Loch Lomond is Open for Recreation March 1 2013

Loch Lomond is Open for Recreation March 1 2013

San Lorenzo Valley Real Estate Prices - 2012 in review

Reblogged from San Lorenzo Valley Homes:

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San Lorenzo Valley Home Prices and Sales - 2012

The real estate market in the San Lorenzo Valley turned in a solid performance for 2012, with an average home sales price of $338,238, up 5% on average for the year.

The key factor affecting home sales right now is a lack of inventory – the number of homes for sale is at an eight year low!   

Read more… 714 more words

Scotts Valley Property Market Update June 2012

Scotts Valley Home Prices

95 Single Family Homes have sold in Scotts Valley through June this year, at an average price of $642,902; on an average list price of $657,037.   The average home sales price last year at the same time was $722,273, based on 75 closed escrows.

 

The price difference between this year and last can be partially attributed to the fact that last year, 10 homes had sold for over $1 million: one of which fetched $2.6 Million.    This year, the number of million dollar plus sales is 5 so far.

 

The most expensive home sold so far this year closed at the end of May for $1,600,000.   This was a gorgeous 4 bedroom, 3 bath, 3800 square foot home on over 11 acres, many of which were professionally landscaped.

 

In contrast, the least expensive home sold the very next day, for $189,000. This was certainly an exception as the lowest price house in the area by about $100,000.   It was a 1 bed, 1 bath 848 square foot foreclosed home on just over ½ acre.

 

Scotts Valley Single Family Homes
Days on Market and Discount from List Price

Homes are selling more quickly than before, as the chart above shows.    The discount between list and sales price remains fairly narrow at about 1-3%.

For guidance on buying or selling Scotts Valley property, contact us at 831.438-8400 or visit our website at www.C21Showcase.com

 

 

 

Source: MLSListings.com – Single Family Residence closed escrows, zones 39-41

What a $100,000-a-month rental looks like – Yahoo! Real Estate

What a $100,000-a-month rental looks like – Yahoo! Real Estate.

Something fun to look at!

Say “rental.” The word conjures some pretty scary images: A sixth-floor walk-up, a basement mother-in-law or some other way-less-than-upscale unit carpeted with worn out wall-to-wall shag. We’ve all been there, done that.

But there is another level of rental properties that is nothing short of top shelf. These rentals are the crème de la crème of real estate, compete with huge footprints, stunning views, indoor pools and blowout gourmet kitchens that let you know you’re not in Kansas — or an apartment complex — anymore.

The best part is, you don’t have to worry if the roof is leaking, because you’re a renter, not an owner! Here are five swanky rentals that will set you back at least 5 figures a month:

Location: 214 Lafayette Street House, New York, N.Y.
Rent: $100,000/month

A property with celebrity history usually enjoys a little uptick in price, as shown in this swanky pad, previously used for Beyonce’s “Halo” music video. Available for $100K per month, the 5-story, loft-style home is touted as New York’s “most incredible, unique rental property,” Built as a legal live/work environment, the home also includes diva-worthy features such as a master suite with a sitting room, “sun-filled” bathroom, indoor pool, 925-square-foot terrace, 19-foot ceilings, motorized movie screen, and industrial-sized kitchen.
Location: 2131 S Bayshore Dr, Coconut Grove, Fla.
Rent: $20,000/month

Built for the founder of Coconut Grove in 1910, this one-acre estate has been completely updated but still retains the original charm of the home, including graceful columns, Florida cherry hardwood and mahogany windows and doors. For 20 grand a month, a renter gets 6,307 square feet of living space, 5 bedrooms, 5.5 baths, 1,500-bottle wine cellar and easy access to some of south Florida’s greatest attractions.
Location: 277 St Pierre Rd, Los Angeles, Calif.
Rent: $75,000/month

