Belmont Homes Hit a New High

Notre Dame ExteriorBelmont homes hit a new high as our Best of Tour report for this week is being supplanted by the second highest price obtained (per square foot) for a home in Belmont—the highest being recorded less than a month ago in Sterling Downs.

One could argue that since the Sterling Downs home at 1,010 sqft was so small the price per square foot $1,262 record should be bested by the home on Notre Dame, a two bedroom two bath home of a modest 1,340 square feet in size. The lot is an unremarkable 5,340 square feet—just slightly above average. The home itself, a rather undistinguished but well-appointed home, yet nothing stands out as deserving the almost $1,200 dollar per square foot they received—nothing like solid gold appliances or whatever could possibly impress one enough to pay the $501,000 OVER the asking price (46% over asking). It was listed for $1,099,000 and sold for $1,600,000 in eight days.

Notre Dame YardBut then when we saw that the selling agent (representing the buyer) was from Woodside—one of the toniest town in America where homes have sold as high as $5,500 per square foot— it made more sense and it stands to reason that an out-of-area agent just might confuse the values in Woodside with that of Belmont.

 

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. We did NOT sell this home.

Best of Tour-May 5th 2015-Belmont

Best of Tour-May 5th 2015-Belmont

The Inventory of homes continues to increase as we visited 17 homes for our clients on tour Tuesday.

Best of Tour this week goes to the newly listed home on Dekoven in Belmont (we’re not allowed to give the house number since it isn’t our listing—dumb rule, I know).

It’s listed as a four bedroom two bath home (actually it has two and ½ baths). Now it needs some updating but what intrigued us was not just the lot size, (12,960 sqft.), and the size of the home, (2,830 sqft.), but the layout was very unusual—not your typical Belmont ranch home.

Think of an Eichler-esque style home with an atrium in the middle which brings in a lot of light—we imagined a Nana wall opening up this space and incorporating it as a part of the flow of the home—we’ll perhaps not this dramatic.nana wall

Open this May 9th from 1:00-5:00 (Saturday—not Mother’s Day).

As always, you can click here to find more information on this listing or any other homes on our advanced real estate site.

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.

Best of Tour for April 14th 2015

The definition of a mansion varies from person to person but we’re weighing in and calling this best of tour home in San Carlos so unique as to rise to the level.

Perched on the prestigious Hyde Park development with sweeping views of the surrounding canyons and San Francisco Bay, this stately home offers a plethora of elegant verandas and vistas to choose from.168 Queens Lane

Swank and extraordinary best describes this home and it comes with an equally extraordinary price tag for San Carlos where the average home sold this year for just over $1,400,000—yet there’s nothing average about this home. Listed by Coldwell Banker at a cool $4,988,000.

Click here for more images and details…

 

 

168 Queens Lane Kitchen

Veranda

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

Best of Tour for April 7th 2015

Today’s Best of Tour was chosen due to its awe factor of being what I would consider my dream home. Imagine living lakeside in a mountain retreat but really just minutes from downtown Redwood City with its nightlife and great restaurants, not to mention the “Weather Best by Government Test” slogan the city boasts.

But get your wallet out as this amazing five bedroom five and one-half 4,250 square foot home will set you back a cool $4,498,000 if there are no multiple offers…

Click here for more pictures…
1005 Lakeview Way kitchen1005 Lakeview Way aerial

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1005 Lakeview Way Living room

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

Listed by Coldwell Banker

 

Best of Tour 2.10.2015

BEST OF TOUR

Not to be confused with the Board of REALTORS “Best of Tour” award whereby agents try and coax or pressure their colleagues into signing a petition proclaiming their home the “Best of Tour”, our’s is based upon our personal impression after seeing all of the homes on tour and reporting back to you.

Today’s Best of Tour there were three stand outs:

Belmont:

Belmont’s inventory is still low but this one perked us up. A home on Belmont’s west side under $1,000,000? Ready to move in, this home is great for a first-time buyer tired of renting.

