Article in the San Franciso Chronicle yesterday explaining the proposed Ammendment by Jackie Speiers to allow the majority of Bay Area homeowners in need of mortgage assistance to qualify for President Obama’s Economic Stimulus Plan.  

Arn Cendella, Coldwell Banker/Menlo Park provides a useful guide writen by Diane Tuman at Zillow.

Media reports on the Real Estate market in California indicate most home sales this year have been Bank-owned or Short Sale properties in the lower price range. 

I was curious to see if there’s a correlation between the Median Price and Absorption Rate in the last 30 days in our local market.  I looked at the data in Rockridge, Montclair, Crocker/Lakeshore & Piedmont and didn’t see a relationship in these areas.  That tells me most properties in our area are being purchased by folks who are buying a home, not by investors.

Chart below is the companion to my previous post which differentiates Average Sale Price for REO (Foreclosures), Short Sales & Non-distress (Conventional) homes.  The trend is what would be expected, except in Piedmont.  It seems the higher Avg Price per Sq Ft in Piedmont for REO’s is probably because one of the (only) two Foreclosures in Piedmont was <1400 sq ft.  Square Footage numbers always skew high for small homes. 

The Chart above shows the disparity of Average Home Sale Price by isolating the data based on whether the home was in Foreclosure (REO), a Short Sale, or a “Conventional” Sale….my term for all homes sold that were “Non-Distressed” Sales.  Data is derived from local MLS which did not differentiate prior to June 2008 so the numbers above include all homes sold from  July 1 2008-Feb 12, 2009.

Note: In Montclair one of the 7 Short Sales sold for $2,250,000 which skews the numbers a bit.

Photo above is “Heliopsis-helianthoides” (Sundrops), a “Water-Wise” Mediterranean flower well-suited to the Bay Area. 

Since water conservation has become a priority for many homeowners this year the San Francisco Botanical Garden Society’s 2009 Annual Winter Symposium will focus on water usage in California Gardens. 

The Symposium is Saturday Feb 7, 2009 from 8:00am–4:00pm.

Platycodon grandiflorus

Gaura (pink)