Nestled behind double gates on over one acre of prime Bel Air real estate, this Mediterranean-style residence offers a private oasis filled with luxurious amenities, including a grand staircase. The listing description notes that the estate was designed for entertaining and offers nearly 35,000 square feet of living space, 8 bedrooms and a whopping 20 bathrooms. Additionally, the home features his-and-hers offices, two large entertainment rooms, bowling alley, screening room, indoor pool, state-of-the art spa and gym, racquetball court, and full guest house with 2 bedrooms, bath and a kitchen. Let’s repeat: 20 bathrooms!
Location: Honolulu, Hawaii
Rent: $25,500/month

f you have the cash, why bother vacationing at a hotel when you could rent a Hawaiian home like this? Located near Waikiki on Hawaii’s Oahu island, the furnished Honolulu rental has 4 bedrooms and 4 baths. Marble floors, oceanfront views and a master bath with spa quantify the pricey monthly cost.

Location: 9555 Heather Rd, Beverly Hills, Calif.
Rent: $100,000/month

If we’re talking high-end real estate, the next stop on our tour is Beverly Hills, where the median home value is currently $1,318,500. Situated on 1.3 park-like acres, this Beverly Hills home for rent boasts 7 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms and 3 powder rooms. The guest house is large enough to be mistaken as a separate property with its own entry from the street. It has 2 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms and a 2-car attached garage. Perfect for sunny California days, the home has numerous large outdoor terraces, an outdoor kitchen, pool, spa, and tennis court. And on that rare rainy day, duck inside and take advantage of the two-lane bowling alley.

Buying a home won’t get much cheaper

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Buying a home may never get any cheaper than this. Several housing experts are predicting that this year will be the last chance for bargain hunters to cash in on the best deals of the weak housing market.

With home prices down 34% nationally since 2006 and mortgage rates at historic lows, homes have never been more affordable — but it won’t stay this way for much longer.

Stuart Hoffman, chief economist for PNC Financial Services (PNC, Fortune 500), said he expects home prices to flatten out by the third quarter and start climbing by next year.

A number of factors will help bolster the housing market, he said, including a decline in the number of foreclosures and continued job growth. In addition, homebuyers will have better access to mortgages as they get their finances in order and improve their credit scores.

Some economists, like Trulia’s Jed Kolko, expect home prices to pick up even more quickly. Trulia’s data shows that the national average for asking prices already increased 1.4% in the first quarter of 2012, compared with the last three months of 2011.

Mortgage payments at lowest level in decades

“This is a strong indicator that we will start seeing home price indexes, like the S&P/Case-Shiller, start to report home price increases this summer,” he said.

Prospective homebuyers who’ve been sitting on the fence shouldn’t worry if they aren’t quite ready to make the leap. Analysts are predicting that the initial price gains will be modest, at least, in most markets.

Hoffman, for example, is forecasting a 2% increase in 2013 compared with 2012. Meanwhile David Stiff, chief economist for Fiserv, predicts that prices will turn in the last quarter of 2012 and will rise 4.2% for the 12 months through September 2013.

Foreclosures start to fade. One major factor that will drive the trend is the cooling of the foreclosure crisis. Stan Humphries, chief economist for Zillow, said that the percentage of mortgage loans 90 days or more late, a good predictor of future foreclosures, is “falling fast.”

That percentage dropped 15% year-over-year to 3.1% through the end of 2011, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. And the decline is accelerating: More than 70% of the decline came in the last three months of the year.

Before things slow down, however, buyers should brace themselves for a temporary spike in the number of foreclosures as banks start expediting the processing of hundreds of thousands foreclosures that were stuck in the system following the robo-signing scandal. That backlog should move more quickly now that new guidelines for processing foreclosures have been outlined in the $26 billion foreclosure settlement.

Many of the bank-owned properties currently coming out of the foreclosure pipeline are being snapped up by investors who are fixing them up and renting them out — often to those who were displaced by the foreclosure of their own home. That has helped to lift prices on foreclosed properties, according to Alex Villacorte, the director of analytics for Clear Capital, which specializes in housing market valuations.

