OK it will be all over the news but here’s the local Belmont scoop. Just as a back-up to our weather station which uploads to the internet, I have this visual aid in our backyard because I guess I am a geek for starters (I also have triple redundancy for my hard drives now), but it did help when the circuit board stopped measuring rain earlier this year.
The first picture is one I took when I left for work and the second is when I came home at lunchtime.
(You can click on any image to see a larger picture.)
Our weather station reported the following (see below). Notice the rain rate at 2†per hour at 11:52 and 36 MPH winds at 8:06 AM. It was raining cats and dogs.
Now we are up to 18.82 inches for the year (July-June), 3.82 for the month and 3.15 just since this storm event!
The weather at work was amazing too as you see this poor pedestrian trying to maneuver around a small pond on Ralston Avenue whilst the cars pay scant attention to him.
We’re excited to announce three “Best of Tour†homes from our Broker’s tour on Tuesday.
These homes represent homes we think offer a good value and should get snapped up quickly.
BELMONT
There were two in Belmont we thought we’re an excellent value. The first one was at 3484 Lodge but since it already has three offers since Sunday’s open house we may as well skip that one. It was listed at $799,000 which is an ex excellent value for the West side.
The second Belmont home at 2223 Thurm listed by Better Homes and Gardens M. Smith. It’s located right on the border of San Mateo on a pastoral 13,000 square foot lot. The four bedroom three and one-half bath home is nicely appointed and at 2,714 square feet it’s a very good value too.
SAN CARLOS
We liked 132 Arundel. Looks like a nice move-in condition home with three bedrooms, two baths with 1, 390 square feet of living space on a nice sized 8,500 square foot lot. Listed by RE/MAX D. Roberts
1362 Geneva in the White Oaks is a three bedroom three bath home of 1,860 square feet on a tad bit small 4,040 square foot lot but this home looks great and should fly off the shelf. Listed by Coldwell Banker R. Jabeen
As always, if you want us to look specifically for the best of tour home for you drop us an email or connect with us and let us know what you’re looking for. We’ll be your eyes and ears on the peninsula.
Today the Belmont Police department held true to a promise to hold a decoy pedestrian sting operation along several locations on Ralston Ave. and El Camino Real in Belmont.
The message was clear; beware of pedestrians in the crosswalk. Unfortunately it also netted one accident. Sergeant Brake mentioned in the official Belmont Police press release that the decoy had yet to step off of the curb and into the crosswalk when a truck that stopped suddenly to yield to the pedestrian and was hit from behind. However, a witness spoke to us stated the decoy had in fact actuated the crossing light and stepped into the crosswalk causing the driver to react quickly and the driver following too closely behind to not react quickly enough.
To hand out this many citations is amazing in the short span of time the decoy operation was in progress. It just goes to show how important this operation was to elevate public awareness.
As for the unfortunate accident that occurred, it could have happened any day with or without decoys.
In all, officers made 93 enforcement stops and issued 77 citations for pedestrian right of way violations. There was one traffic collision during the operation, at Ralston Ave & Villa Ave, when a driver, who had stopped for a pedestrian, who had not yet stepped off the curb, was rear ended by another vehicle. “That driver was following too closely and told officers he assumed that the vehicle in front of him would keep going” said Sergeant Brake’. “The driver who stopped did the right thing”, “This shows how important it is for drivers to be alert and maintain a safe stopping distance”, Sergeant Brake’ added.
Since 2007, the City of Belmont has averaged three (3) auto-pedestrian collisions per year, all of which resulted in minor to moderate injuries. According to the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), pedestrians represent 18% of all traffic related fatalities and almost 5% of all traffic related injuries. In 2008 almost 650 pedestrians were killed in California and over 13,000 were injured, according to OTS.
