South County Real Estate Sales Week of July 20 - 26, 2009
Date: Monday July 27, 2009Posted in: real estate, Santa Clara County, Morgan Hill, San Martin, Gilroy, statistics, listings
Sales jumped this past week in the south Santa Clara County towns of Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy. Last week there were 42 residences that went from active to pending status as compared to the previous week’s 37. Of all the sales this past week, 39 were single family homes and 3 were townhouses/condominiums. The highest priced listing sold last week was 13660 Sycamore Drive in Morgan Hill, a 2001 s.f. home on a 54,450 s.f. lot in a gorgeous rural area priced at $939,000. This lovely home had been on and off the market for quite a while and had been originally priced at $1.348,000 in 2007. The lowest priced listing sold last week was a bank-owned home in one of the newer downtown Gilroy condos at 7598 Monterey Street, #260, a 706 s.f. home priced at $99.900. Sixty-nine percent of the sales this week were priced under $500,000 and 10% were above $800,000.
Of these sales, the list price ranges were:
Less than $200,000 = 8 sales (19% of total)
$200,000 - $500,000 = 21 sales (50% of total)
$500,000 - $800,000 = 9 sales (21% of total)
$800,000 - $1,200,000 = 4 sales (10% of total)
As of July 26, 2009, there are 321 residential (single family homes and condos) listings active on the market in Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy. There are currently 354 pending residential listings. Therefore, 52% of the total listings are pending under contract as of this date. However, many of the pendings are short sales and therefore take a long time to close. This keeps our pending percentage up artificially high.
A whopping 30 residential real estate listings closed escrow during the past week in the south county towns of Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy. If homes continued to sell at this rate it would take 10.7 weeks to sell all south county listings. Therefore, as of this past week, we have 2.7 months supply of inventory.
Tune in next week for an update on the number of sales in South Santa Clara County!
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South County Real Estate Sales Week of July 13 - 19, 2009
Date: Wednesday July 22, 2009Posted in: Morgan Hill, South Santa Clara County, San Martin, Gilroy, statistics, listings, pending sales
Sales increased by one this past week in the south Santa Clara County towns of Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy. Last week there were 37 residences that went from active to pending status as compared to last week’s 36. Of all the sales this past week, 34 were single family homes and 3 were townhouses/condominiums. The highest priced listing sold last week was 18241 Llagas Creek Drive in Morgan Hill, a 3441 s.f. home on a 20,037 s.f. lot and priced at $1,014,000, down from the original $1,139,000 price when listed 125 days prior. The lowest priced listing sold last week was a bank-owned home in the senior community of Village Green, 7745 Isabella Way in Gilroy, a 818 s.f. home priced at $198,000 and 12 days on the market. Sixty-two percent of the sales this week were priced under $500,000 and 11% were above $800,000.
Of these sales, the list price ranges were:
Less than $200,000 = 1 sale (3% of total)
$200,000 - $500,000 = 22 sales (59% of total)
$500,000 - $800,000 = 10 sales (27% of total)
$800,000 - $1,200,000 = 4 sales (11% of total)
$1,200,000 - $2,000,000 = 1 sale (3% of total)
The number of active listings went down and pending sales rose. As of July 12, 2009, there are 326 residential (single family homes and condos) listings active on the market in Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy. There are currently 360 pending residential listings. Therefore, 52% of the total listings are pending under contract as of this date. However, many of the pendings are short sales and therefore take a long time to close. This keeps our pending percentage up artificially high.
Sixteen residential real estate listings closed escrow during the past week in the south county towns of Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy. If homes continued to sell at this rate it would take 20 weeks to sell all south county listings. Therefore, as of this past week, we have 5 months supply of inventory.
Tune in next week for an update on the number of sales in South Santa Clara County!
active gilroy home Homescopes listings Morgan Hill pending listings real estate real estate listings residential listings San Martin Santa Clara County single family sq ftThe Basis of Wealth
Date: Tuesday July 14, 2009Posted in: real estate, wealth, homeownership, investment property
I bet you’ve heard the saying, “Buy low, sell high.” Well, this is a “buy low” kind of real estate market we are in and now is the time to take advantage of it. I am working with a few clients looking in the $200,000 to $300,000 range and they are thrilled to have the opportunity to purchase in this “buy low” real estate market.