Home buying much cheaper than renting

“That could have a significant impact on the market overall in terms of providing a rising floor to home values,” he said.

In some markets hit hard by foreclosures, the turnaround in prices is already underway. Phoenix recorded an 8.4% jump in home prices during the three months ended April 30, compared with the three months ended January 31, according to Clear Capital.

“It’s crazy,” said Tanya Marchiol, founder of Team Investments, a Phoenix real estate investing firm. “Stuff I was selling six months ago for $60,000 to $80,000 is now $90,000 to $110,000.”

Miami saw a 4.6% increase quarter-over-quarter through April, and Tampa, Fla., was up 4.4%, according to Clear Capital.

Goodbye 3.8% mortgage. In addition to home prices, mortgages could also move higher.

Mortgage rates have been at or near historic lows for much of the past six months. The average interest rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage has not topped 4.5% since July 2011 and this week, it hit 3.84%, a new low.

But rates aren’t expected to remain at these record-low levels much longer. As the economy continues to recover, rates will move higher, said Doug Lebda, CEO of LendingTree, the online lending site. Although, he said, they will “stay very reasonable.”

The Mortgage Bankers Association is forecasting that the 30-year fixed will hit 4.5% by the end of the year.

Greater demand for loans will help fuel the increase, according to Lebda.

6 Ways to get a great mortgage deal

Even though mortgage rates have been cheap, borrowing for home purchases has been sluggish. The Mortgage Bankers Association estimates that homebuyers will take out mortgage loans totaling about $415 billion this year, an increase of less than 3% compared with 2011. Next year, however, it forecasts that amount will almost double to $706 billion.

As housing markets stabilize and prices stop falling, homebuyers will be even more confident about buying, said Humphries.

“People can now see the light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “And that can be enough to get them off the fence.”

5 Surprise-Prevention Strategies for Home Buyers

Shared from Trulia Blog!

I’ve long believed that the number one source of stress experienced by home buyers is all the unpredictability that lies along the home buying timeline: the prospect of unpleasant surprises that seems to lurk around every corner. Fact is, there are some commonly arising surprises that foul up buyers’ plans and expectations, killing deals and leaving expectations dashed and emotions frayed in their wake. These days, that list includes everything from homes turning out to cost more than the buyer expected to appraisals coming in below the agreed-upon purchase price.

Here’s some good news: there are steps you can take to manage the risks of being taken by surprise while you’re in the process of buying a home.  As I see it, they fall into a handful of buckets. Here are the five big categories of actions you can take right now to minimize your chances of having an unpleasant home buying surprise:

1. Study up. As a smart manager of your life and your finances, it’s your duty to get as detailed a primer on the ins and outs of home buying as you need to feel comfortable and confident as you move forward with the process: what lenders require, the nuts and bolts of a purchase transaction, that sort of thing. But when you’re specifically seeking to minimize the risk of unpleasant surprises, you’ve got to take your real estate education to the next level, and study up on some very specific subject matter: your local market, in real-time.

What I mean is that markets vary a lot from place to place, and individual real estate markets change very quickly. If you’re the sort of savvy buyer that’s been stockpiling your cash for a year or more in preparation for buying, it’s entirely possible that the market dynamics you’ll face when you get out there will be very different from those dynamics which inspired you to buy in the first place. It’s a pretty unpleasant surprise to expect to have your pick of the market, then lose out on the first few ‘dream houses’ you find to other offers.

Studying up on your local market empowers you to rejigger your search and offer strategies to be successful without having to first experience these sorts of traumas and dramas. It may also allow you to explore new alternatives for achieving the results you want, like buying via an online auction or

Neighborhoods where homes lagged for months on end a couple of years ago are starting to seem some new life this spring, as buyers like you who have been waiting and saving have begun to sense the bottom of the market might actually have passed.  Anecdotally, I’m hearing many more local agents across the country reporting receiving 2 or 3 offers on homes they couldn’t sell at all 18 months ago, and many more buyers reporting that the ‘good’ homes come on and off the market much more quickly than anytime in recent years.

