The White Oaks Blog

Got an emergency in San Carlos? DON’T call 911 from your cell phone…

chuck@cghomes.net — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 23:18:54 -0600

I’m sure most of you know this already, but when you dial “9-1-1” from your cell phone, the call does not go to a local emergency dispatcher as you might expect. Instead, it’s routed to the CHP regional dispatch…which happens to be located in Vallejo…which happens a long way from San Carlos. And depending on their workload when you place the call, you might actually sit on hold before anyone can get to you. And even if you do get through, chances are good they might not be able to help you. This is valuable time wasted, and in an emergency situation that time lost could be the difference between life and death.

So if you have an emergency situation in San Carlos and all you have is your cell phone, which number should you call? Program this number into your cell phone under “Emergency” –>

650-802-4321

This is the direct line to the San Carlos Police dispatcher. When you call this number, they usually pick up on the first ring — as opposed to minutes on hold with the CHP system. And even if you don’t need the police but you do need an ambulance or fire engine, the police dispatcher can quickly route your call to the right agency.

Need a live example? I just had one today. I was watching a high school soccer match at Woodside High School when a player was injured to the point of needing immediate medical attention. One person dialed 911 on their cell phone and was told “You need to hang up and dial 911 on a land-line,” by the CHP dispatch. A land-line on a soccer field? Yeah, right. Nobody knew what to do next. I called the number above (even though I wasn’t in San Carlos) yet I was routed immediately to the right dispatch center, and the fire department and paramedics were on the scene within 5 minutes.

There are a number of technologies in development, such as “triangulation” that will allow your cell phone to be routed to the appropriate local dispatch. But they’re not in place yet, and “almost” doesn’t count in an emergency. Be smart and program this number into your cell phone today.

“The San Carlos Week In Review” for the week ending 11/29/08

chuck@cghomes.net — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 13:23:57 -0600

Happy Thanksgiving, and welcome to the “San Carlos Week in Review” for the week ending 11/29/08. The “Week in Review” series is comprised of an occasional weekly podcast, and a summary of new listings and home sales in San Carlos the prior week. Between the two, you should get a great idea of what happened last week in San Carlos real estate.

Here’s what sold this week, and what new listings hit the market. Click on the addresses for more information.

Home Sales

119 Exbourne Ave: (Pictured Above) Sale Price: $930,000. Original List Price: $985,000. Difference: $55,000 (5.6% ) below original list. DOM: 31 Days. MLS # 80837884, listed by John Shroyer of RE/MAX Today.
805 Regent Ct: Sale Price: $1,010,000. Original List Price: $1,195,000. Difference: $185,000 (15.5% ) below original list. DOM: 144 Days. MLS # 80816610, listed by Margot Lockwood of Coldwell Banker.
124 Kelton Ave: Sale Price: $800,000. Original List Price: $849,000. Difference: $49,000 (5.8% ) below original list. DOM: 19 Days. MLS # 80838212, listed by Patricia Peterson of Coldwell Banker.
1381 Chestnut St: Sale Price: $800,000. Original List Price: $1,025,000. Difference: $225,000 (22% ) below original list. DOM: 19 Days under MLS # 80838212. The home originally listed 168 days ago under a different broker at $1,095,000 — so the sale price represents a drop of 27% from this price. The sale price of $800,000 translates into approximately $444/square foot, which is the second lowest value sell this year in White Oaks, according to the MLS.

New Listings

530 Walnut St: $1,350,000 — 4BR/3BA, 3,300 sq ft on a 8,525 square foot lot. MLS# 80846816, listed by John Shroyer of RE/MAX Today.
1335 Howard Ave: $999,950 — 3BR/2BA, 1,800 sq ft on a 5,280 square foot lot. MLS# 80847262, listed by Randy Omoto of Bay Area Capital Properties.

Fed throws the housing market (another) life ring.

chuck@cghomes.net — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:31:47 -0600

In a stunning announcement today, the Federal Reserve announced two key actions that are intended to stabilize the mortgage industry, and help unblock the frozen credit market. They announced that they will purchase nearly $100 billion of debt issued by government-sponsored mortgage enterprises Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks. The second step of this plan also calls for the Fed to buy up to $500 billion of mortgage securities backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae.

