Health & Fitness
Pockets of Improvement in Marin Real Estate Market
Reasons to be optimistic about real estate...
My partner Jill Morgan and I just sold a property (7/6/11) in Larkspur on 8 Alexander Avenue for $732,725. The asking price was $699,000 and we were in contract after only one week on the market. Our sellers were very happy and so was the buyer. Does this sound like a poorly performing market?
I hear people talking about how bad the market is all the time and I have for years for that matter. You can’t get away from the bad news in the papers, but the fact remains that nicely presented properties that are priced well are selling and sometimes over the asking prices. Prices have fallen to more affordable levels and interest rates have remained low, which has really stimulated demand in our local markets.
Take for example single family homes in San Rafael’s 94903 zip code, priced between $500,000 - $700,000. As of July 8, there were 36 homes on the market, and 14 were in contract, according to BAREIS MLS. That’s almost 40 percent in escrow. With a total of 54 sales in the past six months that means that there is just between 2 - 3 months of available inventory (properties not in contract). As of early July these numbers are leaning strongly in the favor of sellers.
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I’m not saying that we are in a seller's market per se, however a case can be made in certain areas and price points that the market has improved, things have gotten better for sellers and data exists that gives us reasons to be optimistic. A case can even be made that started condos in Sonoma County have ‘bounced’ off the bottom.
If you are considering buying or selling property, talk to your Realtor to find out more about the local market conditions. Get educated on the market activity. Don’t just read the gloom and doom in papers and assume that you are buying in a buyer's market. Of course six months from now things could be totally different, but we hope not. As of the early summer in 2011, many segments of the market are looking much better and it’s a good time for both buyers and sellers.