2014 Monroe Avenue , Belmont 94002   Status:  Active  Monroe

County:                San Mateo

Area:     362 – Belmont Country Club Etc. List Price:             $899,000

Beds:     2

Baths (F/P):        1

Apprx.Sqft:         1,150 SqFt (Tax)

Apprx Lot:           4,000 SqFt (Tax)

 

San Mateo:

904 Murphy Drive, San Mateo 94402       Status:  Active      Murphy Drive

County:                San Mateo                          Price:     $2,488,000           List:        02/06/2015

Class:     Res. Single Family

Beds:     5

Baths (F/P):        4 (3/1)

Apprx. Sqft:        3,910 SqFt

Apprx Lot:           11,970 SqFt

This home underscores why looks can be deceiving. From the outside it looks like just another track home but once inside it is anything but ordinary. From the open floor plan and expansive rooms to the wonderful rear yard. Truly a great find!

If that one is above your comfort zone there’s a home on the water in San Mateo which has been recently upgraded. Best part—you can water ski right from your back yard.

1765 Lake Street , San Mateo 94403         Status:  Active            Lake

County:                San Mateo          Orig Price:           $1,288,000           Original:               02/05/2015

Area:     413 – Parkside    List Price:             $1,288,000 MLS #:            ML81449598

Beds:     4

Baths (F/P):        3

Apprx.Sqft:         1,960 SqFt (Tax)

Apprx Lot:           8,280 SqFt (Tax)

 

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.

Belmont Enjoys Steady Home Price Increases–2014 a Year in Review

Belmont Enjoys Steady Home Price Increases

Since the housing recovery began in earnest in 2012, Belmont has enjoyed a steady increase in home values. Since 2010 Belmont’s home values have increased 44%, while year-over-year prices continued to increase 17% in 2014.

Belmont Median Home Price

Part of the rapid increase in home values is due to historically low interest rates coming off a reduction in home values during the Great Recession. Another influence continues to be the influx of new jobs which jump started the need for housing in 2012. But the scarce housing inventory may have been the largest contributing factor by creating bidding wars and over exuberant offer prices.

To put the meager housing inventory into perspective, there were four times the number of homes for sale at the end of 2010 and 2011 than there are now, while new listings in 2014 were a quarter of what they were in 2010.

The time a home sat on the market dropped 70%, from 52 days down to just 16, while the percent a seller received increased 10% as sale prices averaged 109% of the asking price last year.

It’s safe to say that Belmont’s robust housing market has become self-evident. But how does Belmont stack up to other nearby cities such as San Carlos?

San Carlos bested Belmont in the median price category coming in at $1,425,000—11 % higher than Belmont for the year. The rate of appreciation over the past four years as also been higher as San Carlos home values increased 52% since 2010 as compared to Belmont’s 44%.

When compared to San Mateo County as a whole, a different picture develops as both Belmont and San Carlos are at the front of the pack. San Mateo County reported a 15% increase in the median home price year-over-year—with a median home value still 21% lower than that of Belmont’s. Here’s the supply and demand answer as to why home values are skyrocketing—the available homes for sale in all of San Mateo County dropped 73% over 2010 and the number of new listings dropped 21%.

We start 2015 with the lowest inventory of homes for sale since we started tracking home statistics in 1998. This will invariably create more multiple offer scenarios forcing buyers to outbid one another for their ideal home. This in turn will continue to put upward pressure on home values. And if interest rates remain stable (currently at a 1.5 year low), we expect another year of double digit appreciation, though we also expect the rate to slow as it did last year, down 2% from 2013.

Disclaimer:

Drew & Christine Morgan are REALTORS/NOTARY PUBLIC in Belmont, CA. with more than 20 years of experience in helping sellers and buyers in their community. They may be reached at (650) 508.1441 or emailed at info@morganhomes.com.

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.

If you are considering selling your home we’re somebody you should know. Be sure and include us in your interview process—we’ll show you our proprietary EXCITE listing program which has netted our sellers more than any other top Belmont agents.

 

 

 

Winter Home Prices Increase

Winter home prices increase and buck the trends of a winter slowdowns.

We’re getting close to our most anticipated analysis—the year end summary for Belmont. But before those numbers are in the history books, we are closing out the year with November’s home sales report.

The Belmont home market continues to show strong growth after a lackluster fall market. Typically we see a strong push for home sales after Labor Day and a winter hibernation period once we get past Thanksgiving. This year seems to be at odds with historical trends as seen in the median home price which has risen steadily since August.

This November in Belmont the median home price was at $1,342,000 which was only eclipsed once in July of this year. Last November the median home price was $1,089,000. That translates into a 23% increase in the median home price year-over-year.