Here are a couple of good articles on what was announced today:

Fed Throws Financial Lifeline

Mortgages: Lower Interest Rates?

What does this mean for you and I?

Normally I don’t report on all of the tweaking that the Fed does with interest rates, mostly because it doesn’t have an immediate impact on you or I. Often times when the Fed announces a rate reduction, the rates have already adjusted in anticipation of the announcement so there’s no change once the word is official.

This may be different though. In reading some of the “expert commentary” on the financial websites, some expect rates to drop and STAY at significantly lower levels for awhile. If this turns out to be true, it will provide welcome relief especially the Jumbo loan level, where higher rates have kept many buyers in San Carlos on the sidelines. And getting buyers to buy again is a shot in the arm that this market desperately needs.

It will be interesting to see what impact this has on rates — If you’re in the market to buy,I’d highly recommend that you call your loan broker today to see where rates are heading. This may be a great time to lock in.

Podcast: “The San Carlos Week In Review” for the week ending 11/22/08

chuck@cghomes.net — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 18:46:36 -0600

Welcome to the “San Carlos Week in Review” for the week ending 11/22/08. The “Week in Review” series is comprised of an occasional weekly podcast, and a summary of new listings and home sales in San Carlos the prior week. Between the two, you should get a great idea of what happened last week in San Carlos real estate.

In this week’s podcast you’ll hear:

San Carlos Market Recap.
Should you put your home on the market right now?

Click on the “Play Now” link below to hear the podcast. Enjoy!

Here’s what sold this week, and what new listings hit the market. Click on the addresses for more information.

Home Sales

18 Club Drive: (Pictured Above) Sale Price: $1,200,000. Original List Price: $1,486,000. Difference: $286,000 (19.25%) below original list on the current listing. DOM: 66 Days. MLS # 80833321, listed by Deborah Chelini of Coldwell Banker. (Note that this home originally listed under another broker back in May of ‘08 at $1,845,000, so the sales price reflects a drop of 35% from this figure.)
421 Hillcrest Rd: Sale Price: $859,000. Original List Price: $979,000. Difference: $120,000 (12.3%) below the original list price. DOM: 39 Days. MLS # 80833321, listed by David Kucera of Santa Clara Properties.
1501 San Carlos Ave: Sale Price: $808,000. Original List Price: $758,000. Difference: $50,000 (6.6%) above the original list price. DOM: 0 Days. This one never hit the market, as it appears the seller took a pre-emptive offer. MLS # 80833321, listed by KT Eckardt of Cashin Company.

New Listings

308 Chesham Ave: (Pictured Above) $1,549,500 — 3BR/2.5BA, 2,385 sq ft on a 5,663 square foot lot. According to the MLS comments, this looks to be new construction. MLS# 80846081, listed by Chris Anderson of Alain Pinel Realtors.
204 Clifton Ave: $1,299,000 — 3BR/2.5BA, 1,910 sq ft on a 11,200 square foot lot. MLS# 80846514, listed by Donald Sfarzo of Alain Pinel Realtors

Hops, Shops, and a new Blog Poll.

chuck@cghomes.net — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:55:09 -0600

The results from the latest White Oaks Blog poll are in, and suffice it say that San Carlans like dining out and being entertained. The most popular answer to the poll question “What should go into the old Foodville location?“ was a brew-pub with live music. This would certainly fit in well with the lively north-section of Laurel Street, and the that style of eating establishment would likely complement the other restaurants already running on north Laurel.

Second place was an excellent suggestion for an inexpensive family restaurant — Pluto’s was the example that was suggested, and this is a cool restaurant. We’ve eaten at the one in Davis quite often, and it would be a good fit for San Carlos. Regardless of the selection, the whole Foodville replacement discussion will likely be altered once the plans for the Wheeler Plaza Development become more clear. If this development becomes a reality, the whole block around San Carlos Avenue and Laurel Street will look vastly different.

Here are the final results from the latest poll:

What should go into the “old” Foodville location?

