Belmont’s Greek Festival!

What’s going on in Belmont over the Labor Day weekend?

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Be sure and stop by the Greek Festival held every year on the grounds of the Greek Orthodox Church at the corner of Ralston Ave. and Alameda de las Pulgas. Over 15,000 people are expected to attend over the three days of festivities.

There is great food and fun for everyone with music, dancing arts & crafts. Admission is only $5.00 for adults and children under 12 are free. This year they’ll have a special “fun zone” for the kids too.Greek_2

If you are a foodie like us you’ll enjoy BBQ lamb, Dolmades, Spanakopita and of course desserts like Baklava layered with honey and nuts. Baklava_2

Here’s their schedule of activities if you can’t decide when to go.This is one of Belmont’s best get-togethers for the community and if you see us be sure and say hi!

We complimentary tickets since we contribute to the festival's directory so if you’re planning on going let us know and we’ll send some out to you.

FREE Gas Giveaway!

GasWe’re just two days away from our drawing for a FREE $50.00 gas giveaway card. If you receive our print newsletter you’ve probably already sent in your form, but if you’re a blog reader you can still enter by sending in this on-line version of the form.

And don’t forget you can help us go green by subscribing to the on-line version and you’ll be emailed once a month with market updates and our quarterly newsletter. Don’t worry, your email address will remain annonymous and we’ll never share it with anyone for any reason.

With gas prices recently dropping, this $50.00 gas card will go a lot farther than it did just a few weeks ago.

Good Luck! The winner will be announced on this blog August 20th so hurry and register!

Belmont’s Housing Activity–Week ending 8.08.08

Belmont Housing Activity                             Δ from prior week

New listings                                        3              ↓

Homes that went pending                   2              ↓

Homes that closed escrow                  1              ↓

Total Inventory                                  45             ↑

Only two homes received an offer last week and went pending, three new listings hit the market, and with only one sale the inventory rose slightly. Most closings are scheduled for the end of the month and there are currently have 15 set to close by then.

NEW LISTINGS

2503 Read Ave., Belmont 2 Bed/ 2 Bath 950 Sq. Ft. for $799,000.

2818 San Ardo Way, Belmont 3 Bed/ 2 Bath 1420 Sq. Ft. home for $725,000 * Our Belmont’s Best Deal pick of the week! OPEN SAT & SUN 8/9th & 10th from 2:00-4:00

San_ardo

807 Ruth Ave., Belmont 2 Beds/ 1 Bath 1,40 Sq. Ft. home for $719,000

SOLD HOMES

3614 Hillcrest 5 beds/3 baths 2840 Sq. Ft. sold for $850,000.

This home was simply entered for a comp. I’m not sure why because it’s a bad one at that. It never hit the market and apparently was a real contractor’s special.

MorganHomes.com

Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

The week ending August 8th of 2008 may have been the luckiest date in this decade but seller’s who wanted to move weren’t quite so fortunate. The Belmont housing activity was rather slow this past week.

Belmont Neighborhood Associations

We’ve updated the list of various Belmont neighborhood associations Download belmont_neighborhood_associations.pdf with an interactive map. Open the PDF file and click on the neighborhood association name in your neighborhood to jump to their web page. The Neighborhood associations below are non-profit organizations which to not mandate membership, but rather request a donation to continue their mission. If you aren’t familiar with your neighborhood association in Belmont, open the attached map and see if they have information on their meetings. We belong to the Belmont Heights Civic Improvement Association and it’s a cause well worth supporting. It’s nice to have a group watching out for your neighborhood.

Real Estate Fees REVEALED!

Be sure and get our Podcast where we discuss how to negotiate the best listing fee with your agent and how our variable rate fee structure works. Download Fees.mp3


This chart illustrates the correlation between the price a seller receives of their asking price and the days their home is on the market. Note that the optimum time to sell a home is in the first 14 days. Listen to our complete Podcast for a detailed explanation on how pricing your home right can net you more for your home and reduce the fees we charge!



Belmont’s Weekly Housing Update-8.01.2008

Altura 

The Belmont Housing inventory is down to only 40 active single family residences for sale. That’s low for this time of year.

There are currently 24 homes pending sale which has helped drive the number of available homes down—last week added another seven to the list.

These are the six new listings that hit the market last week.

â–º2105 CIPRIANI BL
Detached Single Family (Class

4 bed(s) /3 1/2 bath(s)

5,580 sq ft 

Belmont (Belmont) 

$1,199,000

MLS: 80824979

Nice home. Busy street.

â–º2602 CARLMONT DR
Attached Single Family

Carlmont

These are nice (technically attached) homes in one of Belmont’s premiere canyons. Large lots but sometimes small usable yards.

4 bed(s) /2 1/2 bath(s)

17,380 sq ft 

Belmont (Belmont) 

$1,049,000

MLS: 80824689

â–º905 AVON ST
Detached Single Family

Sorry, there appears to be no uploaded pictures for this home. Hmm.

4 bed(s) /2 1/2 bath(s)

8,580 sq ft 

Belmont (Belmont) 

$999,000

MLS: 80825395

â–º80 EDGEWOOD PL
Attached Single Family

This townhome appears fairly priced for the complex.

3 bed(s) /2 1/2 bath(s)

1,932 sq ft 

Belmont (Belmont) 

$998,000

MLS: 80825408

â–º1907 OAK KNOLL DR
Detached Single Family

Oak_knoll

This was our “Best Deal for Belmont” this week. It’s got a nice feel, nice backyard, and it’s located atop one of Belmont’s best locations with a micro-climate protected southern exposure.

