We’re testing out some fun fusion style charts for our blog page so we thought we’d throw this chart out to show the median price trends in various Peninsula cities as compared to San Mateo county as a whole. When a housing market adjustment happens, the old saying location, location, location (being the three most important things in real estate), takes on a whole new meaning. It’s not just about living in a nice place, it becomes also about living in an area where the prices are more stable.
Belmont’s Best Deal for July 18th 2008
This home wasn’t some fantastic steal of a deal but it was a really nice home. I say was because it was on tour Tuesday and has already sold. Who said the days of fast sales are over!
1612 Clee Street, Belmont
$848,500 2/1 1300 Sq. Ft.
Clee Street is a little known side street off of Chevy, another obscure street. Not many homes trade hands on either street. The neighborhood is part of the old golf course. The area was developed in the 1940’s for returning veterans after the golf course went bankrupt. It’s one of the few neighborhoods in Belmont with sidewalks and level streets making it ideal for the stroller set crowd or elderly. And of course it’s always nice to walk on over to Vivace for dinner.
So our best value vote goes to East Laurel Creek. What this home lacks in traditional architecture it makes up for in its bucolic setting. It’s situated across from Sugarloaf Mountain preserve and is more reminiscent of a Tahoe cabin than a traditional home. In fact, inside when you look out upon nothing but trees you might think you are in Tahoe.
3324 E Lauel Creek, Belmont
3/2 1700 Sq. Ft. $768,500
So there’s no garage. At $768,500 we think there’s some real value there and real quality of life living for someone lucky enough to snag this home.
The Streets Around Us
Have you ever driven around Belmont and wondered how a street got its name? You might even live on a street named Lyon for example and wondered if it too is a French derivation.
How about that funny round turret of a building on Alameda de las Pulgas (now tha’s a name)—who lived there?
We’ll answer a few, but Belmont does have a historical society which is fun to visit and you’ll meet volunteers with all of the answers. There’s even a book titled Heritage of the Wooded Hills by Ria Elena MacCrisken that will satisfy some of your curiosity and make driving the windy roads of our little town more interesting. Now for some answers:
In an apparent attempt to fashion Belmont after Hillsborough, in 1925 the Belmont Country Club Properties were formed by Messrs Lee Monroe, Lawrence Miller and Arthur Lyon (apparently Mr. Lyon had more pull as both his first and last names were used for street names).
Across the street from the $65,000 club house located at 751 Alameda de las Pulgas (now the Congressional Church of Belmont) was a tiny round sales office offering homes for sale around the golf course for sale. What golf course? Find out in our here…
Drew and Christine Morgan are experienced REALTORS and NOTARY PUBLIC located in Belmont, CA where the own an operate MORGANHOMES, Inc.. They have been assisting buyers and sellers in their community for over 30 years. Drew and Christine have received the coveted Diamond award and ranked among the top 50 agents nationwide and the top 3 in Northern California by RE/MAX. To contact them, please call (650) 508.1441 or email info@morganhomes.com.
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This article provides educational information and is intended for informational purposes only. It should not be considered real estate, tax, insurance, or legal advice, and it cannot replace advice tailored to your specific situation. It’s always best to seek guidance from a professional who is familiar with your scenario.
BROKER | MANAGER | NOTARY
Belmont’s Local Pub–Marvin Gardens
Belmont’s host to a few casual dining spots. Marvin Gardens is a good one and has been one of my favorite haunts since I was in college. Locally famous for its Starvin Marvin hamburger–a 1/3rd pound burger on a artisian soft roll–they’ve added pizza and appetizers like chicken wings since the original days. Gone are the days of an all male crowd arriving solely on two wheeled vehicles and throwing peanut shells on the floor. Today, the more family friendly eatery offers a relatively clean indoor or outdoor dining experience. Stop by and say hi to Jamie who bought the beer garden pub from Chip several years back. 1160 Old County Road, Belmont .
Best Bay Area Home Deals-May 30, 2008
This home in Daly City is the best deal we saw this week. It’s a short sale and the bank is willing to let it go for $500,000. It worth more than that, though it does need some fixing up. Last I heard there were four offers being submitted.
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.
LEGEND:
↔Unchanged
↑Positive market force
↓Negative market force
↗↙Probable trend upward or downward
Renters Hit Hard As Prices Climb
You’ve got to admit, renters have had a hard time. After being squeezed out of the homeownership market for years they now face getting squeezed out of the rental market as well.
But more to my point…ever notice that plane crashes come in three’s? Do they, or does the media just report them that way? Ever notice after a plane does crash you hear nothing but planes crashing all day. Are planes suddenly dropping out of the sky in some fit of protest? Hardly.
I’ve also noticed a distinct pattern to the San Francisco Chronicle’s Sunday Real Estate section. Each week they organize this section into a theme. Last week’s “theme†was the bad news for renters with headings such as these: “Bay Area rents still risingâ€, (James Temple, Chronicle Staff Writer, Friday, April 18, 2008), “Apartment rents throughout West still risingâ€, (MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Business Writer, Thursday, April 17, 2008), “A look at apartment rents in western United Statesâ€, (The Associated Press, Thursday, April 17, 2008).
The San Francisco Chronicle’s recent reports on the rental market have been rather telling in regards to the overall housing picture. With more buyers unable or unwilling to buy, competing with homeowners thrust back into the rental market due to either voluntarily or involuntarily leaving homeownership, it will be just a matter of time before rising rents and lower home values make owning vs. renting a no brainer. I’ve seen it before and I’m sure I’ll see it again.