Brew Pub/Microbrewery with live music. (37%, 26 Votes)
Inexpensive family restaurant (i.e. Pluto’s) (25%, 18 Votes)
Specialty grocery store (i.e. Fresh and Easy) (15%, 11 Votes)
Bicycle Shop. (8%, 6 Votes)
Vietnamese Restaurant. (7%, 5 Votes)
None of the above. (6%, 4 Votes)
Bookstore. (1%, 1 Vote)

The New Poll

Since Wheeler Plaza and the development of downtown San Carlos has been a common theme this week on the site, that will be the topic for the next poll. So here’s the big question:

“Do you approve of the development that is being planned (Wheeler Plaza, Transit Village) for downtown San Carlos?”

Be sure to make your opinion known and vote on the poll!

It’s (semi) Official: San Carlos Measure S is Dead…

chuck@cghomes.net — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:46:01 -0600

According to the “semi-official” results that were posted yesterday on the San Mateo County Election Website, the “San Carlos School District Excellence in Education Act of 2008,” also known as Measure S, was finally declared defeated. There was a significant quantity of mail-in ballots to be counted, and those ballot actually raised the “Yes” percentage up to 65.6% — but this was still just shy of the 66.67% required for the passage of this measure.

While I find the whole “semi-official” moniker rather amusing (isn’t it “official” when the votes are all counted?) it’s important to know that members of the San Carlos School Board have finally acknowledged the defeat of the Measure yesterday, and have spoken out about upcoming budget cuts. The District was already operating in a deficit-spending mode prior to the defeat of the bill, but The loss of Measure S funds will now force additional cuts in upcoming school budgets to avoid a rapid depletion of the School District’s reserves. Here’s an article in the San Mateo Daily Journal with some additional details:

Bond Loss Leads to Budget Cuts

This probably isn’t the the last time you’ll see a parcel tax initiative on the ballot to support San Carlos schools. There is already talk of disecting this loss and submitting a revised initiative in a future election. But until then, there will be some serious belt-tightening taking place at our schools.

Can San Carlos handle its own growth?

chuck@cghomes.net — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:52:47 -0600

The article I wrote earlier this week about the Wheeler Plaza Development clearly struck a nerve with many residents who are concerned about the seemingly break-neck pace at which the City is adding residential living capacity. While there were many positive comments about the development plans, there were an equal number of residents who are concerned that this development, along with the 1001 Laurel Complex and the San Carlos Transit Village, will create more growth than the City can really handle.

It’s widely believed that this impact will be immediately felt at the school level. After all, this comes on the heels of a special public meeting that was held on November 5 where the San Carlos School Board discussed the capacity problems that our school district is facing right now — even without the presence of new residential units. If you weren’t able to attend the meeting, here is the basis of what was discussed:

Managing Enrollment

White Oaks School seems to have a waiting list to get in every year, and there are now reports of students being diverted away from Arundel School this fall. Clearly, the San Carlos School District will be facing some very tough decisions soon.

Seth Rosenblatt is one of the Governing Board Members of the San Carlos School District, and he has been extremely responsive and accessible to the questions and concerns of the citizens. He has posted some valuable insight on his blog: Seth Rosenblatt’s Blog where he discusses his thoughts and preferences to possible solutions. From my interactions with Seth, there are some key points to consider when linking the new development to the school enrollment issues:

The impact of the Wheeler Plaza Development and 1001 Laurel are already factored into the enrollment projections in the attached report.
Studies indicate that the introduction of multi-unit housing historically does not generate many additional student-age children.
An “official” change in the enrollment policy (boundary change, restrict transfers, etc…) won’t likely be ready until the 2010-2011 school year.

On the other side of this coin, the City of San Carlos is clearly looking for additional tax revenue to fill its depleted coffers. More residents = more sales tax revenue, plain and simple. They’re motivated to keep the shops full, and to have more residents spending money downtown. And believe me, if you think the Wheeler Plaza idea is big, you should see the “vision” they have for the multi-zoned areas east of San Carlos Avenue.

So…..what’s your take on all of this? Is all of this development that’s being planned a good or bad for the “City of Good Living”? Can San Carlos truly handle its own growth? Look for a new poll on this topic in the next day or so on the site, but for now…let’s hear your comments!

“The San Carlos Week In Review” for the week ending 11/15/08

chuck@cghomes.net — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 10:45:29 -0600

Welcome to the “San Carlos Week in Review” for the week ending 11/15/08. The “Week in Review” series is comprised of an occasional weekly podcast, and a summary of new listings and home sales in San Carlos the prior week. Between the two, you should get a great idea of what happened last week in San Carlos real estate.