Did larger homes sell this year artificially skewing the median home price higher? The answer is yes. The size homes which sold this November were 18% larger. If we account for this in the median home price analysis we arrive at a more reasonable appreciation level of 5% year–over-year—which of course is just an approximation.

As prices get higher, demand wanes and the rate of appreciation levels off—as is demonstrated in the above numbers.

SALES & NEW LISTINGS

The number of homes sales dropped 44% year-over year since last November. Upward pressure on home values is being fed by the lack of inventory as new listings dropped 20% as well.

PERCENT RECEIVED

The amount which Seller’s received of their asking price was essentially unchanged at 107 % of asking.

OVER-UNDER

While 72% of all home sales sold for over the asking price—unchanged since last November, this year no seller’s had to adjust their asking prices lower. Last November 20% of sellers lowered their asking price for on average $200,000—indicating a slightly more robust November this year.

On a macro-level, the San Francisco Metropolitan Statistical analysis (the SFMSA) prepared by Standard & Poor’s, and referred to as the Case-Shiller study, reported a decline from August to September of .2%. The Case-Shiller uses a repeat sales pair methodology—virtually watching the same home sell over time. Not that .2% is a monumental shift in trends, since as can be seen in the chart below, seasonal factors cause even a large area like our MSA to fluctuate to a much greater degree.

This graph compares the MSA for our area year-over-year for the past three recovery years. Note that a fair amount of each year’s appreciation (increase in the index) occurs in the first two quarters of each year.

MSA Year over Year

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

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.

 

Fed Up Buyers Take Action

Fed Up Buyers Take Action

Buyers, tired of multiple offers, are forming an alliance in an effort to alter the current inequitable supply and demand of housing inventory. Known as Buyers Usurping Real Property, or BURP, Their grass roots movement is gaining momentum as their “just sit on the fence” attitude is resonating with other frustrated buyers.

Implicit in their long term goal is to bring real estate prices down and shift the market from a seller’s market to that of one which benefits buyers, by resisting the urge to compete in the housing market.

Ben Dover, the collation’s founding father and leader was quoted as saying, “Just say no to multiple offers. Sellers have had it their way long enough and frankly we’re tired of this”. He went on to elaborate, “The market should have shifted by now—we all have life plans and we need to move forward. We’re committed to remain in our rentals forever if need beSay No To Homes [rather] than purchase at today’s inflated prices”. Asked what he thought about the inflated rents, he responded, “Well, that’s just market forces at work isn’t it?”

Mr. Dover continued, “We’re confident we’ve got sellers with their backs to the wall. If we continue to resist the temptation to purchase a home, our movement will be a success. We plan on waiting out the winter market and spring into action next year, when our boycott will have created enough inventory and affordable housing for all.

Asked if he thought the actions of his devoted followers would be enough to alter the course of the housing market, Mr. Dover reasoned, “It had better we’re banking on it”.

Housing Market Prices Halve

With the Autumnal Equinox just around the corner, we look back a great summer. Now to get caught up on the housing market since we’ve took some much needed time off.

On the national level…we gleam this insight from Standard and Poor’s website…

“Home price gains continue to ease as they have since last fall,” says David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “For the first time since February 2008, all cities showed lower annual rates than the previous month. Other housing indicators – starts, existing home sales and builders’ sentiment – are positive. Taken together, these point to a more normal housing sector.

“The monthly National Index rose 0.9% in June. While all 20 cities saw higher home prices over the last 12 months, all experienced slower gains. In San Francisco, the pace of price increases halved since late last summer. The Sun Belt cities – Las Vegas, Phoenix, Miami and Tampa – all remain a third or more below their peak prices set almost a decade ago.

“Bargain basement mortgage rates won’t continue forever; recent improvements in the labor markets and comments from Fed chair Janet Yellen and others hint that interest rates could rise as soon as the first quarter of 2015. Rising mortgage rates won’t send housing into a tailspin, but will further dampen price gains.”

“All 20 cities used for the Case-Shiller report saw their year-over-year rates weaken in June. For the second consecutive month, San Francisco saw its rate decelerate by almost three percentage points – from 18.4% in April to 12.9% in June. Phoenix showed its smallest year-over-year gain of 6.9% since March 2012. Cleveland showed a marginal increase of 0.8% over the last 12 months while Las Vegas led with a gain of 15.2%. All cities reported price increases for the third consecutive month; it would have been a fourth had New York not declined 0.4% in March. San Francisco posted its eighth consecutive price increase but showed its smallest gain of 0.3% since February. Five cities – Detroit, Las Vegas, New York, Phoenix and San Diego – posted larger gains in June than in May. Dallas and Denver continue to set new peaks while Detroit remains the only city below its January 2000 value.”