3 bed(s) /2 bath(s)

8,250 sq ft 

Belmont (Belmont) 

$988,000

MLS: 80824402

â–º101 FARALLON DR
Townhouse (Class 2)

3 bed(s) /2 1/2 bath(s)

2,389 sq ft 

Belmont (Belmont) 

$839,000

MLS: 80825321

Last week only five homes closed escrow. That’s very strange in that typically buyers try and close escrow at the end of the month to save on pre-paid mortgage interest. These are the five homes which closed escrow this week:

 

â–º140 VIRGINIA AV
Detached Single Family (Class

3 bed(s) /3 bath(s)

5,850 sq ft 

Belmont (Belmont) 

$1,089,000

MLS: 80810712

It’s nice to have this home off of the books. It was listed for $1,089,000 and finally sold 105 days later for $1,025,000–$64K less.

â–º1505 ALTURA WY
Detached Single Family

Someone got a good deal on this home we believe—even though they had to pay $53,000 OVER asking to do so. It sold for $849,000 in 9 days.

3 bed(s) /2 bath(s)

7,800 sq ft 

Belmont (Belmont) 

$799,000

MLS: 80810640

â–º2424 CORONET BL
Detached Single Family

This home had nice southern peninsula views but was TINY. Still, a good buy for the nice neighborhood. This home closed $30K under the seller’s asking price at $769,000.

2 bed(s) /2 bath(s)

5,700 sq ft 

Belmont (Belmont) 

$769,000

MLS: 80817167

â–º1121 GRANADA ST
Detached Single Family

This starter home on the east side sold for $715,000–$10K under the seller’s asking price and in only 14 days.

3 bed(s) /1 bath(s)

4,968 sq ft 

Belmont (Belmont) 

$725,000

MLS: 80812144

â–º817 COVINGTON RD
Detached Single Family

Talk about good value. To be in the Belmont Hills for under $600,000! That’s a nice price point.

2 bed(s) /2 bath(s)

5,150 sq ft 

Belmont (Belmont) 

$589,900

MLS: 80816502

Belmont’s April Sales Defy the Odds

↑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 average for $32,000 less. That compares to last year where 13 homes sold for over their asking price, four sold at asking and only three sold under.

↔Of the sellers that received their asking price all of the homes sold within the first 13 days on the market

↔Though the reported median price fell we feel prices are holding relatively steady–accounting for larger or smaller homes selling in a particular period. The median price dropped from $970,000 in 2007 to $930,000 in April of 2008 but the median size home that sold was 165 square feet larger in 2007. At the current price per square foot, that could account for as much as $94,000 in the differential pushing the true median value in 2008 to $1,024,000.

May is typically a very active month in real estate and it will be interesting to see if this month’s event becomes a trend.

As always, full market reports with interactive graphs for Belmont and adjoining towns will be available on our web site at MorganHomes.com when statistical data is available—usually by the tenth of each month.

April_2008_sales

LEGEND:

↔Unchanged

↑Positive market force

↓Negative market force

↗↙Probable trend upward or downward

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Which Way is the Wind Blowing in Belmont?

WHICH WAY IS THE WIND BLOWING IN BELMONT?

Belmont Hallmark View

There are a many hot topics in Belmont that can cause the debate around water coolers to boil over, though normally our weather isn’t one of them. Being nestled between the Pacific Ocean and the San Francisco Bay keeps the weather in Belmont relatively cool in the hot summer months and mild the rest of the year.

But what about the so-called microclimates we hear so much about? Having personally lived in three distinct neighborhoods in Belmont we noticed each one benefited from individualistic weather nuances.

If one were to drive around Belmont in a convertible, on a motorbike or bicycle on a summer day they’d no doubt experience dramatic variations in temperature from one neighborhood to another; for those who live and work in Belmont it comes as no surprise to find the temperature in one part of Belmont completely different from another. These so called “microclimates” exist all over the Peninsula but in some cities such as Belmont, they are found within the city itself.

Back in the day before air-conditioning, choosing a mild climate was key to comfortable summers. In the 1860’s, William Chapman Ralston picked a strategic place in Belmont to call home when he bought Count Cipriani’s chateau on what is now Ralston Avenue. Located near the bustling downtown section of Belmont, yet secluded inland far enough to be protected from the cooler San Francisco Bay winds, this area today remains known for its superior microclimate.

Other microclimates can be found elsewhere in Belmont such as in the hills overlooking the bay. These higher elevations are affected two fold; by more exposure to the wind and their inherent altitude. Also referred to as the “lapse rate”-for every 1,000 feet in elevation, temperatures are around 3.5 degrees lower. So it stands to reason that a home up in Belcrest Gardens or Belmont Heights near Highway 92 would be slightly cooler than a home in Sterling Downs. It’s not just elevation which accounts for the differential in temperatures. Microclimates created by the shelter of a hillside, ravine or eastern exposure can provide a protected environment free from cool afternoon winds which can drop temperatures as much as 20 degrees in the course of just a few hours.

The temperature in Belmont peaks most days in the afternoon and has cooled considerably by early evening. Want to know what time of day is typically the warmest? On average it’s 2:10 in the afternoon.

Belmont is a city with mild seasons and is ideally situated between Silicon Valley and San Francisco with easy access to three international airports. Once you’ve found Belmont, you’ve found home!

 

weatherstation_pic*Our NOAA registered weather station is located at our home in Belmont and provides real-time weather reports. You can find our Belmont Weather station by clicking here!

 

 

 

 

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.

© D. Morgan, 2007