An interesting quote from President Theodore Roosevelt: 
“Every person who invests in well-selected real estate in a growing section of a prosperous community adopts the surest and safest method of becoming independent, for real estate is the basis of wealth.”
What was true at the beginning of the last century is still true today.
South County Real Estate Sales Week of July 6 - 12, 2009
Date: Monday July 13, 2009Posted in: real estate, Morgan Hill, South Santa Clara County, San Martin, Gilroy, statistics, listings, pending sales, months supply of inventory
Sales increased slightly this past week in the south Santa Clara County towns of Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy. Last week there were 36 residences that went from active to pending status as compared to last week’s 33. Of all the sales this past week, 32 were single family homes and 4 were townhouses/condominiums. The highest priced listing sold last week was 15440 Carey Lane in San Martin, a 7525 s.f. home on an approximately 3 acre lot and priced at $1,699,000. This home is a short sale. The lowest priced listing sold last week was a short sale condominium at 7705 Murray Avenue in Gilroy, 908 s.f. home priced at $85,000. Fifty percent of the sales this week were priced under $500,000 and 6% were above $800,000.
Of these sales, the list price ranges were:
Less than $200,000 = 5 sales (14% of total)
$200,000 - $500,000 = 13 sales (36% of total)
$500,000 - $800,000 = 16 sales (44% of total)
$800,000 - $1,200,000 = 1 sale (3% of total)
$1,200,000 - $2,000,000 = 1 sale (3% of total)
This is the first week in quite a while that the number of active listings rose and the number of pending sales dropped. As of July 12, 2009, there are 333 residential (single family homes and condos) listings active on the market in Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy. There are currently 357 pending residential listings. Therefore, 52% of the total listings are pending under contract as of this date. However, many of the pendings are short sales and therefore take a long time to close. This keeps our pending percentage up artificially high.
Twenty-three residential real estate listings closed escrow during the past week in the south county towns of Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy. If homes continued to sell at this rate it would take 14.5 weeks to sell all south county listings. Therefore, as of this past week, we have 3.6 months supply of inventory.
Tune in next week for an update on the number of sales in South Santa Clara County!
active gilroy home Homescopes listings Morgan Hill pending listings real estate real estate listings residential listings San Martin Santa Clara County single family sq ftWhy are Pending Sales So Much Greater than Closed Escrows?
Date: Tuesday July 7, 2009Posted in: real estate, pending sales, appraisal
For months now, I’ve been stating in my weekly sales blogposts that many of the pending real estate listings reported are short sales and therefore take a long time to close. This keeps our listings that are pending under contract percentage up artificially high because those listings stay at the pending status month after month. And the number of listings that actually close escrow remains low in comparison.
There are several reasons the pending sales numbers are high but actual closed escrow numbers are not. This was pointed out to me by a southern California colleague, Michelle Silverman, a Realtor in La Jolla, California.
Michelle recently shared this Wall Street Journal blog post, Three Reasons Pending Sales Isn’t a Reliable Indicator. The article discusses three reasons homes on the real estate market don’t close escrow after getting into contract. One of the reasons is the one I state week after week, short sale pending contracts. While the buyer and the seller wait for the seller’s short sale lender to approve the offer, the home sits in pending status on the multiple listing service. Often the transaction falls through because the buyer gets frustrated with waiting for months and finds another home to purchase and sometimes the short sale lender does not approve the offer.
Another reason that homes under contract don’t close escrow is that mortgage rates have gone up, albeit a small amount. However this raise in rates can knock out buyers who qualified at a certain interest rate when they first began their home search. They aren’t able to go through with the purchase because now they don’t qualify for the higher monthly payment. Buyers may also choose not to purchase due to the higher interest rates.
And the third reason pending sales don’t close escrow as discussed in the WSJ blog has to do with the latest difficulty besetting the real estate market: appraisals. There is a new law, The Home Valuation Code of Conduct, or HVCC, adopted May 1, 2009. The law was formulated to elevate the independence and accuracy of the appraisal process. To keep influence low, lenders are now required to use appraisal management companies. In theory, this should be a positive move. In actuality, many of the appraisers hired by the appraisal management companies don’t come from the area where the property is located and sometimes don’t even have access to the local MLS. For example, I’ve heard of ill-informed appraisers using property sold in Gilroy as a comparable sale for property in Morgan Hill. Some sales are falling through at the last minute due to under-valued appraisals.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, cautions that there could be delays in the number of contracts that go to closing. “Closed existing-home sales have improved but are coming in lower than expected because some contracts are delayed or falling through from the application of new appraisal rules for many transactions,” he said. “Rises in contract activity show buyers are becoming more active even as they face much more stringent loan underwriting standards. Speedy clarification of the appraisal rules could smooth a housing market recovery and support the overall economy.”