Here’s what sold this week, and what new listings hit the market. Click on the addresses for more information.

Home Sales

1241 Crestview Drive: (Pictured Above) Sale Price: $1,065,000. Original List Price: $1,099,000. Difference: $34,000 (3% ) below original list. DOM: 71 Days. This was a home I featured months ago as the New Listing of the Week — it’s a great home, and it sold for a great price. MLS # 80827201, listed by John Herrmann of RE/MAX Today.
89 Ensenada Rd: Sale Price: $1,000,000. Original List Price: $1,139,000. Difference: $139,000 (10% ) below original list. DOM: 10 Days. MLS # 80832750, listed by Kenneth Jacobi of In House Industries.
3161 La Mesa Dr: Sale Price: $988,000. Original List Price: $998,000. Difference: $10,000 (1% ) below original list. DOM: 22 Days. MLS # 80832862, listed by Patricia Pilster of Prudential California Realty.
2245 Eaton Ave: Sale Price: $989,000. Original List Price: $989,000. Difference: $0 from original list. DOM: 0 Days. This one was sold before it hit the market. MLS # 80836251, listed by Justine Ford of RE/MAX Today.
1313 Morse Blvd: Sale Price: $855,000. Original List Price: $879,000. Difference: $24,000 (2.7% ) below original list. DOM: 15 Days. MLS # 80836668, listed by Jeffrey Holman of Cashin Company.
2071 Belle Ave: Sale Price: $851,000. Original List Price: $839,000. Difference: $12,000 (1.4% ) above original list. DOM: 5 Days. MLS # 80839126, listed by Bob Bredel of RE/MAX Today.

New Listings

104 Windsor Dr: (Pictured Above) $1,299,000 — 3BR/2BA, 1,850 sq ft on a 5,400 square foot lot. MLS# 80845295, listed by Bob Bredel of RE/MAX Today. I will be holding this home open on Sunday 11/16 from 1-4.
299 Club Dr: $3,780,000 — 4BR/4+BA, 5,500 sq ft on a 10,000 square foot lot. MLS# 80845217, listed by Frank Ruan of Stanford Professional Realty.
1040 Drake Ct: $1,399,000 — 4BR/4+BA, 2,500 sq ft on a 11,000 square foot lot. MLS# 80845262, listed by John Clifford of Clifford Real Estate.
424 Hillcrest Rd: $838,000 — 2BR/1BA, 1,100 sq ft on a 4,704 square foot lot. MLS# 80844421, listed by Heather Hansen of Alain Pinel Realtors.
12 Winding Way: $689,000 — 4BR/3BA, 2,060 sq ft on a 4,740 square foot lot. MLS# 80845338, listed by David Young of Coldwell Banker.

San Carlos Measure S Update: Still hanging in the balance…

chuck@cghomes.net — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 09:07:23 -0600

According to the Redwood City Daily News, the ballot count on San Carlos Measure S currently sits at 65.5% in favor of the measure as the County counts the nearly 90,000 absentee and provisional ballots. While this is still a fraction shy of the 2/3 majority required, it is an improvement of 0.44% since the County started the post-election counting process. There are approximately 20,000 more ballots to count, and the County is expecting to release the final tally by Tuesday of Next week.

I’ll update this post on Tuesday when the results become final…

Smoke-Free Parks in San Carlos?

chuck@cghomes.net — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:59:23 -0600

It seems that Redwood City has always been just a step ahead of San Carlos when it comes to modernizing their parks. For all of the great new equipment that Burton Park now has (including the water fountains,) both Stafford Park and Stulaft Parks in Redwood City have already had this in place for several years. And if you look at the transformation that has taken place at their centerpiece Red Morton Park — the new playgrounds, skate park, and the huge all-weather athletic fields — it’s clear the Redwood City is pumping some serious cash into its parks.

Once again on the leading edge, Redwood City is now considering making all of these parks smoke-free. Here’s the press release from the City on the ordinance that they’re considering:

Redwood City Smoke-Free Parks

Is this something that the City of San Carlos should consider? Is it even a problem in our parks? I’d be very interested to hear your opinion on this — (perhaps it could become a future poll on the site!)