But, again – this stuff is hyperlocal. So ask your agent to help you understand the actual data of the housing market in the neighborhood(s) you’ll be hunting in. Specifically, look at how the number of days a home stays on the market (DOM), inventory levels and the list price to sale price ratio have been trending over the last 6 months to 1 year.

2. Team up. It never ceases to amaze me the amount of expertise and plain old help that goes untapped – and the avoidable stress and expense that are incurred – because buyers don’t even think to express certain concerns to their real estate and mortgage pros. If there are particular potential surprises or other issues that keep you up at night, you should clearly express those to your team of real estate and mortgage professionals, and enlist their help in keeping them at bay.

Obviously, not all surprises are within your agent or mortgage broker’s power to prevent; and many of the risks that you worry about are things they’re surely already making their best efforts to manage. But if your team knows that your closing cost cash is to-the-penny tight, or that your move-in timeline is hair-trigger touchy, that knowledge might inspire them to call in favors like a free rate-lock extension from their rep at your lender, or to set up a strategic solution, like negotiating your ability to move in a few days before closing.

This knowledge also gives them the signal to educate you about what factors will impact the particular surprises you most dread.  And that, in turn, allows you to go from wondering in the wilderness of unknown fear factors, to being able to help them smartly spot issues before they snowball into badness.

For example, the date on which you close your transaction during the month has an impact on how much cash you’ll need to bring to the closing table. Generally, the amount of prepaid interest you have to pay if your escrow closes the fourth week of the month is much less than what you’d have to pay if it closed, say, the second week of the month.  But think about that: if you’re aiming to close at month’s end to keep your closing costs low, and escrow closes even 10 days late (not at all uncommon, these days) you could end up with a big spike in the cash you’re required to bring in to close.

Letting your team know that this would break your heart – and your bank – can help them quickly act and react to either keep closing on track or, if that’s not possible, pushing it out to avoid jacking up your closing costs.

3. Keep up.  Like this closing date/closing costs debacle-in-the-making, there are a number of critical dates and deadlines in a home buying transaction by which decisions and deliverables and course-corrections must be made or the seeds for a scary surprise take root.  And only some of the time are you, buyer, in control of making sure those timelines stay on track; many other times, loan underwriters, appraisers, inspectors and lenders are responsible for achieving these important must-meet dates. What you can control is your own awareness of all these calendar points, so that you can make more or less urgent nudges and check-ins, as needed, in order to ensure that things either (a) stay on track, or (b) don’t take you by surprise, if they get off track.

Ask your agent and mortgage broker to help you create and stay on top of an escrow calendar containing all the major and minor deadlines and tipping points of your transaction, as well as to leverage this tool to avoid surprises throughout the transaction.

4. Fess up. It’s one thing to be surprised by something you have no control over. But imagine how you’d feel if your deal was killed by a surprise that you (and only you) could easily have avoided! I’ve personally seen this happen a number of times. One buyer I know ended up losing her dream home – and her deposit money – due to false information on her loan application. She’d apparently gotten away with it on a number of credit applications, but a mortgage is an entirely different animal.

Another nearly had the same tragic outcome as a result of telling her team that she was divorced when, in fact, the divorce was not final. (The bank then wanted to vet her soon-to-be ex-husband’s qualifications for the loan. And his credit was really, really bad. Really.)

