We’re always looking for a way to improve the services we offer to our clients and the advent of 
YouTube just made video affordable for us to include in all of our listings at no additional charge. It’s a great way to get more attention for a listing and it appeals to tech savvy audiences as well as anyone surfing the net. Check out the one we did for a listing we have on the market in Belmont.
More about us at MorganHomes.com
Feel free to post your YouTube videos so we can see what your family vacations or reunions were like.
Don’t have a YouTube account? It’s simple log into YoutTube.com and sign yourself up then upload a video or montage and you’re up and running.
Here’s an example of one we did after our Labor Day visit to Johnson Island Lake Erie Ohio.
We stayed on Johnson Island for the Labor Day weekend with Christine’s best friend, Kim, her boyfriend and her two sisters.
Johnson Island is a small spot on Lake Erie where Kim owns a small vacation home on the shore. During the Civil war this island was used as a Confederate encampment to house the prisoner’s during the war. There’s a small historical graveyard which is home to the 206 confederate soldiers which died during their internment—either by wounds, natural causes or execution.
The amusement park is world renowned Cedar Point.
I edited the video using the Microsoft Movie Maker included with all Windows products.
Having been a chef, restaurateur and owner of a contract food service company in the 1980’s, I feel qualified to make some articulate comments about where to dine in and around Belmont.
Watch for new restaurant reviews and add some of your own. We’d love to hear what you think and who knows, perhaps even the local restaurant owners will take heed…
There are several new faces emerging as candidates for Belmont’s city council. One I had the pleasure to meet was Jason Born. An articulate no nonsense sort, Jason Born could be a real asset to Belmont’s leadership. You can read all about him on his web page at: http://www.bornforbelmont.com/
Welcome to the introduction of our five part series on when is the best time to sell a home. We’ll examine issues that affect home values and selling opportunties on a macro level, and then provide detailed information for our market sector. We hope you enjoy the series.
When’s The Best Time to Sell a Home? That simple question is one of the most frequently asked when we meet a seller. Unfortunately, the answer is not as easy.
There are many factors which may influence your local market and having the data certainly helps one examine when may be the best time to sell a home
Everyone knows real estate highs and lows-like in business-are cyclical. The recent 10 year run up in home values nationwide appears at its end (for now); though some parts of the country remain more effected than others.
In this five part series we’ll examine some of the indicators you can watch when trying to determine where your local market may be headed.
On a macro scale, the overall housing outlook can be affected by a multitude of factors and indicators can be seen along the way. In this five part series we’ll look at the following:
And on a more local level:
We are entering uncharted waters with the recent defaults of high risk loans, Wall Street’s pull back on mortgage investments and the demise of several prominent lending institutions. Money will be harder to get and more expensive. Those who were counting on refinancing their variable rate mortgage at the end of its fixed period, have no equity left and cannot afford their current payment will be forced back into the rental market. This will cause home inventory levels to increase and home values to decrease. Fewer buyers with more choices will equate to lower selling prices. To the extent that jobs remain steady (or increase) interest rates level off, fallout from the mortgage industry dust settles and buyers perceive new opportunities to purchase their first home, this storm too shall pass. How much and how quickly it will be mitigated by these factors is anyone’s guess.
Thanks for reading this introduction and check back for the continuation of this five part series.
You can see detailed San Mateo County market reports on our web page at MorganHomes.com
Real estate is best examined on a local scale since a rapid sell-off in south Florida, or falling values in San Diego can have little bearing on what a home is worth at any given point in your neighborhood.
Although it is best to focus on your local area, keeping an eye on the big picture is prudent.
In part two of our five part series on "When is the Best Time to Sell A Home" we examine some of the broader national issues which affect the overall atmosphere of home buying and selling.
Interest Rates and the Availability of Mortgage Money
To begin to address these issues is rather redundant since the current issues facing the mortgage industry are changing everyday and are covered well enough by experts-for many-the writing was on the wall. Suffice to say though that when money is more expensive and harder to obtain, fewer people can afford or qualify for a home. This and the high median price of homes can be illustrated by what is referred to as the Affordability Index; when the affordability index is low, fewer buyers are able to purchase a home and less demand can mean more supply and falling home values.
In June of 2007 we saw interest rates rising and although they were still near historically low levels, the perception that they were high may have changed the minds of prospective buyers. Whether uneasy about if they should wait for lower rates and purchase more home, or higher rates made home ownership simply unaffordable, fewer sale transacted.
Watch for Part III-How Consumer Confidence affects buyers and seller…
Consumer Confidence
In part three of our five part series on "When is the Best Time to Sell A Home" we examine some of the broader national issues which affect the overall atmosphere of home buying and selling.
The confidence of consumers is critical to trade. The "Consumer Confidence" report is a measurement taken by the Conference Board, an independent not-for-profit organization who polls 5,000 representative U.S. households; it’s bit like taking the pulse of the average consumer. Of course when consumer confidence is high-or rising-buyers tend to be more bullish. The effect that the release of these numbers has is a bit like the tail wagging the dog. In fact, it is a measurement of what a predetermined group of consumers think about the future, and when the numbers are released they can have either a positive or detrimental effect on the average consumer mindset; just watch what happens on Wall Street after the numbers are released.
Consumer confidence is directly affected by a multitude of issues facing our country (global and national) and can vary widely yet not have a dramatic affect on housing. This is particularly true when the reason in the confidence drop was not caused by jobs or housing. Our involvement in Iraq was an excellent example when consumer confidence dropped precipitously and home values remained relatively high.
