending                       five more listings and one more pending
Barron Park:  Active  10   Pending   0                         one more listing one less pending
Green Acres:  4 Active  2 Pending                              two less listings
Palo Alto Hills:  5 Active  1 Pending                           one more listing

So what does this mean?  Still better ratios in north than south. Barron Park is still slow.  Crescent Park is better and Community Center worse than 2 weeks ago.  I will keep this up for a while, so we can track the neighborhood trends.

Here's a link to last week's neighborhood-focused market update, so you can see how things have changed: Palo Alto Market Update, June 15th: With a Neighborhood Twist!

And here's another link to a market update I posted a year ago--it's really interesting to compare! Last June the number of pending and active sales were almost identical to this week's.... Palo Alto Market Update, June 27th (2009): Single Family Homes.

Marcy Moyer
Keller Williams Realty
D.R.E. 01191194
650-619-9285

Friday, June 25, 2010

Mountain View OPEN HOUSE THIS WEEKEND (June 27th, 1:30-4:30): EXPERIENCE THE LIGHT








148 Holly Court, Mountain View, CA

EXPERIENCE THE LIGHT.

$599,000

DON'T MISS THE OPEN HOUSE THIS WEEKEND, June 27th.
SUNDAY FROM 1:30-4:30



Play VisualTour



Welcome to this striking townhome in the popular Whisman Station Development. 

You will delight in the 
modern amenities, convenient location, and wonderful life style options available to you if you live here.


Some of the lovely features include a fenced yard, central heat and air, new carpet and paint, attached 2 car garage, kitchen with granite counters, a center island, and gas stove, family room/kitchen, high ceilings, and, and rich cherry laminate floors.


Add to that wonderful Mountain View Schools and a great community with pools, parks, and easy access to light rail, freways, and major emplyment centers. Don't miss this wonderful home buying opportunity!


Marcy Moyer
Keller Williams
650-619-9285
marcy@marcymoyer.com
https://twitter.com/marcyagent
DRE # 01191194

Menlo Park Ca Open House Sat & Sun 1:30-4:30: A Green Home You CAN Afford







YOU CAN AFFORD TO BUY A GREEN HOME IN MENLO PARK





501 Sandlewood St, Menlo Park, CA 94025


VERY ATTRACTIVELY PRICED AT $598,000.00


Open House This Weekend, Saturday June 26th and Sunday June 27th from 1:30-4:30.


ALL GUESTS ARE ENTERED TO WIN A $100 GIFT CERTIFICATE FOR TIFFANY'S


Play VisualTour

Welcome to 501 Sandlewood St, a Green Home in an enclave of 3 year young Green Homes in Menlo Park.Conveniently located near the Dumbarton Bridge, gorgeous new office buildings, Mid Peninsula High School, and even a new Starbucks. You owe it to yourself to see how the city of Menlo Park has done a spectacular job on this re-development area, and to see what a wonderful home Clarum has built.


Some of the fantastic features include photoelectric roof panels which keep the PG&E bill to under $500 a year, tankless water heater so you never run out of hot water, tiles made from recycled glass, a lawn that looks gorgeous but never needs watering, granite counter tops in the kitchen and baths, solid surface tub surrounds, a huge master bath with a soaking tub, double paned windows and tons of natural light, walk in closet, and a bonus landing that is great for an extra office or playroom. There is aneighborhood park and a great community surrounding you. All this for under $600,000!





Seems almost too good to be true, but it is real. Don’t miss this incredible opportunity!

GREAT features include:
3 Bedrooms including a large master suite
2 ½ bathrooms with granite topped vanities, solid surface bath surrounds, and tiled floors
A wonderful U shaped kitchen with a gas stove, microwave, granite counters, maple cabinets, tiled floors, and a large pantry
Large, doubled paned windows
No water lawn
Attached 2 car garage
Re-circulating water heater pump
1,640 square feet of living space (per assessor)
3464 square foot lot (per assessor)

Marcy Moyer
Keller Williams
650-619-9285
marcy@marcymoyer.com
Follow Me, Marcyagent, on Twitter!
DRE # 01191194

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Trulia's Buy vs. Rent Index: What's in a List?

Earlier this month Trulia released a comprehensive look at the difference between renting and buying in major American cities. They created a list of the top ten cities where renting is a better financial decision than buying, and another top ten list that shows where it’s smart to go after that dream house.

The findings might surprise you.

Here’s how the Trulia blog post explains the methodology behind their lists: “Trulia calculated the price-to-rent ratio using the average list price compared with average rent on 2 bedroom apartments, condos and townhomes listed on Trulia.com. To create the list, Trulia analyzed the largest 50 cities in America, by population.