appraisal buyers closed escrow contract home home sale HVCC lender listings pending sales property real estate short sales transactionSouth County Real Estate Sales Week of June 29 - July 5, 2009
Date: Monday July 6, 2009Posted in: real estate, Morgan Hill, South Santa Clara County, San Martin, Gilroy, statistics
Although sales were down this past week in the south Santa Clara County towns of Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy, I think we’ll see them spring back up next week if the contracts written over the weekend are any indication. Buzz around the office shows that the 4th of July holiday weekend was a working weekend for many south country Realtors. But last week there were 33 residences that went from active to pending status as compared to last week’s 39. Of all the sales this past week, 28 were single family homes and 5 were townhouses/condominiums. The highest priced listing sold last week was 18695 Purissima Way in Morgan Hill, a 4059 s.f. home on a 17,103 s.f. lot and priced at $1,099,000 (down from the initial list price of $1,249,000). The lowest priced listing sold last week was a bank-owned single family residence at 14484 Crowner Avenue in Gilroy, 1228 s.f. home on a 10,500 s.f. lot and priced at $239,900. Although we had no sales with list prices below $200,000 64% of the sales this week were priced under $500,000 and18% were above $800,000.
Of these sales, the list price ranges were:
$200,000 - $500,000 = 21 sales (64% of total)
$500,000 - $800,000 = 6 sales (18% of total)
$800,000 - $1,200,000 = 6 sales (18% of total)
As of July 5, 2009, there are 317 residential (single family homes and condos) listings active on the market in Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy. There are currently 370 pending residential listings. Therefore, 54% of the total listings are pending under contract as of this date. However, many of the pendings are short sales and therefore take a long time to close. This keeps our pending percentage up artificially high.
Twenty-one residential real estate listings closed escrow during the past week in the south county towns of Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy. If homes continued to sell at this rate it would take 15 weeks to sell all south county listings. Therefore, as of this past week, we have 3.8 months supply of inventory.
Tune in next week for an update on the number of sales in South Santa Clara County!
active bank owned condo gilroy Homescopes housing listings Morgan Hill pending real estate residences San Martin Santa Clara County short sale single family sold townhouseSouth County Real Estate Sales Week of June 22 - 28, 2009
Date: Wednesday July 1, 2009Posted in: real estate, Morgan Hill, South Santa Clara County, San Martin, Gilroy, statistics
Sales perked up this past week in the south Santa Clara County towns of Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy. There were 39 residences that went from active to pending status as compared to last week’s 33. Of all the sales this past week, 38 were single family homes and 1 was a townhouse/condominium. The highest priced listing sold last week was 2400 McDonald Lane in Morgan Hill, a 7550 s.f. home on 21 acres and priced at $2,950,000 (down from the initial list price of $4,350,000) that had been on the market for 390 days. The lowest priced listing sold last week was a bank-owned single family residence at 534 Hoover Court in Gilroy, 1036 s.f. and priced at $165,000. Fifty-seven percent of the sales this week were priced under $500,000 and10% were above $800,000.
Of these sales, the list price ranges were:
Below $200,000 = 3 sales (8% of total)
$200,000 - $500,000 = 19 sales (49% of total)
$500,000 - $800,000 = 13 sales (33% of total)
$800,000 - $1,200,000 = 3 sales (8% of total)
$1,200,000 - $2,000,000 = 0 sales (0% of total)
$2,000,000+ = 1 sale (2% of total)
As of June 28, 2009, there are 329 residential (single family homes and condos) listings active on the market in Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy. There are currently 375 pending residential listings. Therefore, 53% of the total listings are pending under contract as of this date. However, many of the pendings are short sales and therefore take a long time to close. This keeps our pending percentage up artificially high.
Twenty-eight residential real estate listings closed escrow during the past week in the south county towns of Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy. If homes continued to sell at this rate it would take 11.75 weeks to sell all south county listings. Therefore, as of this past week, we have 3 months supply of inventory.
Tune in next week for an update on the number of sales in South Santa Clara County!
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