San Carlos Downtown Development: Wheeler Plaza

chuck@cghomes.net — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:31:36 -0600

Hmmm….You’re probably thinking “OK, I’ve lived in San Carlos for quite a few years…why haven’t I heard of Wheeler Plaza?” If so, you’re not alone — until it was brought to my attention by blog reader Jen, I would have had better luck finding it if I was tossing a dart at a map of San Carlos. But trust me, if you’ve been to downtown San Carlos, you’ve been to Wheeler Plaza. And you should know that the City has big plans for this place…

—————-

Where is it?

First of all, where is Wheeler Plaza? It’s a 1.5 acre site that consists primarily of the big parking lot behind Wells Fargo and Le Boulanger. I have probably parked there a million times. Here’s an aerial outline that’s posted on the City of San Carlos Website:

—————————–

What are the plans?

At this time, it appears that the City is in the “Request for Qualifications” mode, which will allow developers to submit ideas on how the land should be developed. The City applied the following stipulation on what the project must entail:

The Agency is seeking proposals to redevelop the Site into a mixed used project including housing atop ground floor commercial, and a parking structure.

So, it will be interesting to see where this development goes. Will it look like the 1001 Laurel development that’s nearing completion? Here’s a informational flyer that has more background information on the project:

Wheeler Plaza Request for Qualification

So, what’s your opinion of this development? Is it a good idea, or is it too much commercialization of the “City of Good Living”? Post your comment below!

Recap: San Carlos Home Sales — October ‘08

chuck@cghomes.net — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:56:11 -0600

The San Carlos market continues to slug it out as we enter the fall/winter season. As I mentioned in previous posts, the downward pull from the economy has finally caught up with the San Carlos real estate market, and we really started to feel the effects in the late summer months of this year. September was a disaster as you’ll see from the numbers below, even though October is supposed to be the “scary” month. Here’s a quick summary of the home sales figures for October 2008 — if you’d like to drill down to specific neighborhoods within San Carlos, click San Carlos Sales Trends and then choose from the “Neighborhood” pull-down menu.

Sales Trends	October ‘08	September ‘08	Year-over Year
Median Price	$895,000	$847,500 (+5.6%)	$1,025,000 (-12.7%)
Average Price	$930,413	$989,750 (-6.0%)	$1,114,150 (-16.5%)
No. of Sales	23	14 (+64.3%)	26 (-11.5%)
Pending Properties	21	19 (+10.5%)	19 (+10.5%)
Active	63	60 (+5.0%)	64 (-1.6%)
Sale vs. List Price	98.3%	98.4% (0.0%)	101.9% (-3.5%)
Days on Market	42	31 (+33.4%)	29 (+43.9%)

Note that compared to October of 2007, virtually all of the relevant price metrics are down by double-digit percentages. Ouch. The average DOM jumped to 42 days, but I have a hunch there are a couple of stragglers that are driving that number way up. Here’s a month-by-month graphical representation that shows the general trend over this past year:

What does all of this mean? With prices dropping for three consecutive months, and the days on market (DOM) average rising to 42 days, we’re entering a great window of opportunity to purchase real estate here in San Carlos, and on the Peninsula. Homes are at some of their best values in many years, and it’s difficult to tell how much prices will continue to drop (if they do at all.)

Finally, here’s a graph of the home sales to date for 2008. The sales volume has nearly rebounded to the 2007 levels, but we still need a strong Nov/Dec to keep on par.

“The San Carlos Week In Review” for the Week ending 11/8/08

chuck@cghomes.net — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 18:58:18 -0600

Welcome to the “San Carlos Week in Review” for the week ending 11/8/08. The “Week in Review” series is comprised of a weekly podcast, and a summary of new listings and home sales in San Carlos the prior week. Between the two, you should get a great idea of what happened last week in San Carlos real estate.

Note that the podcast took a little hiatus this week, but will return in next week’s update.

In the interim, here’s what sold this week, and what new listings hit the market. Click on the addresses for more information.