The list is Trulia-data exclusive--which makes it pretty reliable, in my opinion. A lot of agents use Trulia to market their listings, and although this should be considered a representative sample, the numbers probably wouldn’t differ too much from a larger pool of listings.

Trulia includes a handy interpretation key to help readers decode their cryptic rating system.

If a city’s Price-to-Rent Ratio is between 1-15, it’s cheaper to buy than rent.

If the number rises to 16-20 it’s more expensive to own than rent, but not by much. Basically that’s the circumstances matter category.

Anything above 21 indicates that in this city, the overall costs of owning your own home are significantly higher than renting.

Trulia smartly takes into account all the added bonus costs of home ownership, include mortgage principal AND interest, closing costs, mortgage insurance, etc., and they even factor in some leeway for the tax advantages of owning your own property.

Let’s start with the best cities to buy vs. rent.

First on the list? Minneapolis, Minnesota, with a Price to Rent Ratio score of 8.  I’ve heard a lot of great things about this town: Minneapolis has a great literary and theater scene, awesome food culture, a mellow, friendly vibe, and is still extremely affordable despite its burgeoning popularity. I hope this number one ranking doesn’t go to its head…

Trailing Minneapolis, in descending order, are Arlington, Texas; Miami, Florida; Fresno, California; San Antonio, Texas; Mesa, Arizona; Jacksonville, Florida; Phoenix, Arizona (not surprised to see this city here); El Paso, Texas; and Las Vegas, Nevada. 

Excluding Minneapolis, I’m surprised by how many of these cities are in the Southern/Southwestern reaches of the country. Any theories on why it’s cheaper to buy vs. rent where the sun is always shining? Is it because cities like Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Miami, got hit the hardest when the bubble burst, and now sellers have to compete with foreclosures flooding the market?                                                              

And the best cities to Rent vs. Buy are…..

New York City is number one, of course, with a whopping Price-to-rent Ratio of 33. Cue feigned surprise.

Following in New York’s footsteps are Omaha, Nebraska; Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon (a little surprised to see this one, would loves to hear from natives on what the real estate market’s like there… Portland’s such a great city); San Francisco, California; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Kansas City; Missouri; San Diego, California; Cleveland, Ohio; and Dallas, Texas.

Of course New York, San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, even Dallas are all big renter’s cities. But it’s kind of weird to see those Midwestern towns heading up the list. Omaha? Kansas City? Cleveland?  In those cases I think it’s important to remember that even though it’s technically cheaper to rent, prices have dropped so much there might be many affordable housing options available.

Trulia’s blog post had over fifty comments, with many readers chiming in about the intangibles of buying vs. renting/renting vs. buying---the security and emotional connection that comes with homeownership and might be worth the extra financial strain, the flexibility renting offers those who have to move often, or aren’t quite ready to settle in one place. The only thing that really determines whether renting or buying is right for you, no matter where you are, is YOU.

I’m interested in what you think--both about the list, and the importance of lists like this in the first place. How much would you take these numbers into consideration if you were looking to rent or buy in any of these cities?

 *Thanks to the Calfinder Solar Blog for the gorgeous desert picture, and Penn for Life for the house/calculator image. 

Friday, June 18, 2010

Menlo Park Ca Open House Sat & Sun 1:30-4:30: A Green Home You CAN Afford







YOU CAN AFFORD TO BUY A GREEN HOME IN MENLO PARK





501 Sandlewood St, Menlo Park, CA 94025


VERY ATTRACTIVELY PRICED AT $598,000.00


Open House This Weekend, Saturday and Sunday from 1:30-4:30.


ALL GUESTS ARE ENTERED TO WIN A $100 GIFT CERTIFICATE FOR TIFFANY'S


Play VisualTour

Welcome to 501 Sandlewood St, a Green Home in an enclave of 3 year young Green Homes in Menlo Park.Conveniently located near the Dumbarton Bridge, gorgeous new office buildings, Mid Peninsula High School, and even a new Starbucks. You owe it to yourself to see how the city of Menlo Park has done a spectacular job on this re-development area, and to see what a wonderful home Clarum has built.


Some of the fantastic features include photoelectric roof panels which keep the PG&E bill to under $500 a year, tankless water heater so you never run out of hot water, tiles made from recycled glass, a lawn that looks gorgeous but never needs watering, granite counter tops in the kitchen and baths, solid surface tub surrounds, a huge master bath with a soaking tub, double paned windows and tons of natural light, walk in closet, and a bonus landing that is great for an extra office or playroom. There is aneighborhood park and a great community surrounding you. All this for under $600,000!