When you are in the loan application process, keep in mind that it in the world of lending, technicalities matter – a lot. This is not just a conversation with friends; rather, it’s about as official as you get. So, the things you normally say and do to describe your life, the things that make up your aspirations and plans, the way you see things turning out in the near future – none of these things count as fodder for your loan application.  What does count?  The hard cold facts of your status quo situation – right now. So, be brutally honest about the state of your life and your finances, warts and all. This might creates obstacles you’ll have to workaround up front, but I assure you that is preferable to getting caught in a falsehood – intentional or otherwise – and having to scramble to try to salvage a deal days before closing.

5. Fluff up. Your cash and time cushions, that is.  The reason home buying surprises are so stressful is that they threaten to do one of two things: (a) screw up our timelines for moving, or (b) force us to come up with more cash than we have at hand to close the deal.  If you get just a few days away from closing, bags and boxes packed, and are told you need to bring in just an extra few thousand dollars to close the deal, it can feel like your home – actually, your life! – is being held hostage for extra cash, on the one transaction you’ve already spent years saving up for.

The least stressed-out buyers are those who have built in time and cash cushions to their home buying and moving plans. Give yourself the gift of a few weeks of planned overlap in your ability to occupy your last home and your future one; even if that means you wait to give your landlord notice until you’re well into escrow, it empowers you to avoid looking for hotel rooms and being distressed by the very predictable, very common occurrence of a late escrow closing.  Similarly, if your home buying-related financial plans involve maintaining a nice, fluffy cushion of so-called emergency cash even after your planned down payment and closing costs, you’ll be less likely to go off the deep end if the lender requires you to drop $500 on repairs to get the deal closed.

 

5 Shockingly Selfish Reasons to Go Green At Home

Shared From Trulia Blog

On Earth Day, much press is given to all the altruistic reasons we should watch our energy consumption and carbon footprints.  From those baby polar bears stranded on icecaps to visions of our grandchildren’s grandchildren living on the Atlantic Coast of Montana, the unselfish reasons for going green, so to speak, abound.
Reality check: greening up your home does not have to be a pious experience, or a lifestyle downgrade. You don’t need to cut back on showers or go all Birkenstock, all the time. (Although, hey – I went to Berkeley. I’ve got nothing against the occasional sporting of the ‘stocks.)In fact, I’ve realized over the last few years that there are some rather fabulous, somewhat selfish perks to making green changes to your home and your lifestyle.  Here are a handful of them, in honor of Earth Day.

1. Save Money Now.  When it comes to the economics of most home improvements, homeowners spend hours and hours trying to project the return we’ll recoup on the upfront costs of our granite countertops and built-in theater equipment years down the road. And for the most part, the numbers look grim. Except for the basic upgrades that are essential to moving an older home, real estate insiders generally advise homeowners to avoid even trying to find an investment return on home improvements, and to simply execute improvements they can both afford and enjoy in the time they plan to live in the home.
However, many so-called ‘green’ home improvements turn this entire concept on its head. Studies show that utility bills are one of the highest monthly expenses for most households, and that green home improvements can bring those bills down by as much as 20 or 30%.  I did the math – on the average American home’s energy bill of almost $2,000/year, that would represent a savings of $400-$600 – potentially much more if you live in an area with temperature extremes!
If you install a tankless water heater, insulate your pipes and walls or even do something as simple as weather-stripping your doors and windows, you will begin to save money on your utility bills immediately. And, depending on how indulgent you really want to be, that’s cold hard cash you can redirect to the college savings fund, your own retirement accounts, or a tropical adventure.

2. Sell Faster.  Green homes simply sell faster than comparable homes without energy efficient features. Today’s home buyers want to save money (that’s why they’re buying now!) and are willing to prioritize homes that allow them to do this by way of energy efficient systems and upgrades.
The data particularly bears this out when it comes to homes with solar energy systems. The US Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy recently released reported that solar homes sell twice as fast as a home without solar panels – even in a down market. (As an aside, don’t believe the old hype that going solar requires a big investment; in some states, homeowners can sign up for something called ‘solar power service’ and get solar savings without ever having to pay for panels.)
If your home isn’t currently on the market for sale, you might scoff at the notion of a speedy sale as a selfish aim. But if and when the day comes that your personal, career, family and financial plans are hanging in limbo, making the ability to move forward with your life and your vision contingent upon the sale of your home, you’ll understand what I mean!