Home Sales

3186 La Mesa Dr: (Pictured above) Sale Price: $1,115,000. Original List Price: $1,225,000. Difference: $110,000 (9.0%) below original list. DOM: 50 Days. MLS # 80828029, listed by Cynthia Smith and Claudette Wood of Alain Pinel Realtors.
162 Rockridge Rd: Sale Price: $825,000. Original List Price: $850,000. Difference: $25,000 (2.94%) below original list. DOM: 0 Days. MLS # 80839618, listed by Justine Ford of RE/MAX Today.
607 Wellington Dr: Sale Price: $845,000. Original List Price: $825,000. Difference: $20,000 (2.4%) above original list. DOM: 12 Days. MLS # 80834643, listed by Len Moore of Vilmont Investment Properties.
1018 Montgomery St: Sale Price: $627,000. Original List Price: $627,777. Difference: $777 (0.12%) below original list. DOM: 59 Days. MLS # 80813705, listed by Scott Brody, Broker.

New Listings

119 Northam Ave: (Pictured above) $1,950,000 — 5BR/4+BA, 3,190 sq ft on a 6,500 square foot lot. MLS# 80843179, listed by Mark Martinho of Vabrato.
1404 Crestview Dr: $1,349,000 — 4BR/2.5BA, 2,570 sq ft on a 9,180 square foot lot. MLS# 80843179, listed by Molitor and Lunder of Intero Real Estate Services.
10 Del Rey Ct: $1,150,000 — 3BR/2BA, 1,890 sq ft on a 11,000 square foot lot. MLS# 80844226, listed by David Young of Coldwell Banker.
2704 Brittan Ave: $1,029,000 — 3BR/2BA, 1,630 sq ft on a 6,480 square foot lot. MLS# 80843356, listed by Yao Jiang of World Properties.

White Oaks Blog Update: Improved MLS Home Search

chuck@cghomes.net — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:35:59 -0600

For those of you who have used the MLS Search Engine on the White Oaks Blog, hopefully you have found that it’s pretty advanced and quite a bit different from many home search engines that are out there. It has a great neighborhood view, which allows you to see all the homes that are for sale in White Oaks or Howard Park, for example, in a single window. I also like the fact that once you create and save your own custom search you can sign up for the standard email alerts, or for you RSS junkies (like me) you can create your own RSS Feed. This is a feature that I believe is unique to this search engine.

But not willing to rest on its laurels, this search engine just got a whole lot more horsepower. Here are some of the new features that were just added in the latest release today:

Re-engineered the search panel. The new search panel was designed to incorporate the vast amount of feedback we’ve received from our customers over the past few years, and we’re very pleased with the result.
Pre-foreclosures (short sales, notice of default, etc) and foreclosed (bank owned) properties. We’ve also developed a proprietary algorithm that analyzes each property’s description to determine whether or not a property is a pre-foreclosure or has been foreclosed upon. If you view the details of a property that our system has determined to be a foreclosure or pre-foreclosure, we will highlight the words in the description that lead our system to believe the property is in distress. If you view the details of a property that the MLS specifically marked as a pre-foreclosure or bank owned, dsSearchAgent will also display an appropriate notice.
Search for properties within certain school and school district boundaries. The school search box is an auto-complete box and will start showing the names of the schools / districts as soon as the user types the first two letters.
And, coming soon…search for FSBO and Make Me Move™ properties that are listed on Zillow.com. You will be able to look at properties that they might not otherwise be able to find in the MLS.

These are just a few of the new features that you’ll find on this greatly enhanced search engine…so if you have a few minutes, give it a test drive and let me know what you think. Simply move your cursor onto the “What’s for Sale in San Carlos?” button at the top of the page and you’ll see all the different options for searching within San Carlos.

Podcast: “The San Carlos Week In Review” for the week ending 11/1/08

chuck@cghomes.net — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 11:08:39 -0500

Welcome to the “San Carlos Week in Review” for the week ending 11/1/08. The “Week in Review” series is comprised of a weekly podcast, and a summary of new listings and home sales in San Carlos the prior week. Between the two, you should get a great idea of what happened last week in San Carlos real estate.

In this week’s podcast you’ll hear:

San Carlos Market Recap.
Need to reduce the price on your home? Two different ways on how it’s done.

Click on the “Play Now” link below to hear the podcast. Enjoy!

Here’s what sold this week, and what new listings hit the market. Click on the addresses for more information.