Seems almost too good to be true, but it is real. Don’t miss this incredible opportunity!

GREAT features include:
3 Bedrooms including a large master suite
2 ½ bathrooms with granite topped vanities, solid surface bath surrounds, and tiled floors
A wonderful U shaped kitchen with a gas stove, microwave, granite counters, maple cabinets, tiled floors, and a large pantry
Large, doubled paned windows
No water lawn
Attached 2 car garage
Re-circulating water heater pump
1,640 square feet of living space (per assessor)
3464 square foot lot (per assessor)

Marcy Moyer
Keller Williams
650-619-9285
marcy@marcymoyer.com
Follow Me, Marcyagent, on Twitter!
DRE # 01191194

Mountain View Ca Open House Sat & Sun 1:30-4:30: Experience the Light in Whisman Station!



148 Holly Court, Mountain View, CA

EXPERIENCE THE LIGHT.
$599,000

DON'T MISS THE OPEN HOUSE THIS WEEKEND, June 19th & 20th. 
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY FROM 1:30-4:30

Play VisualTour


Welcome to this striking townhome in the popular Whisman Station Development. 

You will delight in the 
modern amenities, convenient location, and wonderful life style options available to you if you live here.

Some of the lovely features include a fenced yard, central heat and air, new carpet and paint, attached 2 car garage, kitchen with granite counters, a center island, and gas stove, family room/kitchen, high ceilings, and, and rich cherry laminate floors.

Add to that wonderful Mountain View Schools and a great community with pools, parks, and easy access to light rail, freways, and major emplyment centers. Don't miss this wonderful home buying opportunity!

Marcy Moyer
Keller Williams
650-619-9285
marcy@marcymoyer.com
https://twitter.com/marcyagent
DRE # 01191194

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Palo Alto CA Market Update, June 15th: With a Neighborhood Twist!


Here's the latest update on the single family home market in Palo Alto, with a neighborhood twist! 

Active Listings: 98
Pending Sales: 50

The market seems to be holding pretty steady, with a ratio of one pending sale for every 2 active listings. So this time, instead of breaking the numbers up by price range I did a neighborhood breakdown. 

Are some neighborhoods more popular than others? If so, which ones? 

So here's what I found when I crunched the numbers by neighborhood: 

Downtown:  5 Active  3 Pending
Professorville:  3 Active  2 Pending
Community Center:  3 Active  4 Pending
Crescent Park:  5 Active   3 Pending
Green Gables:  8 Active  9 Pending
Old Palo Alto:  11 Active   2 Pending
College Terrace:  Active 10  Pending 4
Ventura:  4 Active  2 Pending
Midtown:  9 Active  3 pending
South Palo Alto: 19 Active  13 Pending
Barron Park:  Active  9   Pending   1
Green Acres:  6 Active  2 Pending
Palo Alto Hills:  4 Active  1 Pending

So what does this mean?  Well, after a year and a half of looking at PA by price range it is very interesting for me to look at things from a different angle.  Intuitively it has felt to me like the Community Center has become the “it" place to be, and this week’s stats definitely support that.  It is one of only two neighborhood with more pending sales than active listings. The other is Green Gables.   

What I find most fascinating is the Barron Park stat. 9 active listings to 1 pending sale is the worst neighborhood in Palo Alto.  Why? I have some theories.  It was the most popular for a while and perhaps was more over inflated than others so needs a bigger adjustment.  Or is it the 900 pound gorilla in the room that no one wants to discuss:  suicide. Did the rash of Gunn suicides send buyers to the northern end of Palo Alto?  If you look at the active to pending ratios of all the neighborhoods they are uniformly better in north Palo Alto than south Palo Alto.  

Now, this is only my first look, and the numbers for each neighborhood are small, but it is definitely a trend I want to follow.

Marcy Moyer
Keller Williams Realty
D.R.E. 01191194
650-619-9285

Friday, June 11, 2010

MOUNTAIN VIEW OPEN HOUSE THIS WEEKEND (June 12 & 13, 1:30-4:30: EXPERIENCE THE LIGHT





148 Holly Court, Mountain View, CA

EXPERIENCE THE LIGHT.

$599,000

DON'T MISS THE OPEN HOUSE THIS WEEKEND, June 12th & 13th.
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY FROM 1:30-4:30



Play VisualTour



Welcome to this striking townhome in the popular Whisman Station Development. 
You will delight in the 
modern amenities, convenient location, and wonderful life style options available to you if you live here.