A TORNADO WARNING WAS HOISTED FOR SAN MATEO COUNTY FOR A BREIF TIME. SEE BRIEFING BELOW. THE WARNING IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT
AT 1111 AM PDT…NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR CONTINUED TOINDICATE A TORNADO. THIS TORNADO WAS LOCATED NEAR BELMONT…MOVINGNORTHEAST AT 40 MPH. OTHER LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO FOSTER CITY AND REDWOOD CITY
The have been no official sightings of a funnel clouds or tornadoes according to the NWS. There have been many lightening strikes along the Peninsula as well as heavy downpours.
The weather pattern continued to have the potential to become dangerous throughout Friday afternoon. The warning was issued at 11:02 a.m. with winds moving northeast at 40 mph, according to the NWS.
As of 11:32 a.m. it is traveling east from Oakland and expected to cross the East Bay city of Alamo by 12:03 p.m. and a minute later in San Ramon. By 12:31 p.m. it is suppose to cross Antioch.
The warning expired by 11:40 a.m. but the strong weather pattern held over, according to Steve Anderson of the National Weather Service.
"The activity is slowly moving to the South," he said. "It is moving to the South Bay and San Jose within the next hour."
Anderson said the National Weather Service rarely issues tornado warnings for the Bay Area but when they are issued, residents should seek shelter and stay indoors.
The Belmont Police Department, in cooperation with, Millbrae, Burlingame, Foster City, San Mateo Police Departments, the San Mateo County Sheriff's San Carlos Police Bureau & the California Highway Patrol will be conducting a joint Pedestrian Decoy Operation on Tuesday, March 22, 2011 in the City of Belmont. The Belmont operation will be conducted between 8:30 AM and 2:00 PM at several intersections in Belmont.
[official story continued below]
EDITORIAL COMMENT: I poke fun at this piece but I literally sit near the crosswalk in front of our RE/MAX office next door to Vivace with our admin assistant and I watch day dreaming drivers nearly slaughter 30 pedestrians a day (her estimate not mine—she has a slightly better view).
And the pedestrians don’t help the matter. They wait until a car is barreling down upon them and set out in front of the oncoming car as if the crosswalk afforded them some sort of "force-field" protection from a ton of metal on four wheels at 30 mph with an oblivious operator at the helm–or not.
Many pedestrians approach this with an argument “Hey, it’s the law, the cars must stop when I’m in the crosswalk so I’ll just set right out and cross whenever I want toâ€, as if to tempt or defy Darwin’s evolution theory of survival of the fittest; and they don’t look first either. How else could a pedestrian get hit by a car except for stepping out when they probably shouldn’t while not paying attention?
PEDESTRIANS–Wait for the light at Alameda to turn red and all the cars will start slowing down anyway, and then hit the flashing light and cross the street once you are SURE the cars will stop. Unless it’s pouring rain, it’s the courteous thing to do and what you’d like a pedestrian to do when you are out of your shoes and into theirs—pedal to the metal.
DRIVERS–Now it’s not the fault of the cars it’s the drivers who are usually not paying attention. Focused with the tunnel vision seen only under the most stressful of situations they are glued to the mesmerizingly colorful traffic signal at the intersection of Alameda as if willing it to stay green will work—if they just stare at it hard enough. This is done all the while making dinner plans on their cell phones of course. They invariably miss the flashing crosswalk lights and fortunately the miss the pedestrians too—if only by a few inches.
Now much of this could be resolved if the city simply moved the crosswalk to the next block east near the video store and handed out "how to cross the street" pamphlets. You see the corner of our RE/MAX building harbors a blind spot to on coming west bound suburbanites and affords a perfect location for daring or unwitting pedestrians to hide before making their startling presence in the crosswalk just milliseconds after actuating the warning lights—sometimes performed with the adeptness of a track and field star. But don’t they use a closed course?
Police personnel in plain clothes will be used to cross the roadways in marked crosswalks, while motorcycle officers will watch for pedestrian right of way violations. Motorists failing to yield the right of way to the pedestrian will be stopped and may be issued a citation under section 21950 of the California Vehicle Code.