Home Sales

1464 White Oak Way: (Pictured above) Sale Price: $1,585,000. Original List Price: $1,789,000. Difference: $204,000 (11.4%) below original list. This is a nice home in a great part of White Oaks. The price reduction that it took to get this into contract is indicative of what has been happening recently in this price range in San Carlos. DOM: 67 Days. MLS # 80824409, listed by Monica Palza of Alain Pinel Realtors.
30 Hidden Valley Dr: Sale Price: $1,088,000. Original List Price: $1,088,000. Difference: $0 from original list. DOM: 5 Days. As I discussed in last week’s podcast, this one had multiple offers and sold very quickly. MLS # 80839511, listed by Heather Hansen of Alain Pinel Realtors.
2088 Greenwood Ave: Sale Price: $895,000. Original List Price: $895,000. Difference: $0 from original list. DOM: 22 Days. MLS # 80832750, listed by Ivy Magsaysay of Century 21.

New Listings

152 Arundel Rd: (Pictured Above) $1,375,000 — 5BR/3BA, 2,730 sq ft on a 10,250 square foot lot. MLS# 80842177, listed by Peruz Jelveh (no brokerage specified.)
20 Vista Del Grande: $1,050,000 — 3BR/2.5BA, 2,190 sq ft on a 6,440 square foot lot. MLS# 80842975, listed by Joan Tosetti of Alain Pinel Realtors.
1333 Woodland Ave: $899,000 — 3BR/2BA, 1,270 sq ft on a 4,920 square foot lot. MLS# 80843162, listed by Loren Dakin of Alain Pinel Realtors.
643 Dartmouth Ave: $799,000 — 3BR/2.5BA, 1,510 sq ft on a 4,500 square foot lot. MLS# 80842246, listed by Charles Floyd of Help-U-Sell Realty.
1028 Northwood Dr: $559,500 — 2BR/1BA, 820 sq ft on a 4,675 square foot lot. MLS# 80842160, listed by Karen Doherty of Doherty Realty.
311 Old County Rd: $549,000 — 2BR/1BA, 820 sq ft on a 5,000 square foot lot. According to MLS comments, this is a short-sale. MLS# 80842887, listed by Jose Gonzalez of Matrixone Realty.

“Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.”

chuck@cghomes.net — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 06:36:12 -0500

That’s not a quote from an obscure Greek philosopher, nor a pearl of wisdom from the Depression Era. No, that quote was actually made last week by none other than this gentleman…

…and he has more than just a little bit of credibility when it comes to investing. In this particular article in the USA Today, Warren Buffett is referring to the buying and selling of stocks. And he’s buying stocks right now, not just on behalf of Berkshire Hathaway, but also for his own personal portfolio. Now that’s confidence….

Does this mean that Warren Buffet thinks the stock market has hit bottom? Absolutely not. He’ll be the first to admit that he doesn’t try to guess where the bottom is. But he knows a bargain when he sees one, and right now he is scooping up blue-chip stocks at severely discounted prices. More importantly, he knows that these assets may lose some value over the next few months, but on HIS investment horizon, he’s confident these will return a healthy profit. That’s how he became a billionaire.

Is this relevant to real estate? Absolutely. Besides providing a roof over your head, homes have become an “asset” and consequently should be treated like any other investment. And while we’re being continually bombarded with all the negative news on the economy, it’s critical to keep a few facts in mind:

Homes prices are as low as they’ve been in years. In some areas they have dropped more than others, but overall if you look at the prices today and adjust for inflation, home prices are the cheapest that they’ve been in probably over a decade. As an example, before this year when was the last time you saw a decent home for sale in White Oaks for under $800k? It has been awhile. We thought this price point was gone forever - now it’s becoming commonplace again.
Money is still relatively cheap. Although loans are a bit more difficult to get, rates are still near historic lows. You can get conforming loans for the low 6% range, agency jumbo’s (up to $729k) for the mid-6% range, and jumbos over 7%. The “funny money” rates of a few years ago are likely gone, and the current rates will likely only increase (if they change at all.)
Real estate is generally less volatile than stocks. While the real estate values have certainly taken a beating, it’s nothing compared to the carnage on Wall Street the past couple of weeks. And when you look over the past 10 years, real estate has performed FAR better than the S&P 500.
Real estate offers tax benefits that stocks don’t. Don’t forget that the interest on your mortgage is tax deductible, and a huge chunk of any capital gains that you realize upon selling the home is exempt from taxes. Those two factors add greatly to the calculated return on investment (ROI.) Try getting that kind of benefit with stock…

So is the San Carlos real estate market close to the “bottom”? It’s impossible to tell, but as I discussed in last week’s podcast, properties under the $1.1M mark in San Carlos are starting to get snapped up again. And I think it’s likely only a matter of time before the high-end will do the same.