Some of the lovely features include a fenced yard, central heat and air, new carpet and paint, attached 2 car garage, kitchen with granite counters, a center island, and gas stove, family room/kitchen, high ceilings, and, and rich cherry laminate floors.


Add to that wonderful Mountain View Schools and a great community with pools, parks, and easy access to light rail, freways, and major emplyment centers. Don't miss this wonderful home buying opportunity!


Marcy Moyer
Keller Williams
650-619-9285
marcy@marcymoyer.com
https://twitter.com/marcyagent
DRE # 01191194

MENLO PARK OPEN HOUSE THIS WEEKEND (June 12 & 13, 1:30-4:30: A GREEN HOME YOU CAN AFFORD














YOU CAN AFFORD TO BUY A GREEN HOME IN MENLO PARK







501 Sandlewood St, Menlo Park, CA 94025


VERY ATTRACTIVELY PRICED AT $598,000.00


Open House This Weekend, Saturday and Sunday from 1:30-4:30.



ALL GUESTS ARE ENTERED TO WIN A $100 GIFT CERTIFICATE FOR TIFFANY'S


Play VisualTour

Welcome to 501 Sandlewood St, a Green Home in an enclave of 3 year young Green Homes in Menlo Park.Conveniently located near the Dumbarton Bridge, gorgeous new office buildings, Mid Peninsula High School, and even a new Starbucks. You owe it to yourself to see how the city of Menlo Park has done a spectacular job on this re-development area, and to see what a wonderful home Clarum has built.


Some of the fantastic features include photoelectric roof panels which keep the PG&E bill to under $500 a year, tankless water heater so you never run out of hot water, tiles made from recycled glass, a lawn that looks gorgeous but never needs watering, granite counter tops in the kitchen and baths, solid surface tub surrounds, a huge master bath with a soaking tub, double paned windows and tons of natural light, walk in closet, and a bonus landing that is great for an extra office or playroom. There is aneighborhood park and a great community surrounding you. All this for under $600,000!







Seems almost too good to be true, but it is real. Don’t miss this incredible opportunity!

GREAT features include:
3 Bedrooms including a large master suite
2 ½ bathrooms with granite topped vanities, solid surface bath surrounds, and tiled floors
A wonderful U shaped kitchen with a gas stove, microwave, granite counters, maple cabinets, tiled floors, and a large pantry
Large, doubled paned windows
No water lawn
Attached 2 car garage
Re-circulating water heater pump
1,640 square feet of living space (per assessor)
3464 square foot lot (per assessor)

Marcy Moyer
Keller Williams
650-619-9285
marcy@marcymoyer.com
https://twitter.com/marcyagent
DRE # 01191194

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

The Facts About Palo Alto Short Sales and Foreclosures






There's a lot of chatter on real estate blogs about the steep increase in foreclosures and short sales in Palo Alto. Unfortunately many sites post stats from a company called Realty Trac which tracts everything from a Notice of Default through a listed bank owned property.  Many things can happen before a home with a Notice of Default actually gets to be sold by the bank, but unless you read the fine print carefully it is easy to confuse a house that is behind a few months in payments with an actual bank owned property on the market for sale.

Most bank owned homes as well as short sales (where the seller owes more than the home is worth and the lender/lenders have agreed to accept less than the amount of the mortgage to release the debt) are sold through the MLS.  So to see how many of these distressed sales have hit the market in the last year I went to the MLS and looked.  

Here is what I found for single family homes:

Bank owned properties sold in last year:              4
Current Pending sales of Bank owned:                 2
Short Sales sold in last year:                               3
Current Pending Short Sales                               1
Current Active Short Sales                                 1

For condo/townhomes the numbers are:
Bank owned sold:                                             2
Bank owned pending sales:                               1
Short Sales sold:                                              3
Short sales pending:                                         4
Short sales active:                                            2

As you can see this is not a huge number, especially since the total number of homes sold in Palo Alto in the last year is 369, making distressed sales account for less than 2%.  There have been 97 condo/townhomes sold in the same period making the distressed sales about 5% of that market.  These numbers are not enough to have any impact on the price of homes in Palo Alto at this point.  The percentage would have to increase several fold before Palo Alto prices are affected by distressed properties.  I am not saying that this is or is not going to happen, that is a discussion for a future post, just that it has not happened yet.

Marcy Moyer
Keller Williams Realty
D.R.E.  01191194
www.marcymoyer.com

*Photo Credit: found this hilarious picture at the website for The Sacramento Bee.