The departments will carry out enforcement of pedestrian right of way violations on a continuous basis and will continue to work together on future pedestrian decoy events in their respective cities.
It’s close to Saint Patrick’s Day and corned beef is all the rage—at least in America. Those of you who think boiled meat sounds tepid might consider our twist on this celebratory staple.
Nothing beats a good barbecued brisket and a corned brisket can be just as delicious. But boiling the brisket extracts the same flavor out of the meat as boiled ribs. Sure boiled ribs are tender, but they’re only as good as the BBQ sauce you apply.
Narsai David had a recipe like this years ago and it’s pretty straight forward so we’ll give you our version.
But first, Alton Brown from the Food Network offers a great recipe for brining your own brisket. We include this link more so you know what goes in a good brine. His recipe takes ten days advance prep and we’re already too close to Saint Patrick’s Day to try that. We recommend you simply buy an already corned brisket from your favorite butcher; And try to get the pickling packet along with it or get one from the spice department.
Like pork shoulder or ribs, brisket requires low and slow cooking to break down the connective tissues. You’ll typically find brisket sold as a flat cut or a point cut. We prefer a whole brisket for BBQ but for today’s recipe, the point or deckle end of the brisket is preferred. While the flat or thin part is leaner, less fat means that it will not be as moist or as tender (or flavorful). Let your conscious decide which cut is right for you.
Preheat the oven to 250.
Trim some of the excess fat from the top of the brisket leaving at least a half inch of fat.
Now slather the brisket with salt and pepper and a generous amount of Coleman’s prepared mustard.
In a roasting pan, add the brisket fat side up and cover with foil.
Bake it for about four hours and remove from the oven. How long you need to cook it for will depend on how big your brisket, or cut of brisket is.
Sprinkle a generous portion of brown sugar over the top of the brisket and add the carrots and onions around the side of the pan. Cover with foil again and return to the oven for two more hours. Depending on the size of your brisket, it could take anywhere from a mere 4 hours to 6 hours to get to an internal temperature of at least 145°—165° is preferable. In fact with brisket, you could go up to 190° with a whole brisket and it would still be fine.
The way you know when a brisket is done is by the feel. Since most people probably don’t know what that feel should be, you can simple whack off a small piece and test for tenderness by chomping down a few bites (it’s great to be the cook). Remember though that the outer pieces will be more done than the center so take your temperature reading in the thickest part.
The only trick with brisket (if you could even call it that) is to not let it get so done that it’s dry or stringy, but done enough that it’s not tough.
Once the brisket is done you’ll want to let it stand and rest covered with foil for at least ½ hour—again depending on the size. If you try and cut it right away, not only will you lose precious juices, if you cooked it right it might fall apart—and use a very sharp carving knife.
Meanwhile, in a separate pot on the stove you can add enough water to cover your new potatoes along with pickling spice and a bottle dark beer like Guinness—saving just enough to whet your palate. Bring the brine to just under boiling until the potatoes are near done, add the quartered cabbage and cook for ten more minutes or so.
Slicing the Meat
Think of the brisket like the trunk of a tree. The grain runs in one direction and you want to cut across it, not with it. When you serve you’ll have some nice caramelized carrots and onions along with the cabbage and some brined boiled potatoes and cabbage. The leftover corned beef makes excellent sandwiches but scrape off the brown sugar if you are making hash out of it. Now for the best part–you have five bottles of Guinness left over for a meal with your friends.
Once again if we are lulled into believing the raw numbers Belmont’s median home price shot up 14.7% over last February and an unbelievable 23% since just last month—unbelievable being the operative word.
(click on the picture to see a larger image). * Yes. Those are Mardi Gras colors…
In fact the median home price in Belmont was $917,500 in February 2011 while last February it was $800,000 and just last month it was $745,000.