Everybody wants to know when this crazy market will end.  People just can’t imagine that it will continue at this pace—and of course it won’t, and it didn’t and we’ve been predicating this all along; that the rate of appreciation would wane once home prices rebounded to levels which are sustainable.

The housing market dropped too far and filling that void happened very fast—essentially 2012 until now. We are now reaching new high home values and people are just plain being priced out—with fewer and fewer people who can afford the median price home.  But while the rate of appreciation is slowing, home values are continuing to rise, just at a much more sustainable and slower pace.

The San Francisco MSA (which consists of the counties of San Francisco, Marin, San Mateo, Contra Costa and Alameda), while experiencing a slowdown in the rate of appreciation (by almost half), nevertheless still enjoyed a 12.9% increase year-over-year.  You can see a graph we’ve put together of the SF MSA data points illustrating the trend over the past 27 years.

*Note—the Standard & Poor’s Index lags the market by three months.

The good news is a home won’t cost you 25% more next year, probably just around 10%. But who wants to pay a 10% penalty for waiting?

 

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.

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.

Home Values Peaked?

Have Belmont home values we peaked for the year?

Our spring housing market always makes for exciting times—it sort of sets the pace for the year.

Typically we see prices jump the most in the spring and level off around summer. Despite the rumblings that our market is cooling off, this year appears to be no different than we’ve experienced in past trends. Any perceived “cooling off” is expressed in the rate of increases waning, and compounded by seasonal fluctuations.

In the graph below we plotted the percent a seller received of their initial asking price since 2012 when the market rebound began in earnest. This is a good indicator of the level of competition in the market. Notice how our local market competition increases most in the spring and price increases follow suit. Why is that? We have a few intrinsic theories and if you’d like the inside scoop here are our musings.

! Belmont Peaks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
SCHOOLS

First there’s the school enrollment calendar. In Belmont that opens in February and ends in June. Of course getting your child into your preferred school means hitting the initial enrollment period—or at least the second one. We believe the school enrollment calendar tends to influence a buyers decision to act quickly in the spring market. HINT: You cannot enroll your child in the Belmont/Redwood Shores School District without proof of residency.

School Enrollment Period Belmont

 

 

 

 

WEATHER

Another influencing factors is that the weather improves in the spring. Buyers and sellers come out of winter hibernation and the better the weather the sooner they do so. And more buyers means more competition while inventory remains low until school ends in June. Over 65% of all new listings are listed in quarters 2&3—April through September.

COMPETITIVE SPIRIT

Let’s face it, not only are home buyers competing for great jobs they compete at the home buying game as well—and they hate to lose.

Indulge us for a moment—Imagine there are six horses racing that are competing for first place in a race. But after each race the 1st place winner must retire. This leaves the second place horse the favorite in the next race, and all things being equal he now takes 1st place and then also retires—but the finish times are getting slower. Now the 3rd place horse in the first race, is the 1st place horse in the third race but he’s clearly not as fast as the first horse was in the first race—but he still wins—and retires.

You see the home buying and bidding process follows a lot along these lines. The most aggressive bidders typically wins and get their home—now they’re out of the competition. The buyer who came in second now steps to the plate and secures the next home—and he probably bids even more than he bid the last time when he lost. This pushes the prices up and eliminates the aggressive bidders. By summer the remaining bidders are typically far less aggressive and more risk adverse so they bid less and homes close for a smaller amount over the seller’s asking price.

But that begs the question, “Why not just wait until after the bidding wars wane to put in an offer?”

Because prices are going up about $500 q day and the longer one waits the more that same house will cost. Note that as seen in the above graph, the percent a seller receives is greater in the spring while the median home price does not follow any similar plot—except up.

We’ve seen this year in and year out and yet each year we hear people deliberating on the perceived slowdown as a shift in the market, rather than a well-defined pattern repeating itself.

Click here to see our analysis for May of 2014 where we compare it to April’s numbers and every May going back to 2012 when the market took a marked uptick—is the housing market slowing down? See for yourself…

 

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.

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.