For smart buyers in San Carlos and other part of San Mateo County, it’s definitely time to be greedy in a fearful market.

Why “Measure S” in San Carlos is not a slam-dunk…

chuck@cghomes.net — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 21:41:03 -0500

I try to avoid political commentary on this blog, simply because there are already hundreds of political blogs out there that cover the popular political topics quite sufficiently, and I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a political expert. But here I am chiming in on Measure S, aka the “San Carlos School District Excellence in Education Act of 2008,” but not because of the merits or deficiencies of the Measure. I wanted to highlight some unique challenges I think this Measure will face come Election Day.

Between the direct mail pieces, door hangers, and their Yes On S website, the supporters of Measure S have done a marvelous job getting the word out to the public. If there is any organized opposition to this measure, I sure haven’t seen it. So with such a worthy cause at stake, and with so many people backing it, it should be a “slam-dunk” come Election Day, right? After all, it’s only about $7 more per month than we’re already paying for Measure D (the previous school funding measure.)

Not so fast…

When I first read the outline of Measure S, I was struck by its similarity to another recent ballot measure that looked like a slam-dunk, but ultimately just got slammed: The San Carlos Fire Parcel Assessment of 2006. If you recall, homeowners were asked to pony up an additional $99/year to avoid layoffs, equipment reductions, and possibly station shutdowns. Considering that the Fire Department is the first responder to virtually ALL medical emergencies, this seemed like a no-brainer. Whether you’re young or old, having a fully-staffed station with a paramedic on call just around the corner is definitely peace of mind. But this Measure failed miserably just two years ago, and the similarities between this Measure and Measure S are too many to ignore.

The lessons learned from the failure of the Fire Parcel Tax should serve as the 3 biggest challenges facing Measure S:

The Economy. We’re in far worse shape today than we were two years ago when the Fire Parcel Tax was decided. Even though it’s “only” $75 per year (or $7/month) more than the $109 that homeowners are currently paying annually under Measure D, the idea of increased taxation is a tough sell when many are struggling to get by. Short-term fear often clouds long-term rationality.
Not everyone in San Carlos has school-age children. Unlike the Fire Parcel where everyone is impacted by reduced fire service, Measure S is far more important to those families with school age children, which is still very much a minority of the population in San Carlos. The Measure is includes a “Senior Citizen Exemption” which was a very smart thing to do, but the success of this Measure lies in getting the YES vote from those families who aren’t involved in the public school system.
2/3 Majority Required. Although I think this election will see record turn-out, voter apathy will be an enemy for this Measure. People will typically take the time to vote when they are either a) passionately for, or b) passionately against something on the ballot. This isn’t a “don’t care” Measure — if people don’t want to pay the additional $75/year, you can bet they’ll vote against it. Getting a simple 50% majority is tough enough — corralling the required 2/3 will be a big challenge.

For the record, we have 3 children in the public school system here, and I firmly believe the additional funding that has been provided to the schools has made a tangible and positive impact on their education. I am also a board member of the Sequoia High School Education Foundation, so I know how first-hand how much our schools rely on additional public funding.

So for the first time in many years, I believe this will be an election where EVERY vote counts, regardless of whether it’s for Measure S or the Presidential nomination. Consequently, it’s vital to avoid the “Chris Daughtry Syndrome,” for those of you who watch American Idol. This guy was easily the top talent of his respective season, but his voting fans got complacent since they figured victory was “in the bag.” Needless to say, he didn’t even make the finals. A lame analogy? Not really — stats show that more people vote in American Idol than will vote in a presidential election.

So this year whatever your cause happens to be, GET OUT AND VOTE!!!! And now, I’m putting the soap-box away….