But then I read what appeared to be an op-ed piece by Marcie Lewis of Bankrate.com. That headline read “Rental Market Hit by Mortgage Crisisâ€. I thought I was going to read more of the same—doom and gloom for renters. But the piece ended by stating the opposite of what all the other articles had to offer about the dwindling supply of rental units by saying:
“Other homeowners have opted to rent out their entire home because they’ve relocated, but can’t sell the home for enough money to pay off their debts, which might include a home equity loan or line of credit in addition to a first mortgage. This trend increases the supply of rental housing.†(Lewis 4/2008, p K11)
And…
â€Many cities experienced a boom in conversions of apartments into condos, but now, due to lower condo prices, some builders and owners have opted to rent out units they’d intended to sell. This trend also adds to the supply of rentals.†(Lewis 4/2008 , p K11)
So wait a minute; do we have more available rental units or less? I guess they’ll follow up next week with the answer.
Median Bay Area Home Price Near Worthless
What You Hear About Median Home Values May Be Completely Wrong
The Multiple Listing Service for the Bay Area peninsula has launched the December sales stats and there is some compelling evidence that Bay Area homes values dropped slightly over 2006.
The median home price is the midpoint at which half of the homes sold for more, and half sold for less. Of course if smaller or larger homes are selling then these numbers are easily skewed—especially with a small market sample.
San Mateo County posted a reduction in the median home price to $885,000–a $40,000 (4.3%) decline over $925,000 in 2006.
This statistic could be wildly inaccurate though. Simply put, there’s no easy way to determine if the size homes which sold in a given year were larger or smaller than a previous year’s. Intuitively, given a large sample–totaling all sales for San Mateo County for example, one would expect the median size home to remain relatively constant and thus portray an accurate picture of the median home values. But unique market forces such as the ones we are currently experiencing are just the sort of thing that could skew those numbers. If for example, more first-time buyers purchased homes, the median size home included in the sales calculations would undoubtedly be smaller and thus skew the median price lower.
The Multiple Listing Service (or MLS system) which essentially retains all agent related transactions has its own inherent flaws. They derive the median home value by taking the median price for every home sold in a given year. If the housing market has a dramatic shift during the course of the year, it’s entirely possible that the median home price reported has nothing to do with the home values at the end of the year on December 31st. In other words, it matters not whether home values climb for the first quarter of 2007, if in December they’ve dropped dramatically. The MLS median price is more a measurement of the average median value rather than the true median price at the end of the year.
Last year was a prime example of why reporting the median home price in this fashion is erroneous at best. In Belmont for example, there were 94 sales in the first six months of 2006 and 92 in 2007–virtually unchanged. However, the next six months after the July mortgage issues came to light, there were only 127 sales in 2007 compared to 167 in 2006. It’s a strong indication that the market changed in the second part of the year and why measuring the median values at the end of the year, rather than reporting the aggregate is a methodology more suited to a changing market.
In a small market sample such as the town we live in, Belmont, Ca, it’s even more imperative that one adjust for the median size of homes which sold. We incorporate this onto our calculations and low and behold an entirely different picture emerges.
Belmont Real Estate-December Sales 2007
December 2007 Belmont Market Report:
↑Belmont ended the year with 17 sales in December as compared to 14 in 2006 and off the high of 25 in 2005.
That’s a glimpse the local market may be settling down.
↑Of those 17 sales, eight sold over the seller’s asking price, two sold at asking and seven homes sold under asking. We indicate this to be positive since it underscores the market is still healthy in certain segments.
The average time it took to sell a home was 39 days. Of the homes which sold over asking they took only 18 days to sell and on average sold for 3.61% over what the seller was asking. Seller’s which received their asking price took on average 40 days to sell their home and homes which sold under the asking price averaged 56 days on the market and sold for 5.26% less than their original asking price. Clearly, pricing a home correctly remains a crucial factor in getting the most for a home.
↓Inventory remains higher than usual for this time of year.
One of the factors which helped keep inventory levels in check was the paltry number of new listings to choose from in the spring and summer.
Grand Jury Gives Carlmont High School a Lesson in Enrollment
The Civil Grand Jury directed Carlmont High Scholl to clarify its own open-enrollment program and limit the number of students who can transfer, increase capacity, or change school boundaries. 
Carlmont is over its official capacity of 2,100 students. Administrators say the district’s use of open enrollment – which allows students to choose a school outside the one designated by attendance boundaries – along with the popularity of Carlmont has caused the shift.
Superintendent Pat Gemma said for starters, the district plans to allow only about 80 open enrollment transfers to Carlmont for the freshman class that will start next fall, compared to about 220 transfers that were let in this fall.
Students with siblings at the school will get the highest priority, followed by those who chose Carlmont after making a documented effort to educate themselves on the options. ""There’s no question in my mind nor the mind of the principal at Carlmont that 2,300 students at Carlmont is too many," Gemma said.
With that in mind is seem unlikely that Carlmont will be choosing the option of increasing capacity, and will likely be forced to move school boundaries. Currently, any eligible Belmont resident can go to Carlmont High while only certain parts of San Carlos may attend providing they are within the designated school boundaries. The third option has been to apply for an intra-district transfer to Carlmont.
This dilemma could have an impact on housing values as buyers are apparently more inclined to pay extra to live within the Calrmont School boundaries. The folks who bought in San Carlos thinking they were well within the Carlmont High School boundaries may find out that everything has changed—including what someone will pay to live there.