But being the spoiler I am I have to report that the size homes which sold last February were only 1640 square feet in size and this February they were 2,030—24% or 390 square feet larger.
We can play around with some fuzzy math and arrive at several conclusions which all point to the fact that year over year prices have actually declined.
A home which is 23% larger yet only costs me 14.7% more seems too good to be true. Part of the inequity has to do with the issue that land remains a constant, which makes any approximation of value just that. Looking at it from several different ways one can safely arrive at a price decline of around 8.3% year-over-year.
SALES
And that perhaps is why home sale in Belmont are up 20%–well, 12 sales this year compared to 10 last year is only two more sales but hey, we have to offer full disclosure right?
In February of 2010 four of those Belmont homes lowered their asking price by on average $28,760 but this February three sellers slashed their asking price by on average $62,000.
Six homes sold for on average $51,000 less than there asking price last year while only four did so this year—for the exact same amount.
Each year two of the homes sold right at the seller’s asking price while last year two sold for more—on average $53,000 and this year six sold for on average $15,000 more.
DOM
The time it took to sell your home dropped dramatically over last year. Several factors are in play here. First there were more homes to choose from this year which helped buyers come to a decision more quickly. Both years there were many hangover listings from the previous December which carried with them the dreaded DOM stigma but this year we sold a few more of them than last year.
% Received.
The amount the seller received of their asking price 98.7% remained unchanged from last year but was up 1.4% over last month.
On an insider note, 13 of the 19 homes pending sale in Belmont right now are scheduled to close this month and we personally know that of the 19, several will be closing well over the asking price thanks to multiple offers. Yes, the word buyers hate to hear has raised its ugly head again due to the low inventory of homes to buy.
If you are considering selling your Belmont home, right now’s a pretty good time according to the activity we’ve seen.
Each week we try and give a nod to a deserving home we saw on Tuesday’s REALTOR tour.
We try and choose homes which are new on the market and are priced well for what they offer. To be exact, by "well" we mean these homes will probably not be around for a weekend open house, unless the seller holds out for multiple offers.
Sometimes the homes are bank owned and other times they are homes which have been meticulously cared for. We might even throw in a home which is just really cool but we’ll let you know if we think it’s well priced or not.
So today we acknowledge 932 Anita Avenue in Belmont presented by Coldwell Banker.
What makes this home stand out is the value—and it’s a nice home. Good area, some view, large yard, updated interior, cul-de-sac location and best of all priced at $1,088,000. There are probably agents who would have taken that listing for $100,000 more but we believe this home is spot on and should move quickly.
As always if you see a home–this one or any other that you’d like more information on–we’re here to help and just a phone call or email away.
Gorgeous remodel – Don't miss! Open floor plan and soaring ceilings. Each room flows into the next; perfect for entertaining. Move in ready, remodeled bathrooms, fabulous gourmet kitchen/FR, beautiful wood floors, master suite on main level, lrg two car garage, huge lot. Great location; end of cul-de-sac, near shopping, restaurants, Caltrain, and #1 Central Elementary.
If you’ve thought of moving but are frightened at the prospect of your property taxes increasing we have a few propositions for you—60, 90 and 110. You may already be aware of these but we have some new information which might make them more attractive.
Most homeowner’s are keenly aware that buying a new home means having their property tax base increased to 1% of the purchase price. For those of you who have owned a home for many years this alone can make a move financially impossible; for many, it means they couldn’t afford to buy the home they already own.
A BRIEF HISTORY
Proposition 60 enacted into law in 1986 allowed for the one-time transfer of your current home’s tax base to a replacement property of equal or lesser value after the age of 55 of either spouse, providing that the replacement property was located within the same county.
Proposition 90 passed by the legislature in 1989 allowed counties to voluntarily extend the transfer into their county to all 58 California Counties.
Proposition 110 passed in 1996 extends this relief to permanently disabled people, whether 55 or not.