3.  Boost Your Net Worth.  Not only are buyers willing to bestow a preference on ‘green’ or energy efficient homes, they are willing to pay more for them. And remember – the value of a home at any given time is based on what a buyer would pay for it.
The Appraisal Journal recently published data to this effect: for every $1 green home improvements decreased the property’s annual energy bills, the home’s value increases by $10-$25. That might not seem impressive on such a small scale, but these numbers translate to an increase of $8,000 to $25,000 to the market value of a greened-up 3,000 square foot home.
Same goes for solar homes; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory compared solar homes to similar homes without solar panels, and found that a solar system can add around $17,000 to a home’s value.
If you are like the average homeowner, your home may be your largest asset – or your largest liability.  One of very few ways you can reliably bulk up the value of this asset – and your net worth in the process – is to implement any number of green home improvements.  If this is a big motivator for you to go green, talk with an experienced local agent about what green features local buyers most value.
One more thing: think very broadly about what it means to ‘go green’. You could go solar or tankless, install insulation and weatherstripping, convert to low-flow toilets, and shower heads, switch out old aluminum windows for dual-paned – the options are limitless, and vary widely in cost.

4. Look better and live longer. There are green homes, and there are green households. I’m going to make the argument that if, in the process of greening your home, you take the next step and engage in the lifestyle activities that make for a green household, you can lose weight, feel better and possibly even avoid some of the chronic diseases that plague our society.
The green home element of this includes planting a kitchen garden and minimizing the water that is wasted just keeping your lawn green. Then you’ll have a back-yard (or front-yard, for that matter) harvest to reap and eat. Your household garden will attract birds, bees and, if your street is anything like mine, squirrels, deer or wild turkeys – fauna which all participate in the circle of life. (Hakuna matata.)
But maintaining a kitchen garden and implementing other green household practices like taking walks or public transportation may also increase you’re the quality of the air you personally breathe and help you shift the balance of your family’s diet from focusing on meat to the plant-based diet doctors now say minimizes the risk of heart disease and cancer, increasing lifespan. Plant-based, by the by, does not mean vegetarian or vegan; Wikipedia defines a plant-based diet as “an eating pattern dominated by fresh or minimally processed plant foods and decreased consumption of meat.”
If digging and planting is more than you can take on, you can support those who do this for your community on a larger scale and still get the benefits of a plant-based diet by subscribing to a Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) program or walking to and shopping at your neighborhood farmer’s market on the weekend.

5. Live more comfortably.  In the fifteen years since I moved from my scorching-hot hometown to the very mild climes of the Bay Area, I have developed an issue I call my ‘thermoregulation challenge.’ I’m fine when I go visit my parents or vacay in Arizona, but it’s tough to stay warm at home when dressed like a normal person.  (This explains my penchant for wearing sweaters right around the calendar.)
So, I recently undertook a campaign to stop up all the drafts in my house, and wouldn’t you know it: life got way more comfortable – and fast. Call me a weatherstripping evangelist, but I can think of very few home improvements this inexpensive that make this much of a difference in the comfort level of your life. Drafts, begone!

And this increase in comfort from green home improvements was not a one-off, in my experience. I’d already noticed a major reduction in noise from installing dual-paned windows a few years back. The next thing I have my eye on is swapping out the big old vat of water that I pay to keep warm 24 hours a day for a quake-proof, tankless water-heater.  Sure – the energy-efficiency sounds great. But so does unlimited hot water, no matter how long a shower I take or how many dog baths I give.
I say there’s a reason why so many A-list celebs who are used to living in luxury live green lifestyles. The good deed piece of it makes for great PR, but make no mistake: the green life can also be the good life.