The Consumer Confidence model was indexed relative to 1985 when a baseline value of 100% was attributed. The latest report in July-right before the widespread news of the sub-prime mortgage news hit the airwaves. It had rebounded from 105 in June to 112 in July and we expect it to drop considerably at the end of August. Low consumer confidence can be found during the trough of most real estate cycles.
Watch for Part IV-How new job creation affects buyers and seller…
More about us at Morganhomes.com
In part four of our five part series on "When is the Best Time to Sell A Home" we examine some of the broader national issues which affect the overall atmosphere of home buying and selling.
Jobs
When people feel secure about their jobs they are willing to take on more debt. But that’s not the whole story. When more jobs are being created (and filled) in an area than are exiting, and the supply of available homes can no longer keep up with demand, there’s competition for housing. A good indicator of where your local housing market may be headed is watching the number of net jobs increase or decrease; not just employment data. In other words, after all is said and done are there more jobs entering your area than leaving? And what kinds of jobs are being created? Those of high salaried professionals or perhaps less skilled labor and manufacturing jobs. Job and employment indicators can go far to help in evaluating the national housing market; and perhaps more precisely, have a direct impact on where you live.
New Home Starts
This is a great indicator of where large corporations believe the market will be months down the road. In the Bay Area the new home starts statistic has very little impact since most of the peninsula is already developed and resale activity is the predominant indicator. This is still an interesting statistic to watch especially when recovering from a housing downturn or recession. Here’s why; clearly an argument can be made that these large corporate developers are no indicator at all as to where the market is headed especially after the surplus of homes overdeveloped in 2006. However, the new home housing industry used the only real tool they have to control pricing and that is to cut inventory-by selling the homes they have and halting future development until which time they feel the market will pick up and sustain their sales. New homes start increases are a good indicator of a future bull real estate market
Remember that though a recession will be on a national scope, it will clearly impact some areas more than others. Know how these factors are affecting the market where you live.
The availability and affordability of money and the average consumers’ outlook on their job security and confidence ion the markets play a large roll in determining how buyers will perceive whether or not it’s a good time to buy a home.
Watch for Part V-How to interpret all of this and what can I do about it?
More about us at Morganhomes.com
Here’s a place to discuss the best book you’ve read all year—or ever.
My brother is a veracious reader who always has at least five books he’s reading simultaneously. Thanks to him I am never at a loss for a recommendation. Myself, I’m only good for perhaps two at a time but it takes me forever to get through them. I tend to stay away from fiction simply because there’s so much to learn so I reserve fiction for vacations.
One of the more recent books I’ve read was by Simon Winchester, “A Crack in the Edge of the Worldâ€. 
Mr. Winchester is a geologist and he amazingly manages to write with interesting prose. The book centers on the 1906 earthquake but the author begins at the far eastern end of the world and works his way across the North American and Pacific plates until he reaches San Francisco. I never knew for example that one of the most active places in our country for earthquakes is the city of New Madrid in Missouri and reading about that event is worth the price of the book alone; or that the beautiful National Park of Yellowstone will be the end of the west as we know it.
The book is a fascinating read and especially recommended for those of you living in Belmont—so close to the San Andreas Fault.
Belmont (or beautiful mountain (beau mont) is one of the most unique and charming cities on the peninsula. It’s heavily forested hillsides and undulating hills make for a delightful backdrop against the busy peninsula transportation arteries.
Belmont offers impressive views of San Francisco and the open space around Sugarloaf Mountain, the San Francisco Bay, and on any clear day Mt. Tamalpias, Mt. Diablo and Mt. Hamilton.
Belmont’s attributes are many but its highly coveted views are among the top reason people choose to live in Belmont.
The hills of Belmont weren’t always so heavily wooded as suggested by this rendering–published in “Heritage of the Wooded Hills”A Belmont History, by Ria Elena MacCrisken and available at the Belmont Historical Society. As Belmont neighborhoods developed tress were planted which forever changed the natural foliage into forested hillsides (one needs to look no further than the Watershed open space to see what Belmont’s hills probably looked like before it was populated).
Ironically, Belmont has no view or tree ordinance which regulates whether or not a tree can obstruct the view of a homeowner; one can’t build a structure to block a view but there’s nothing to regulate allowing a tree to grow unchecked into what once was someone’s impressive vista.
Many of the trees in Belmont which grow unattended such as eucalyptus are not indigenous to Belmont and in fact are not protected under Belmont’s existing tree ordinance–yet those are some of the most offensive trees in terms of obstructing views (and they’re pretty messy too).
When living in a society where our existence impacts others it’s essential to have ordinances to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public. We currently have ordinances to protect the quality of life and Belmont should seriously consider adding a view ordinance which will allow for the responsible ownership of trees.
Balancing the rights of a homeowner to maintain their view against that of a nearby property owner to plant and grow trees where they wish is difficult as property ownership rights are always held in high regard–as they should be. Like anything else though, views must be preserved and a balance must be struck between the property ownership rights of both parties.
Are trimming trees counterproductive to living green? Absolutely not. The International Society of Arboriculture not only recommends tree ordinances they go so far as to suggest how to structure one. Furthermore many adjacent towns which benefit from similar views already have such ordinances in place. Cities such as Tiburon and Berkeley, both where property values are substantially affected by their views, have adopted view ordinances to cope with urban tree growth and should serve as a guide to Belmont to act to preserve our declining views.
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 or emailed at info@morganhomes.com.
You can find them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Morganhomes and also find them on Twitter @ https://twitter.com/morganhomes
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.