The problem for most people wishing to benefit from this tax base transfer is they are limited to moving within the county in which they currently reside, or moving to one of only a handful of reciprocal counties (Alameda, Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Ventura, San Mateo, and Santa Clara).
Fortunately, another very desirable county in the Sierra foothills was added to the list—El Dorado. Their legislature passed a resolution into law on December 10th 2009 taking effect February 15th of 2010 allowing anyone in the 58 California counties to transfer their tax base to El Dorado County.
There are rules you must follow or your transfer will be denied so before you consider a move you will want to read several of the helpful publications which exist, and/or consult with your tax or legal advisor. The State Board of Equalization offers some easy to understand “Question and Answer” publications as well as a pdf containing many test case scenarios.
If you’ve been holding back on making a move to retain your home’s current tax base it’s nice to know you now have some great options. And if you’re not familiar with this Gold Rush era county, you owe it to yourself to check it out.
There are many cities within El Dorado County which offer a great quality with life. Located around Folsom Lake with its endless water activities, El Dorado County extends all of the way to South Lake Tahoe. The many towns in between including Placerville, offer affordable housing options—from award winning retirement communities to cities catering to the first time buyer and neighborhoods that rival homes the Peninsula has to offer—including Hillsborough—all at a fraction of what it costs to live in the Bay Area.
Visit the on-line version of this newsletter at MorganHomes.com and use the underlined links in this article to read more. If you are not comfortable with the internet, simply give us a call and we’ll mail you out some more information.
Disclaimer:
Drew & Christine Morgan are REALTORS/NOTARY PUBLIC in Belmont, CA. with more than 20 years experience in helping sellers and buyers in their community. They may be reached at (650) 508.1441.
The information contained in this article is educational and intended for informational purposes only. It does not constitute real estate, tax or legal advice, nor does it substitute for advice specific to your situation. Always consult an appropriate professional familiar with your scenario.
San Mateo County Market Snapshot–Are We Treading Water?
Those of you who follow our market updates know we put our hometown, Belmont, under a market microscope every month to get a glimpse as to where the market appears to be headed.
Of course that really is living in a Petri dish when it comes to the real estate market as a whole.
Real estate is very local—what goes on in even one part of a city could be entirely different from another. That said eventually positive market trends trickle down and negative ones up.
As evidence of this phenomenon one can go back and look at our charts from 2007 when Palo Alto was still doing famously yet Daly City may as well have slid into the ocean (many homeowners probably wish it had).
Today we visit the numbers—year over year—for San Mateo County as a whole, hoping to see some trends that will give us an inkling as to where consumer sentiment is, as reflected in sales, median price, etc.
SALES
New Listings
Current Inventory
Closed Sales
Average DOM
Average Sales Price
Median Sales Price
% LP Rec'd
Total $ Vol
2011 545
1400
233
74
786,509
587,500
96.48
182,470,145
2010 484
1156
229
82
840,235
650,000
97.17
192,413,866
2009 530
1452
163
74
683,900
553,750
97.20
110,791,806
It’s easy to see that the ripples of consumer uncertainty could easily capsize the boat of recovery if the tides of low interest rates come in too fast.
Sales are certainly better than the low of 2009 and remain steady as they did in our Belmont example. But as in the Belmont report the median price showed a decline in home values since last January. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially if you are a potential home buyer and it doesn’t mean values are still dropping, just that they did drop year over year.
Interest rates are going up, and have done so rapidly in the last few months—around ¾ of a point. That hurts the ability for people to qualify for a home and with less demand there’s a potential for prices to decrease further.
But as we cautioned ourselves, we are comparing 2010–a year of government sponsored tax rebates to 2011 without. Let's see if our minnow of a recovery can weather the storm without a life raft.
Thanks for checking back in with us.
*Data San Mateo County MLS.
Disclaimer: This information is for entertainment purposes only and includes no legal, accounting or real estate advice nor is this response in tended to be specific to your situation-consult a specialist for your specific situation.
