What’s the value of spectacular Bay Views in a spacious Piedmont home?  Maybe as much as $300K to the right buyer.  We received six offers for my recent listing at 121 Alta Avenue which was listed at $2,000,000.  The home was built in 1990 by the present owner on a large, quarter acre, mostly level lot.  The accepted offer price was $2,308,000. 

Don’t be mislead by the prior sales info now included in the Chronicle’s list of “Homes Sold”  Today’s Real Estate section listed a  2 BR home in Piedmont which sold for $910K in August 2005 sold on Jan 30 2009 for $730K. 

The 20% decline in value is very likely due to a purchase where the buyers chose not to perform inspections prior to removing contingencies.  Unfortunate that the home went to Foreclosure. 

Another Piedmont home sufffered an even worse economic consequence when it sold in August 2008 for $660K.  The owner purchased the home in July 2005 for $840K.  I spoke with the owner last summer and she told me she was highly motivated to purchase the home in 2005 when the market was HOT so her daughter could complete her education at Piedmont High School.  The owner also told me the Realtor that “represented” her when she purchased the home was someone in her church from the Peninsula….not from Piedmont or Alameda County.  Unfortunately, that Realtor advised her to purchase the home with no inspection contingency. 

An inspection last year by a prospective buyer revealed >$100K of structural repairs which were not disclosed to her three years earlier.  The home did not go to Foreclosure, nor was it a short sale.   She suffered a $180,000 loss to her equity and did not receive foregiveness on her mortgage.  If this situation happened just a few months later she would likely have been able to work with the bank for a loan modification or short sale. 

Hopefully this type of misfortune will be avoided in the future.   

BUYER’S NOTE:  Work with a professional local Realtor, ask for references and check them! 

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.

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)

What about the concept of resetting the DOM (Days on Market) on MLS so that a “stalefish” listing has an opportunity to adjust the clock and appear as a new listing? 

Seems silly to me.  Buyers in the Bay Area are hardly naive.  They search, investigate and learn the history, condition and all pertinent details of a home pretty quickly so that this lame tactic reflects negatively on the seller AND the seller’s agent which makes a difference during the negotiation.  (no respect here)

My colleague, Arn Cendella has some thoughts on the subject.

In the interest of full disclosure, it makes sense to facilitate details for sold properties so that buyers & sellers have the benefit of the same information realtors, appraisers & mortgage lenders are able to access. Anyone can Zillow an address and get recent sold prices, with BR’s Baths and sq footage. Providing more details about the property’s condition, photos and extra features (or problems) makes the data more meaningful.
Isn’t that what the internet is all about?

The home inspector called over to my client and said, ” Did the seller tell you when he had the fire in the attic?” To which my client responded….”this could be a dealbreaker” Ultimately it was even though my client has spent >$900 on Termite, Structural & Drainage & a General Home Inspections.
The undisclosed fire in the attic was the tip of the iceberg…..also discovered was a hot water heater & the homes forced air furnace were not hard wired….the DIY seller had supplied electricity via extension cords.
The moral to a seller is always assume everything you know about your home will be discovered by the buyer so it’s always best to deal with repairs and corrections prior to escrow….it costs you far less money in the long haul.
PS: My client asked for a $20K price reduction (less than all of the inspections estimated)but the seller wouldn’t budge on the price so we pulled out of the deal. That was over a month ago and the house hasn’t yet sold.

Home values in desirable neighborhoods in Oakland seem to be holding, but that’s not the case for Condos or homes in the < $600K range  in Oakland. The condo market seemed to appreciate beyond hyper-inflate over the last several years,

Condo owners who purchased in ‘05 or ‘06 were in competition with lots of other buyers many of whom are folks mortgage lenders now realize shouldn’t have approved.

Their mortgage payments have jumped and many can’t afford the monthly cost and want to sell now.  Some of the owners that purchased in ‘05 & ‘06 trying to sell may see the current value of their home decline as much as 12%. ….there’s just too many of them on the market.

Interesting is the lack of local Real Estate stats differentiating condos and single family homes.